Meet my new 3 Season "Phincubator" and Wide Burrow in M50/10D
Yep in my never ending quest for the ultimate quilt set I have just received another piece or Stormcrow magic !!
My last set purchased (30°F) were in M50/7d and I just loved the M50 on a recent windy cold trip. I just had to have more......
So this time I looked towards a full length 3 season UQ but just couldn't get past all that weight. (being a bit of a gram counter) I figured I use the hammock on enough hunting trips where weight isn't a concern as I'm car/quad camping but I still wanted the lightest possible UQ if I did want to backpack with this one.
I had also spotted a few others with quilts that gave full leg/feet coverage but fit at the shoulders like a 3/4 UQ. Now that was what I was after.
After a few emails with Stormcrow a length of 68" was decided that would have a shoulder fit like the phoenix (no head coverage) But this UQ would retain the full length leg shelf design of the incubator, hence not require the footpad.
Now the "Phincubator" was born !!
Man the new shape is very clever. You can see in the pictures the leg shelf and how the quilt is body shaped without even anyone in it. The draft tubes are a great addition.
All I had to do was tighten the end cords to seal up the draft tubs and it fit my WBBB like a glove. Any tweaking was all but non existent the fit standard was that good. No cold spots on this UQ !!
FYI I'm 5'11" tall and the fit on me is near perfect. Shoulders down to full feet coverage. I'd guess the UQ seals up about 2" lower than my feet so for me, that's a perfect fit.
Most of my walks I use a Osprey Exos 46 so taking the footpad is generally an extra anyway as there is no backpad on my pack, so it will be nice to drop that of the gear list. Also I always take my blackrock down beanie. For me this is enough on my head (Maybe with a balaclava in really cold weather), I don;t use a pillow in the hammock and never seem to get a cold head, even well below freezing. I sleep flatter too and find my neck bent a little sharp if I do use a thin pillow.
I knew straight up that this set would be my cold weather set and like my last recently sold 3 season set, opted for a good amount of overfill.
The 68" UQ has 13oz of 900 fill down (Yep I wanted lots of overfill), outer shell is jet black M50 and the inner fabric is black 10D. All with contrasting white stitches, It's pretty neat looking !!
The TQ is another marvel. 56" wide head end with a regular width sewn footbox up to 24". Same jet black M50/10D shells, white stitches and stuffed with 15oz of 900 fill down.
Oh yeh, weights I guess your thinking.
The "Phincubator" is 620 grams (21.8oz) with full suspension, The primary suspension is quite a thick bungie (Looks near 4mm) and the secondary is only thin bungie.
Honestly I had figured the UQ might have been an ounce or 2 lighter but it is jammed with a lot of down. The UQ this replaced was a 3/4 phoenix with 2oz overfill (10oz total fill), regular 1.1 shells and it weighed in at 530 grams (18.66oz).
So for an extra 90 grams (3.17oz) total UQ weight I have an additional 3oz fill and now don't need to carry the 2oz footpad (It nearly evens out). Also the M50 outer is very wind resistant. A lot more so than the 1.1 shell.
The Wide TQ is 580 grams (20.42oz). This has replaced a wide snap footbox 3 season Burrow which had 2oz overfill (14oz total), regular 1.1 shells and it weighed 690 grams (24.3oz).
This I am very happy with as I've shaved 110 grams (3.87oz) off my TQ but gained another ounce of fill and it has the warmer sewn footbox. Again I feel the extra wind resistance of the M50 is a good bonus by itself but the fact it's lighter makes it even better.
I have to say I'm still a fan of the snapped footbox but now having used both sewn and snaps I feel that the sewn is a lot warmer. This new Burrow has a very large amount of loft in the base of the footbox. The snapped footbox's just seem to loose a little loft when clinched up tight and there's always that little hole in the middle that in really cold weather you get a tiny little chill through every now an then. Stormcrow also tells me that the sewn is a littel lighter
I have only had the chance for one night so far in the backyard with the quilts. We only had a low of 3°C and honestly I near cooked. Most of the night was spent with just the TQ loosely draped over my near naked form.
The heat coming out of the UQ was huge and I only lasted about 15 minutes fully covered by the TQ before my feet were extracted and I just sort of half had it over me.
Comfort wise this is the fist time I've used a UQ that didn't require a footpad or feet insulation. I have to say it's a very comfortable experience. I don't tend to move around much anyway but your always conscious of the footpad and cold spots. With this bad boy I rolled all over the place and never even gave cold feet a thought.
I think unless it's forecast to be below -5°C I'll just take this UQ and my 30°F TQ and wear some extra clothes to sleep.
Anyway enough of my dribble but I knew that some out there would be interested to see the latest custom gear pumping out from the Hammock Gear shop !!!
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