Hammock, UQ or Operator Error ?

[OutandBack]

Just received my 3S Incubator and tested it last night in the back yard.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=821&pictureid=7344

I was a very mild night ~45F.
I did the usual tweaks to the shockcord (knot about 5" below the factory knot) and snugged the end cords (4" each) to get a good seal.

All seemed fine for about an hour then noticed my shoulders had not warmed up like my feet and butt.

While laying in the hammock I stuck my hand between the UQ and hammock and notices the quilt was touching my butt and legs but
there was a 4" gap between the hammock and UQ from my waist to head. The ends were tight and sealed against the hammock.

Anyway thought I'd ask if anyone had this issue and what you did to fix it.
After breakfast I'm heading back out to play with the adjustments.

thanks for any info you can offer...

[BillyBob58]

I have no experience with this brand yet. But based on other gear I have used: how is your head positioned relative to the UQ? More than one UQ that I use requires fairly critical positioning. The main thing that usually needs to be dealt with is making sure the quilt's head end edge is not too close to your head, or even your neck. It might even need to be ~ at shoulder level for optimum fit.

That's all I've got, no other ideas or guess'.

[Cranky Bear]

Sometimes because of the length and weight of the quilt can cause it to sag even though it looks like it is ok! Try using a piece of shock cord tied to the small tabs on the UQ to raise it up/hold the quilt up higher (just loop it over the hammocks ridgeline)!

[stormcrow]

Thanks for the post. We usually add an insert with our quilts now that explain the fit is determined by the length of the main shock cord. We provide 14 feet of the main suspension to give maximum allowance to some systems, however, you almost certainly will need to throw another knot in next to the original to pull it up tighter. It sounds like it's a bit loose, but once you pull it up with a new knot, perhaps 6 inches at a time, you won't have to mess with it again. The newly released design also features the head end and the foot end, with the slightly narrow section for the feet, so I hope the difference is obvious. We'll make sure the directions are included with the new Incubators. We are also releasing videos on the design very soon, so that should help folks set things up a bit more accurately. Sorry for the confusion!

(Thorwren under Stormcrow's profile - oops)

[OutandBack]

Thanks everyone for your prompt suggestions and advice it's much appreciated.

I think I found what I was doing wrong.
I had the UQ adjusted to much towards my head.
The UQ is tighter on the bottom end for better contact for your legs.
Butt and above is deeper. When I adjusted the UQ farther down basically my butt went into the deeper section of the UQ and the gap between UQ and hammock went away.

Serves me right to set this up in the dark last night. Finding the head end and foot end was easy. The foot end is smaller.

I tried to photograph this. Maybe you can see what I'm trying to explain. The far end of pict 1 is the head end. See how much deeper it looks?

http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/files/1/0/3/3/6/img_0001_thumb.jpg (http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=13002&c=13)
http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/files/1/0/3/3/6/img_0002_thumb.jpg (http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=13003&c=13)

Thorwren, If what I am say in not correct please correct me and thank you for making such a great product. I can't believe this is a 3S quilt. It is packed with down and I love it.

[OutandBack]

I just noticed looking at the photo posted in the first post
Left side of picture is foot end. kinda shows the tighter leg area opening to the butt/shoulders area. I assume this is by design.

[blueblaze]

good info/question. mine is on the way!:D

[StumpJumper]

At the head/foot end-channels of your Incubator are extra cord loops (bottom, middle)... Tie a piece of shock cord to these and then extend them to the S-Biners Stormcrow provides. The new connection point will do a really nice job of pulling the UQ length-wise keeping it from sagging.

Here's mine, starting right about the 1:20 minute mark.

XvJPKZnSXN0

I also added a cordlock to the entire shockcord loop provided for quick adjustments. I found tightening ~8" made things perfect.

Hope that helps

[Bomber]

I find that i need to have the main elastic really tight(my knot is prolly 1ft 6inch tighter than the original knot), this helps to keep the underquilt snug against the hammockbody.
Also if i tighten the end elastics to much, i get a poor fit.(And if in real cold conditions, i just put a pierce of sc over the ridgeline and i get a much better fit:))

[grampa]

I just got to use my Incubator a couple weeks ago for the first time, here in the depths of our SoCal winter - the low temp was a chilling 50*!!!! I used it with a WBBB, and was toasty warm all night. No cold spots, not even any cool spots!

Afterwards I noticed those little tabs along the side - couldn't you throw a shock cord over the SRL to snug the UQ up, if needed?

