View Full Version : What's your technique?
For HH owners who use a sleeping pad inside the hammock and a sleeping bag (as a bag..not quilt). Are there any tricks to getting inside your hammock/bag and keeping everything in the proper position?
I think I looked like I was wrestling w/a bear this past weekend. I actually had to bail on my first attempt, get back out, put the pad back into position and try again. And to complicate matters even further, I like to use a silk bag liner and getting inside of that, inside of my bag, staying on top of the pad, and keeping the pad at the right angle probably burns as many calories as running a half marathon! :D
What's the trick....or is there one other than practice?
millergear
12-01-2006, 09:48
This works for me to keep the CCF in place. Lay the pad in the hammock at the diagonal / asymmetric position you prefer, then draw a line down it's length along the centerline of the HH. Now glue or stitch a piece of webbing to the pad's bottom (under your mark) with a loop or "D" ring at each end. Tie a cord, with a clip or micro carabiner at one end, using a tautline hitch, to the ridge line at the head end where it meets the hammock. At the foot end do the same thing using a bungee cord. To use, attach the pad to the lines at both ends, using the tautlines to adjust it's position. The bungee allows you to push the pad aside to enter and it "pops" it back in place when you get in.
One technique to get in your bag is to sit in the HH slit, pull the bag over your feet, stand up (on something like your sit pad, pull the bag up, and lay back into the HH. Personally, I find a quilt best, with a bag I'm always wrestling with it to enter and work the zipper.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Perkolady
12-01-2006, 12:48
Hi Michele,
I used a regular bag and a pad for quite a while when I first started with my HH.
This may be a little difficult to explain in WORDS, but I'll give it a try ... lol.
The closest trick I found for this was, by first, angling the pad where I would want to end up, then place my bag -opened- trying at first, to just get the top portion of the bag in position (the area you would be in the bag from your butt up to your shoulder)- and schlepp the bottom portion of the bag out of the way over to the side where my feet were eventually gonna end up kind of folded up in a heap towards the head ....
Then, try to get the top half of myself in the right place, and once I'd get into position, THEN get the lower end situated.
I hope that makes sense :confused:
For ME, it was much easier getting into the top portion of the bag, than trying to get the bottom half of myself situated first and later trying to get the bag under me right...
Good luck- I hope you find the trick that works best for you soon! :)
BTW... hammock life is Muuuuuuuuccchhhhhhh easier now that I use a quilt instead! :)
Perkolady
Just Jeff
12-01-2006, 13:44
Michele, you might consider something like a zippered SPE (http://www.tothewoods.net/HomemadeGearSPEZipper.html) like I had at Hot Springs. It would make it much easier to get into your bag, would keep it zipped up but still let you roll around, and you can use the bag you have now if it has a separating zipper.
Really needs the spandex instead of the shockcord like mine has, though...the shockcord allows the DWR to come off the pad in places and cold air gets under there. Didn't have any stretchy material at the time, though.
Or just get a thicker underquilt and lose the pad :D
Hana Hanger
12-01-2006, 13:49
Since my Big Agnes Sleeping Bag failed as far as the rating went to keep me warm in a tent...I use it in the hammock as a bottom quilt. Sometimes with the BA air core pad inside, usually not and a quilt on top now. It is by far much easier to just lay down on top of all the stuff then try to climb inside and keep it all smooth under you.
Costco has a nice quilt 550 to 600 fill in beautiful colors for $24.99 I think it was...got two of them. Now to see if they will not become all moldy while I use them in the hammock, due to where I live.
Great info everyone...thanks! I also thought about using some pieces of velcro to help keep the sleeping pad in place. Would that work?
Just Jeff
12-01-2006, 14:56
Velcro might work...might also work to just put a bead of silicone across the pad in 2-3 places.
Great avatar, Hana.
southmark
12-01-2006, 15:07
Velcro works for me. I added two small pieces of velcro at the head end of my SPE/CCF pad and my HH. It works great and keeps my pad in place all night. I also use a 3/4 pad with velcro attachments for my sit pad to extend the length under my feet.
headchange4u
12-01-2006, 15:07
I agree, this is a little hard to explain.
1. Stick my head and shoulders through the slit and turn around so that I am facing the opposite direction I would be facing if I were lying down. At this point I am standing up and bent over at the waist, with the ridgeline against my back.
