Cold Butt Syndrome!

[HappyCamper]

Maztrain posted this easy mod for CBS. Then Knotty made an adjustable suspension that you may want to try.

[Red Wing]

I do this with my Underground quilt!! I use the little loops that are close to the center but nearer to my foot end. Also, I will use the left over shockcord, the piece that's pulled and is now just hanging there, I'll tie this so that the quilt doesn't bunch down in the middle. I've tied it so that it stays put and doesn't move or bunch up when I'm sleeping.

My quilt, when it's on my blackbird, is lifting up my hammock until I get into it. I also found that the shockcord needs to be way tighter than I thought it needed to be.

Temp ratings? They are very subjective to the person using it. And can change!! I had an under quilt that I used with my Clark hammock rated at about 0. I also found that sometimes I was cold in warmer temps with it. Usually it came down to not having the quilt on right and combining that with either not eatting or changing my hiking clothes to sleeping clothes. Sometimes little things can add up to be a major problem.

Back to temp. ratings... With sleeping bags, a temp rating means... that's the lowest temp you can go and still be alive in the morning. It doesn't mean you will spend the night toasty if you're at the max rating of the bag. I've often wondered about our under quilt ratings and if they too are using this same type of rating scale?? I like to sleep toasty. I'd already tried a 0 degree UQ and found that I was not warm, even in much higher night time temps (like at 30 degrees!!). So I now have a -10 degree quilt that keeps me toasty at 17 degrees. This is what I had to do to sleep the way I liked to. And I don't have to add anything extra under me, just my one under quilt.

I've found the temp ratings to reflect comfort vs. survivability. I've also found under-insulation to be twice as important as your top-insulation. So if you have a 0* TQ and a 20* UQ at 5*, depending on how conservative the vendor was, you'll probably be cold. If you switch that, you will be toasty warm.

Also, there are tweeks you have to learn with your UQ, processes and steps where if you forget ONE step you're cold. At least on full length UQ's, maybe partials are more KISS, set it and forget it.

[BillyBob58]

I can lift it more than 1/4", at least I think so. Of course if I pull it up on one side it tends to go down on the other side. It might be my method of suspension? Because my hammock has strings I attach the UQ there. I tried at first with the triangle thingies but I didn't think they worked as well. Maybe I will try them again.

So your method of suspension is not shock cord? That might make it tougher, because while trying to get it tight enough you might get it tight enough to damage something if there is no elastic slack/give.

I may have understated the "1/4"" thing. When my quilts are at their warmest, and I grab the right and left edges at the same time and pull up, there really is no movement that I can notice. The quilt is tight against my back and butt. If I loosen it even a little, I can tell the difference. Loosen just a bit more, and there is a big difference. Of course, it might be different with different quilts.

[sr1355]

The dreaded CBS.... Lots of good input here from everyone, I've used 20* Zeppelins right at the 20* mark and for me with my sleeping style was just about right rating but YMMV. I sleep no socks, no thermals, compression t-shirt, skivies, fleece neckgaiter, and fleece stocking hat. I'd start with the channel suspension, tighten it to where you think it should be then pull another 6" of shock cord through it. Seems most new UQ users don't tighten the suspension enough. It should lift the hammock noticably. After that make sure ends are cinched properly, this may take a second set of eyes till you know what to look for, again for someone new to UQ can take a bit to dial in. The loops added along the lenght of the quilt are there for many options, pulling quilt open, lifting quilt snug, etc.... Take a piece of SC, two mitten hooks, tie one mitten hook to one end and clip to side opposite hammock entry around mid torso, on other end of SC slide mitten hook on, and cord lock and clip to other side of hammock. You can adjust this similar to channel suspension. If you have cordlock on side of hammock you enter from you can adjust while in hammock to see how different amounts of tension work...Play with different loop locations see what works best for you... Hope that helps a little...

[Red Wing]

So your method of suspension is not shock cord? That might make it tougher, because while trying to get it tight enough you might get it tight enough to damage something if there is no elastic slack/give.

I may have understated the "1/4"" thing. When my quilts are at their warmest, and I grab the right and left edges at the same time and pull up, there really is no movement that I can notice. The quilt is tight against my back and butt. If I loosen it even a little, I can tell the difference. Loosen just a bit more, and there is a big difference. Of course, it might be different with different quilts.

