SockPod test

Last Saturday night I finally got to test out my "SockPod" in some cool-ish weather.

Temps got down to around 47F, and there was a light breeze, around 5-10 mph. Weather conditions were clear so I didn't bother with my tarp. My setup was: my hammock, JRB Stealth quilt, bug bivvy (still lots of mosquitos out, and they come after me), light summer quilt (a cut off and modified panel of a synthetic bag, with a footbox sewn in), and the sockpod. I slept in light convertible (to shorts ;) ) pants, short-sleeve Nike drifit shirt, fleece vest, and a beanie type hat. I typically get coldest around 5-6 am (when it's coldest out) when I sleep.

The hammock suspension was cinch buckles and new polyester 1" wide straps from Ed Speer, with loops sewn in by me. The setup was done in the dark, and there was initially some difficulty in getting my spare extra long hennessy tree hugger to work around one of the big trees I have to hang between. I fastened everything extra tight to get everything to reach, and I expected some overnight stretch in the new straps.

I slept with the sockpod completely enclosing me, with a good sized vent hole zipped open next to my face.

Went to bed around 11pm. At 1:00, I woke up and closed the vent after looking around out of it for a while. I mostly wanted to know what kind of condensation issues I might have to worry about (there was none) and wanted to block the breeze that was blowing in. I woke up at 2:00, with a few cold spots from underneath. I discovered that I wasn't completely "in" the stealth underquilt, adjusted it (reach-around method) and went back to sleep. Woke up at 7:00am with the local bluejays yelling nearby. It was a very comfortable night, and I would say a successful test. I didn't feel the breeze stealing my warmth at all, and had plenty of ventilation from the ends.

Points for me to take away from this were: 1.) with the tightness of the hang, one has to be careful to not hang the sockpod very tight. A tighter hung sockpod would compress the underquilt, and would cause loss of loft (and heat). 2.) It'll be easier to get everything right once the bugs have stopped flying, and I can lose the bugnetting, (of course, I will then be adding another layer of underquilt when it's very cold, so maybe that's a wash). 3.) With a tarp deployed, and deployed fairly low, I can block some of the wind from even hitting the sockpod, which would also increase its effectiveness.

PS.
I did have a little trouble loosening the straps to take it the hammock down, due to the fact that once I woke up, I cinched them up again as tight as I could to see how much the straps had stretched (about 1/8 of an inch, total). I had to put my body weight on the straps themselves to finally get them loose enough to get them down. Typically, I would NOT tighten straps the next morning, so that my overnight weight would have allowed the straps to stretch enough to be loose enough to work with.

So overall a successful night.

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. I am still going to make one of the pods. That was very informative. I will post pics when I finally do it.

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Originally Posted by bhancock

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. I am still going to make one of the pods. That was very informative. I will post pics when I finally do it.

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Sounds great. I'll be very interested to see your pics!

Revisiting this topic, since I've done more testing at MAHHA (Maryland) this past weekend.

Using a top loading homemade hammock, bug bivvy (which was not necessary), JRB Stealth underquilt, light summer top quilt, and the SockPod. I had forgotten my tarp in the rush to get my stuff and DD1's stuff out the door (hey, at least I remembered hers) but it made for a more distinct test, I suppose. Luckily it didn't rain.

I'm not really sure about the temps, here is what it seemed like to me (and those who were there please correct me if I'm wrong).

First night, went to bed in low 70's Fahrenheit and dropped down to mid 60's. I slept with a small opening unzipped in the SockPod for ventilation, and closed the opening as it got colder in the early morning hours. I ended up with it entirely closed. I wore long pants, cotton t-shirt, and I was so comfortable I didn't want to get up the next morning.

Second night, same setup ... It started out warmer at first, maybe due to the hike up into camp. The night got noticeably colder, maybe low 60's to upper 50's? So the SockPod got closed a bit earlier, with a small hole for ventilation it was still comfortably warm without the top quilt. There was a light and very cool breeze outside, but it was blocked and I remained warm inside. There was plenty of ventilation even with the zipper closed, but no perceptible heat stealing breeze.

My next version will be tapered at the ends to use less material. It will be most likely just a Pod, (with no drawstring closures to use it as a sock) since that seems to be how I ended up using it the most. I'm keeping the 96" zipper though, which allows for a wide range of temp uses IMO.