Printable View
Oh my... just took delivery of my 20* uq and cuben winter palace tarp. :boggle: Cannot BELIEVE how nothing it weighs! I'm at work, so can't really unpack and inspect properly, but boy am I itching to get out to try these things!
Thanks for what looks like a **** fine job!
I saw one of HG's CF tarps this past weekend. I was amazed at how thin it was. Defintiely great work by Adam. Have fun unpacking and setting up! I'm jealous!
Time for some hanging in the backyard. That was my choice for bedding down last night.
Yeah, it's mighty thin! I'm gonna have problems sleeping in the summer back home in Sweden, when there's what could pass for darkness althoguh not really for about 2-3 hours only.. :laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubba
Backyard huh... not for us apartment dwellers... :( No, I'm gonna have to stealth camp in the woods outside of town this weekend or something. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by kk4df
Congrats on some great new gear!
Very nice! I've had my eye on one of the HG Cuben tarps...
Got home and unpacked it now, wow! I've never had anything to do with cuben fibre before, but dang is it ever light! It also feels pretty brittle, I barely dared pull it taught! I guess I'll just need to get used to it - have been using DD:s tarps until now, which are probably to be likened to a Chevy Blazer in the circumstances....
I can also state that HammockGear seem to use the same kitchen scale as I do when weighing their gear (except mine isn't in ounces :laugh:) - pretty much on the gram what they said on their website: 700g for the 20*incubator UQ, and 275 for the tarp, both in their stuffsacks. My pack is getting lighter, and my sleep is getting comfier! Talk about win-win! :D
Edit: it seems on these two items compared to my previous uq and tarp, I have shed 1365 grams from my pack!
How exciting! I can't wait for my HG goodies to get here :)
Yea, OK KOm4, but where's the proof??? :)
Coming! I have to get the stuff outdoors - pics from an apartment (that additionally looks like a bomb explosion in an outdoor shop) don't quite do it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomer
3 lb savings! NICE!
I know exactly how you feel. Isnt it an awesome feeling.
Ok, so I promised pictures of the set-up. I was sitting at 1326 hrs nursing a hang-over just having eaten scrambled eggs. With the grey overcast, wind, and 0 degrees (c) outside I was going to give it a miss. Somehow the cholesterol entered my system, so at 1327 hrs I decided to pack up, change and head out.
So I pulled my gear out from underneath the bed, shoved it in stuff sacks and down into the backpack. At 1413 hrs I embarked the commuter train that took me three stops out from the city. 1422 hrs I debarked said train and headed for the trail head. About 20 minutes later I found myself a good spot, about 100m from the trail where two trees were just waiting to fulfil their purpose in life: to support a hammock. It looked thus:
Cuben fibre tarp
http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/DSC_3752.jpg
HammockGear Incubator (20*F)
http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/DSC_3751.jpg
From a distance
http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/DSC_3753.jpg
I figured I owed HamMike a pic from the t-shirt group buy, so here goes along with the 2QZQ underquilt protector I brough to tinker with as well
http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/DSC_3755.jpg
A couple of gear conclusions: the cuben fibre tarp has a real silver glow to it, so it is way less stealthy than I expected. However, in the forest such as it was I don’t think anything other than coyote brown would have been the least bit stealthy. But boy, oh boy is it light!
The underquilt is a wonder of warmth. I lay in the hammock with nothing on top, and I felt I could have certainly fallen asleep – the warmth just came back from underneath me. It was wonderful! And that's with about five minutes of setting things up - I didn't even spend any time making changes or whatnot.
This was also my first outing with whoopie slings. I tried to use a stick for a toggle on the tree straps, but the wood this time of the year seems pretty rotten, so they just disintegrated when I pulled the marlin spike hitch taught. I used a carabiner in the end, but only as a toggle – I didn’t cheat and clip the whoopee sling into it. Conclusion is that they are for certain less bulky, but the gain in anything else is negligible (i.e. ease of set-up or weight – webbing straps with buckles work just as fine for me). Now I have them, and I will enjoy them.
The UQ protector turned out to be real, I mean REAL big. Probably good to have excess fabric rather than winding up to have a too small one, which wouldn’t be a protector.. It doesn’t matter though, since it weights about as much as the air. It seems like it will come in handy during the misty mornings of Viking land!
At 1633 hrs I embarked the train heading back to town, and now I’m lying in my couch typing this (after various internet shenanigans such as uploading photos etc). A split-second decision, and I had me an outing of some 2,5 hrs, tinkering with the hammock in its natural environment. I usually consider where I live to not have too many opportunities for these activities, mostly since actual camping isn’t allowed where I was today (back home you’re allowed to camp for a night basically anywhere that isn’t too close to a house), but I think I have to start giving it a bit more credit.
Wow, this almost turned into a trip report, for just 2,5 hrs in the woods! Well, I guess it's easy to get carried away with new gear. :D Just to finish off: cats seem to like hammocks too!
http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/DSC_3749.jpg
Thanks for the photos! I got some 2QZQ goodness too. I like it big, because it does not compress the UQ. As far as the color in the woods, maybe the new camo will help hide us?
My pleasure! I wonder about the camo. It depends how they colour the fabric I suppose. Mine is a rather mellow green, until you strap it up in daylight, then it takes on that silvery tone as seen in the pics. I'm thinking it's something inherent to the cuben fabric, but I could be wrong (again!).Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomer
Cool. Thanks for the pics. Sounds like you had a nice afternoon (other than the hangover) :)