A relatively small piece of Tyvek would work well for that. Also makes a great place to set stuff down on during the night, place to dump out things from your backpack to not lose things, and keeps socks clean for after taking shoes off!
Ken
A relatively small piece of Tyvek would work well for that. Also makes a great place to set stuff down on during the night, place to dump out things from your backpack to not lose things, and keeps socks clean for after taking shoes off!
Ken
Shug mentions a frost bib in one of his videos, this will help prevent frost building up on your top quilt.
"Any night in a hammock, is a good night."
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The short answer is to keep above the dew point for your conditions.
The longer answer is to learn to manage it. Your major sources are what you exhale and perspire along with what condenses out as dew.
You really do not want to mess with your hydration level to try to produce less. That leaves not sleeping directly on or under an impervious layer so the moisture can escape or spread out and get dried later. OTOH learn about vapor barrier clothing. There is more theory than I want to go into.
As far as dew goes learn about it and watch the predictions for where you are. That is where anything that reduces airflow will reduce deposited moisture. Anything that retains enough heat to stay above the dew point helps. Hammock socks and bugnets can fall into that category. They can also act as collectors to drip on you.
YMMV
HYOH
Free advice worth what you paid for it. ;-)
The dew point is the temperature where the moisture in the air starts to condense out as dew. It the temperature remains above that point you will not get condensation out of the atmosphere. (dew) Ventilation will provide relatively dry air to evaporate moisture into. (Think big dry sponge.) If the temperature drops below the dew point then air will be leaving moisture that condenses out as dew. (Big wet sponge.) The air does not pick up excess moisture to help keep you dry. Instead the more air exchanges you get the more water is deposited to get you wet.
I think that is why we get such disparate answers about how to manage condensation. Right now the dew point here is 30 deg and the predicted low is 34. Ventilation is my friend as it will absorb moisture I exhale or perspire. If the humidity was higher the dew point would increase and I could fall below it. At that point ventilation is bad as it brings in more water to condense on my tarp or bug net and drip on me.
If I add a sock or over cover or even a bug net there is an increase in the temperature in my little micro climate. Depending on conditions that make make the inside of my shelter warmer than the dew point even though the air outside is lower. That is where any kind of overcover shines at keeping me more comfortable. It also blocks drips off the tarp. A hot tarp takes the whole thing a step further by warming the air around you above the dew point.
If the temperature is going to drop below the dewpoint the best answer one has is to block air movement to minimize dew formation and look for a way to sponge up the perspiration, respiration, and whatever dew formation you are stuck with.
Dew point is a function of the relative humidity. If you consistently camp in places with low relative humidity you will be fine ventilated as you will probably never get below the dew point. OTOH if you usually camp in places with high humidity levels the temperature will often drop below the dew point so you will be dealing with dew and ventilation is your enemy. It pays to know what the area you are camping in typically acts like.
YMMV
HYOH
Free advice worth what you paid for it. ;-)
Nothermark thanks for that explanation. I could never get my head around this subject. I couldn't figure out why sometimes I would wake up and there would be condensation and without changing anything in my setup, when camping out for several days, there would be other times when there was no condensation. You have helped me think about things differently. It was a great explanation and help. I am going to pay closer attention to this and see what things I can change in my favor.
Don't think there is really anyway to avoid that problem
I like Shugs bib. I usually just put something over the first 10" or so of my sleeping bag near my mouth - a spare shirt that I can dry the following day or a small towel if I'm carrying that.
I'm big on ventillation. Even in the dead of winter I prefer to keep at least one door off my tarp to get some air flow. I'd rather be 5° cooler and drier than 5° warmer and damp.
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