simple PAD POCKET for under Eno DN ?????

[John4]

Hello ALL, I am not quite ready financially to take the plunge for a good UQ yet. Though my good buddy Natureboy68 tells me it will just take ONE more (which will be 2 total) cold unpleasant nights to "solve" that "problem".

Last march I made a PLUQ out of a woobie poncho Liner and some Insulbright (..brite?) and really only tried it out once I think and it did OK, but I also used a pad that slid ALL over my hammock and if it weren't for the sliding and exposing areas in the shoulders and down by the feet...it was a workable solution down into the 30's ºF.

SOOOOOOOOOO, I want to augment my PLUQ when a few of us go hiking/camping overnight a week after T'sGiving in lower-upstate-NY and I will do a hang-sleep and not a ground-sleep like the last outing.

I am not sure I want to add a lot of weight making a huge pocket of material I have on hand and also because I'm a bit leery of messing up my hammock by applying the thread-injector to it.....but I will with enough confidence!

HOW DO I ADD the ability to slide one of my pads....my mouth-inflatable pad in under my hammock so it doesn't slide all around my 200lb 6'2.5" frame.

I am thinking of just sticking the pad between the PLUQ and the hammock and letting tension and friction hold it in place, but I want a better solution.

I also considered putting a 32ºF down mummy bag in the same position as the pad as I stated above.

I'll bring either my EMS "solstice 20" synthetic sleeping bag as TQ or the same 32F down mummy bag (Ozark Trail) as a TQ.

THOUGHTS? HELP!?

THANKS!!!!!

[corrupt_reverend]

I wouldn't trust stitching in the body of a hammock. I'd be too worried about it compromising the material strength leaving you cold and bruised.

If you really want a pad-pouch, you should probably turn it into a double-layer. Sewn at the outer edge of the hem, you should be safe. Besides, you're not going to want the pad in a fixed location. If you're having problems with the pad shifting around on ya when it's in the hammock, that probably means you move around enough to end up not being on the pad anymore if it was stuck in one position.

[SilvrSurfr]

I'm personally none too keen on modding/altering and possibly damaging a perfectly good hammock. Back when I was in my "I'll never buy an underquilt; too expensive!" days, I just stuck a ccf pad IN my hammock and made do with that. I took that down to about 22 degrees before I turned into "dang it, I need an underquilt!" guy. That 22 degrees was about my limit and I didn't see any way I wanted to go lower with a pad system. I was a tough nut to crack, though. Took me two years to get off the pad. Gosh, how I miss those days of wallowing in my own condensation (not).

If you really wanna give the pad a shot, just make a DL tablecloth hammock. At $12.99 a blank, you can have a double hammock for $26. If you can't sew take it to a seamstress and have her stitch them together (leaving appropriate opening for pad) and put triple-stitched channels on the end for suspension.

Well, the low tonight is 22 degrees here on the Jersey Shore

[Yojimbo]

From experience, sticking the pad in the PLUQ actual is worse. It creates air gaps thus is colder. Your idea of putting the down mummy bag in there should actually work pretty well. Just don't pull the PLUQ up real tight cause that will flatten the down bag. I have the Insulbrite added to my PLUQ as well, it takes me down to the upper 30s.

[John4]

Thanks for the replies fellas! Definitely tasty food for thought!!

[John4]

OH..and does anyone think that the MUMMY bag sandwiched between the hammock and PLUQ is going to be too narrow, or do I simply alter that possible solution by unzipping and opening up that style of bag? Thanks!

and I will still look into the notion of sewing along the actual hems of the hammock, but that will require some actual futzing with the hammock...........and Silvrsurfr it is good to hear from you again....that was a GREAT hang last Father's Day!

[ccolclou]

Could you just sew a couple of elastic pieces, maybe shockcord, along the bottom of the hammock and use that to slide a pad in and anchor your pad below you? I do think this would be hard to stay on top of during the night though. Just tossing out an idea.

[John4]

Hmmmm ccolclou, I WAS thinking of something elastic and could be a way to get the pad to "float" under me but outside the hammock and would keep it centered.....BUT if I have to figure out if I lay head/feet left or right...then I might need to sew in the elastic stuff in an off-center kind of way...OR I make it so that where the pad can be held in place has some adjustability so I can make adjustments whilst IN the hammock to pull the head end closer to left or right and the same with the foot-end?

[corrupt_reverend]

The elastic is going to need to be really tight to get the pad to conform to your body from under the hammock. Then you'll have to deal with the elastic pulling the edges of your hammock downward...

I think you'd be better off making a pad sheath with wing extentions. I think Shug has a video showing something like that (sheath with wings).

Edit: Apparently I trailed off mid-sentence. Musta seen something shiny.

[John4]

So I just do a search here on the forum for "Pad Sheath"?...is that kind of like what some people slide CCF into? wouldn't the folding areas between the main pad and the "wings" be cold spots?.......any suggestions how to make them not be cold?

The elastic is going to need to be really tight to get the pad to conform to your body from under the hammock. Then you'll have to deal with the elastic pulling the edges of your hammock downward...

I think you'd be better off making a pad sheath with wing extentions. I think Shug has