Backyard hanging at 34F (new low for me!)

[NCPatrick]

Hi All,

I slept my backyard last Saturday night and was mostly comfortable at 34F. I finally overcame my claustrophobia problem by using my sleeping bag as a quilt and not overdressing.

(In the past I was dressed in too many layers, and zipped up in my bag. Usually woke up with a start, feeling like I couldn't escape! I don't know how you guys and gals sleep in hammock socks, and mummy bags, and etc. GAH!!!:eek: )

Setup:
Hammock stand
HH Explorer deluxe
KAQ underquilt
Neo 9x9 tarp
Eddie Bauer 40F sleeping Bag (as quilt)
Small square pillow from Home Depot

Wearing:
Barefoot,
Sport Hill running pants,
short sleeve cotton shirt,
Fleece vest,
Toque (stocking hat).

I finally figured out how to deploy the KAQ correctly and have it stay in position (half hitch once you set it right), but I need a new bag. I had some cold spots where the bag didn't quite cover here and there, and the bag just wasn't warm enough by itself for the most part (no foot box, for example).

After Christmas, I'm looking to buy the FanaticFringe 30F quilt (http://www.fanaticfringe.com/page6.html), I guess the one with Polarguard Delta, since the Ray-Way folks are on walkabout.

Still can't pony up the bucks for a JRB quilt (or talk my wife into spending that much for a camping quilt, period) <sigh>.

Anyone have any experience with the FF quilt, or know of any other lower cost quilts?

[millergear]

Ed Speer has some down quilts on sale.

Speer Top Blankets
45F rating, 750 fill down, 1.5" loft, 14.4 oz weight, forest green/silver, $109
45F rating, 750 fill down, 1.5" loft, 14.5 oz weight, forest green/silver, $109
45F rating, 750 fill down, 1.5" loft, 15.5 oz weight, golden orange, $109

Details at: http://www.speerhammocks.com/Products/Sale.htm

At 6' 2" I found that sleeping on the ground I needed my FF Quilt to be 80" but sleeping in a hammock the 72" fits well.

Steve

[NCPatrick]

Ed Speer has some down quilts on sale.

Speer Top Blankets
45F rating, 750 fill down, 1.5" loft, 14.4 oz weight, forest green/silver, $109
45F rating, 750 fill down, 1.5" loft, 14.5 oz weight, forest green/silver, $109
45F rating, 750 fill down, 1.5" loft, 15.5 oz weight, golden orange, $109

Details at: http://www.speerhammocks.com/Products/Sale.htm

At 6' 2" I found that sleeping on the ground I needed my FF Quilt to be 80" but sleeping in a hammock the 72" fits well.

Steve

Thanks Steve!

I got an email from Fanatic Fringe explaining the dimensions of the quilt, they said the "standard Quilt is 74/75 inches long, 48" wide, and taper down to a 20" wide fully insulated footbox". They don't charge extra for length unless you go over 80 inches.

Thanks for the Speer link. I was looking for something warmer than 45F rating. (Somewhere closer to 30 or under). Not sure I could stomach sleeping in a "Frog Sac". Sounds a little gross, although I'm sure folks just love them, heheh.

How warm have you been able to sleep in your FF Quilt?

[millergear]

"How warm have you been able to sleep in your FF Quilt?"

So far I've only used Quilts down to 50. On the ground I always got a bit of a chill as I'm a side sleeper and using a BA 2 1/2" thick mat I'd always get a draft. In my hammocks that hasn't been a problem. I'll be using 2 quilts, top and bottom, with my Pea Pod as soon as Santa drops them off! With a total loft of 12" I hope to be toasty down to single digits.

Cheers,

Steve

[The Breeze]

why cant you just use a -25 sleeping bag in a hammock and not the quilts u speak of newbie please over look going to look at the hammocks to day

[millergear]

A sleeping bag's insulation will get crushed under your weight and your butt will freeze!

[slowhike]

millergear`s right. you compress the insulation on the bottom, taking most (nearly all) of it`s insulation value away.
using a really thick bag would leave you w/ a little better insulation on bottom because there was so much to begin with. but it still wouldn`t be enough.
and with the heavy weight bag & what insulation value was left on bottom as you lay in it, you would end up with to much insulation on top & not enough on bottom.
chilled below, while sweating everywhere else.

[millergear]

And (I forgot to mention) the sides of the hammock will also compress the bags insulation.

[Just Jeff]

I slept in a -30F bag at 35F and froze because the insulation was crushed. Read the intro here (http://www.tothewoods.net/HammockCampingWarm.html) if you're still confused.

[NCPatrick]

Thanks Jeff, I was going to link to your site for details -- I'm glad you beat me to it.

[Patrick]

Patrick,

Glad to see you're getting the temps down. I'm interested to hear more about your hitches to keep things set. I've not had any trouble with the adjustment line slipping myself. The only concerns I've heard have been from a person or two making their own. What I've been recommending lately is, once you have it set, to tie a small stopper knot behind the cordlock to help hold it. This should give you more than enough grip and the cordlocks are big enough that you can still easily move the cord with the lock open. You can also have three or four of these for multiple conditions.

I hear you about the claustrophobia thing. In August, I was camping on an island in the rain and woke up from some crazy nightmare I don't remember. Whatever it was, I got the claustrophobia bad, which has never happened to me before. I had to get out immediately. After standing in the rain a while, I thought I was calmed down and got back in, but it happened again. I thought I was going to have to sit on the beach soaked all night, but finally managed to go to sleep.

I was out last month for the first time since then and was a little worried about it happening again. It started to a little bit, but I cracked a book and it went away immediately.

It has given me the impetus to finally make my own Speer-type hammock, though. I never liked being closed in a tent. The Hennessy is better, but it's still not as nice and open and "outside" as much as tarp camping was. I'm hoping the new hammock will be even better.

Anyway, glad to see everything is working out. I remember you first talking about it and being amazed by the amount of clothing you were wearing to bed :)

[NCPatrick]

Hi Patrick!

The hitches I'm referring to are the same thing you recommend, just a small stopper knot. I haven't tried moving the cordlock over one yet. That's a great idea to have different settings for multiple conditions. You learn something new every day!

Claustrophobia seems to be abating now that I'm wearing fewer layers. At one point I had way too many layers on and then the sleeping bag, and had rigged so that my head was much lower than my feet... GAH! I FLEW out of there from a deep sleep and had to go walk around to calm down. I still wake up now and think about it a bit, but have at least been able to get back to sleep. I think tarp tensioners would help me with that as well. I'm getting quite a bit of "tarp wilt" :D closing my tarp in on me at night...

Things are MUCH much better though. I'm looking at the weather and the schedule for the next few weekends to see if I can get back out there soon.

[slowhike]

i like hanging my tarp a lot higher than most folks... unless there's lots of wind.
and i like a narrow hammock (48-50") so i can enjoy the view.
line tensioners might help w/ the "wilting tarp".

[NCPatrick]

i like hanging my tarp a lot higher than most folks... unless there's lots of wind.
and i like a narrow hammock (48-50") so i can enjoy the view.
line tensioners might help w/ the "wilting tarp".

Hi slowhike!

My backyard gets a fair bit of wind, and we're up on a hill -- but down in a valley, so it gets just a few degrees colder than forecast at 4-6am. I've been trying to set the tarp very low for a few degrees extra warmth. I'd like to order the Jacks R Better self tensioning lines (http://www.jacksrbetter.com/index_files/Self%20Tensioning%20Lines.htm) as soon as I recover from the holidays.