I think he meant instead of his hammock being gathered into a whip, he's got strings like the exped scout.

[coldstealie]

Been getting CBS in my lost river lately, I guess I couldn't avoid by staying out in 6 degree weather on the AT on Saturday night. I'm trying to figure out the perfect set up for it so I don't get any leaks.

[BillyBob58]

Been getting CBS in my lost river lately, I guess I couldn't avoid by staying out in 6 degree weather on the AT on Saturday night. I'm trying to figure out the perfect set up for it so I don't get any leaks.

Holy Cow, you are the opposite extreme! Isn't the Lost River a 30F synthetic quilt? Using a 30F UQ in 6F and ONLY complaining about "Been getting CBS in my lost river lately"! If that was your only problem and your entire back or entire body didn't freeze, I don't think you have any leak problems, or any other problems, except your WAY beyond (24*F beyond) the rating of your quilt. Hats off to you and Paul the designer!

Is that 6F? Are you using a pad also or augmenting that quilt in some other way?

[DemostiX]

Air-leak, and nothing but.

The furrows in the end of gathered end hammocks defeat attempts to consistently maintain an air-tight seal. The furrows channel cold air, and movements of your body pump the heat away. Without a night-long seal, you've wasted money on down. You might as well have paid big $ on a refrigerator or oven, not taken measures to be sure the doors are flush against the boxes so the gaskets can work, and expected it to hold cold or heat, respectively.

By yourself, you might detect the leak by getting a hand in and being sure the UQ is warm beneath your butt......or by pinning a $7 Acurite digital thermometer that records and holds min and max temps. Don't put it under your butt. Pin it to the UQ a few inches in from the foot-end edge. Yeah, that's where you probably cannot reach from inside the hmmck.

Further, the notion that you "tune it" is an exercise in denial unless you hang in between the same trees, motionless, night after night. Every hang is just a bit different, so everybody is in the situation of the OP, uncertain that THAT night cold air will not intrude.

Find HF member "scum's" serious efforts at "horse collars". I suspect most of the benefit most of the time of hammock socks has little to do with air-infiltration at your torso is and mostly to do with sealing the furrowed ends by wrapping them. That suggests that an UQ with single-layer extensions that wrapped around the hammock ends would consistently increase comfort while barely adding to weight and cost. More insulation? No. Fewer drafts? Totally.

[G.L.P.]

I've found the temp ratings to reflect comfort vs. survivability. I've also found under-insulation to be twice as important as your top-insulation. So if you have a 0* TQ and a 20* UQ at 5*, depending on how conservative the vendor was, you'll probably be cold. If you switch that, you will be toasty warm.

Also, there are tweeks you have to learn with your UQ, processes and steps where if you forget ONE step you're cold. At least on full length UQ's, maybe partials are more KISS, set it and forget it.

this is very true .. it's better to have more under you the on top of you ...
we sometimes forget Heat rises so all your heat is being trapped in your TQ .. leaving your UQ to do more work or it's at least how i see it
but i also found the same thing you did Slo

[Red Wing]

this is very true .. it's better to have more under you the on top of you ...
we sometimes forget Heat rises so all your heat is being trapped in your TQ .. leaving your UQ to do more work or it's at least how i see it
but i also found the same thing you did Slo

I'll buy that for a dollar Anyway it's working, that's how it's works.


As far as "dialing it in", seems some people might have a beef with the vernacular we're choosing but the point is there is a process, like I've found that I need to actually loosen my draft cinch on my foot end to the side I tend to put my feet, when too tight it creates a pocket underneath me. Dial in/tweek 1. Then I had to figure out how to keep it from accordian-ing in the middle, tweek/dial-in 2. Then I had to figure out the tension on each side to help it conform to me best, dial-in/tweek 3..

You see where I"m going with this.

These are things I need to watch for and pay attention to when setting up my quilt, regardless of what tree's I use. Then I go through the steps, "dialing-it-in", for that particular location.

Do not get discouraged, once you have your a-ha moment it comes together quickly.

Also just wanted to add that once you get the general tweeks done to fit you properly, all the other tweeks are really minor and situational.