2. Position the pad(s) the proper place, diagonally in the hammock.
3. Fully unzip my sleeping bag, open it up, and put it on top of the pad in the position it would be in if I were sleeping. I may pull the foot section off to one side to get it out of my way.
4. Turn around and sit down on top of the bag/pad. My butt should basically be where it is when I sleep.
5. Remove shoes and leave them under the hammock.
6. Pull my feet into the hammock and make sure the slit is closed well and then put my feet into the bag and zip it up to my waist or mid-thigh. At this time I will also make any adjustments needed for the position of the lower section of the pad and sleeping bag.
7. I will then lie back making sure I am centered on the sleeping bag and pad. If I need to adjust myself I can reach back and grab the hammock fabric just above my head and use it to pull of lift myself into position.
8. Zip the bag the rest of the way up and settle in for sleep.
9. Get back out and go to the bathroom.
10. Repeat steps 1-8. :)
I know this sounds complicated but with very little practice it becomes almost second nature. I would say that all the steps listed above probably takes me 15-20 seconds and I will be ready for sleep.
Perkolady
12-01-2006, 15:31
8. Zip the bag the rest of the way up and settle in for sleep.
9. Get back out and go to the bathroom.
10. Repeat steps 1-8. :)
LOLOLOL!!!
Sorry, Michele, I forgot to add THAT part to my post as well.... :D
Perkolady
LOLOLOL!!!
Sorry, Michele, I forgot to add THAT part to my post as well.... :D
Perkolady
Isn't that the truth! :D So why IS it that we have to pee more while camping than when at home? This happens even when it's warm outside for me, so I don't think it's the whole low body temperature thing.
I've been doing something similar to you headchange, and I think all I need is a little more practice....afterall, I've only slept in my hammock a total of 6 times now! Some nights are easier than others, so I think like anything else, I just need to do it more. I also like to remember that on the AT, the majority of my time will NOT be spent in a cold-weather set-up, so I look forward to the days when I can just hop right in and chill.
Thanks everyone.....hearing how everyone else does everything always gives me something to think about.
Just Jeff
12-01-2006, 16:04
Isn't that the truth! :D So why IS it that we have to pee more while camping than when at home? This happens even when it's warm outside for me, so I don't think it's the whole low body temperature thing.
Maybe you're better hydrated when you're hiking. Try laying off the water an hour or two before bedtime.
Perkolady
12-01-2006, 16:21
I wonder if it has anything to do with losing so much salt while hiking?
Since salt usually makes us retain water... maybe when we sweat some of that out, we don't retain as much as a result?
I can't help but drink before sleeping- I'm ALWAYS thirsty then for some reason.
Anyway, I would still rather wrestle with the hammock/sleeping bag, than get out of the tent, all stiff and LIMPING to pee in the wee hours.....
Perk
headchange4u
12-01-2006, 16:28
I think that the main reason that I have to go pee so many times while camping is the fact that I rarely sleep all the way through the night when camping. If I wake up I gotta go potty.
At home I normally sleep through the night so the only bathroom breaks I need is before I go to sleep and when I wake up.
FanaticFringer
12-01-2006, 16:58
I think that the main reason that I have to go pee so many times while camping is the fact that I rarely sleep all the way through the night when camping. If I wake up I gotta go potty.
At home I normally sleep through the night so the only bathroom breaks I need is before I go to sleep and when I wake up.
Thats how it is for me also.
Anyway, I would still rather wrestle with the hammock/sleeping bag, than get out of the tent, all stiff and LIMPING to pee in the wee hours.....
Perk
Amen sister! It took 1 night in my Hubba with excruciating pain in my hips and back and zero sleep to convince me I needed to see what this hammocking thing was all about.
I'm fully aware I'm just experiencing the learning curve of hammocking and don't expect I'll get discouraged....I have a reference point....the rock hard ground! :D
Amen sister! It took 1 night in my Hubba with excruciating pain in my hips and back and zero sleep to convince me I needed to see what this hammocking thing was all about.
don't blame the tent. The tent does what it is suppose to do. Maybe you didn't have the right gear.
don't blame the tent. The tent does what it is suppose to do. Maybe you didn't have the right gear.
Oh..I don't blame my Hubba...I loved my Hubba...I blame the ground (and my aging body)! :D