[DiscoveryDiver]

Thanks for the post. We usually add an insert with our quilts now that explain the fit is determined by the length of the main shock cord. We provide 14 feet of the main suspension to give maximum allowance to some systems, however, you almost certainly will need to throw another knot in next to the original to pull it up tighter. It sounds like it's a bit loose, but once you pull it up with a new knot, perhaps 6 inches at a time, you won't have to mess with it again. The newly released design also features the head end and the foot end, with the slightly narrow section for the feet, so I hope the difference is obvious. We'll make sure the directions are included with the new Incubators. We are also releasing videos on the design very soon, so that should help folks set things up a bit more accurately. Sorry for the confusion!

(Thorwren under Stormcrow's profile - oops)
...This is good to know...I hadn't noticed it has a thinner end..:lol:

[DiscoveryDiver]

At the head/foot end-channels of your Incubator are extra cord loops (bottom, middle)... Tie a piece of shock cord to these and then extend them to the S-Biners Stormcrow provides. The new connection point will do a really nice job of pulling the UQ length-wise keeping it from sagging.

Here's mine, starting right about the 1:20 minute mark.

XvJPKZnSXN0

I also added a cordlock to the entire shockcord loop provided for quick adjustments. I found tightening ~8" made things perfect.

Hope that helps
Great video, nice tips/mods...looks like a well thought-out rig...I might be incorporating some of your tweaks...

[OutandBack]

I to enjoyed your video HobieCat. Thank you for posting it.

[Red Wing]

I've watched this video several times before purchasing my inc, didn't know this was you. Thanks for the vid buddy.

A lot of the tweaks you did to yours aren't required with the new design due to the new differential between head and foot and the addition of the GG loops on the corners to keep the quilt taught without having to tighten suspension. This new quilt should be set it and forget it.

[OutandBack]

couldn't you throw a shock cord over the SRL to snug the UQ up, if needed?

In my case adding a SC would not have helped.
I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this, sorry folks.

The primary SC has been stretched and knotted to where there is only about 4" of stretch left before the SC is fully stretched.

The end SC have been adjusted and I get a seal at both ends. No air is leaking in.

The bottom of my UQ is not equally concaved (hope that's a word).
It is shallower at the foot end for about the length of your legs and deeper where your butt and back goes.

I had the UQ adjusts to far towards my head so my butt was touching the shallow part this left a gap in the UQ to hammock. The ends were still sealed.

When I moved the UQ down towards my feet my butt went into the deeper part of the UQ and the gap went away.

Clear as mud, right, haha

[Red Wing]

haha, the way Adam explained it to me was this:

Your legs don't bend backwards, so if your whole underquilt maintains the same curve throughout to comform to the hammock (the pleating that gathers the ends of the quilt form the curve, depending on how extreme the pleat is) then your least efficient area is around your legs since there will naturally be a dip or sag under them, hence why people started adding the extra SC in the middle of the end of the quilt on the foot ends.

Now that there is a head and foot end differential, he's pulled in the pleats more (shortening the baffle WIDTH, not height... even this isn't exactly accurate but the best I can explain) for the foot area, creating a "platform" (that you can see in the first pic in this thread, you can tell the flat side of the UQ) for your legs and then a "pocket" for the rest of you. Creates a snug hassle free fit.

Picked mine up last night and he dialed it in for me and I can tell you, once it's dialed in (took 2, 3 minutes for the FIRST time dial in?) it's completely hassle free and you can feel the UQ conform to your body, we even tried it at an extreme diagonal to see if you'd move off the quilt or stretch the sides, worked perfectly, regardless of lay.

[OutandBack]

haha, the way Adam explained it to me was this:

Your legs don't bend backwards, so if your whole underquilt maintains the same curve throughout to comform to the hammock (the pleating that gathers the ends of the quilt form the curve, depending on how extreme the pleat is) then your least efficient area is around your legs since there will naturally be a dip or sag under them, hence why people started adding the extra SC in the middle of the end of the quilt on the foot ends.

Now that there is a head and foot end differential, he's pulled in the pleats more (shortening the baffle WIDTH, not height... even this isn't exactly accurate but the best I can explain) for the foot area, creating a "platform" (that you can see in the first pic in this thread, you can tell the flat side of the UQ) for your legs and then a "pocket" for the rest of you. Creates a snug hassle free fit.

Thank you slo, exactly. If you screw up like I did and your butt is on the leg shelf no adjustment to the suspension will close the gap.
Now that I understand it, it's a sweet design, way to go Adam!

http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/files/1/0/3/3/6/shallowdeep_uq_thumb.jpg (http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=13008&c=13)