Sorry, My Bad!!- John
Printable View
Sorry, My Bad!!- John
Thank you all for helping me decide what to get (especially BillyBob & Dale).
I ordered a Peapod with overstuff 2oz in the bottom 4 tubes.
I can't wait to get it and try it out!
~S~
We await your test reports! Good luck, hope it works for you!
:scared:Oh-My-God:scared:
This is THE Biggest, Baddest down item I have ever seen!
Words cannot describe this. peapod makes it sound smallish. Wow! Is all I can say. Just stunned, really...it's like they artfully sewed 4 high loft Sleeping bags together. I had to search around then house to find something to store it in. I am using a Huge contractor garbage bag like 42 gallon size. Nothing else I had could contain the beast!
It packs down into a 4.5x7.5x14" stuff sack and weighs 2 pounds 11 Ozs. I got it with 2 Ozs overstuff in the bottom 4 tubes for a total of 26.5oz of 900 fill down. Now that i see it, what i paid for was a steal!
It's going to be awhile before I can challenge the temp range of this thing. I will try to get pictures this weekend when I hang it.
~S~
I would love a pod for car camping/extreme cold backpacking.
They make me drool a little every time I see one.
Mmmmm... Waaarrrrmmm.
Def. use the PeaPod or PolarPod with a Traveler or a hammock very similar to it--just to reinforce what has been said, the shallow nature of the Traveler will allow the Pod to lie on you removing the sizeable air space (that would need to be heated) that is created when using the more pronounced trough style hammocks.
Not that you will need more room for the diagonal lay but if you do or anyone else is compressing down or inadvertently opening the velcro study the MountainHardware Sleeping Bag Expander pictured below.
My 'normal' 30F PeaPod wasn't enough so a saint-Samaritan added 6oz of 900fp down to it and then I added the sleeping bag expander.
If you are wanting to avoid the issue of moisture inside the pod generated by completely velcroing yourself inside the pod, look at a JRB down hood--it mates perfectly with the velcro of the PeaPod....speaking of velcro and the sleeping bag expander-it comes with zipper-simply remove then and add velcro.
One reason I was compressing down in my pod system when going for the diagonal lay was because I was (and will continue when temps warrant) using a double pod system....the inner pod was/is a 20F Wallcreeper and the PeaPod the outer.
I also have the original Speer Pod rated at something (sorry can't remember the exact rating) like 45F (or was it 55F). It is sewn through construction and probably only intended for mild temps. I wonder how it would do as a comby with PeaPod or the PolarPod.....might have to experiment with that combo this winter.
Anyway congratulations on your pod!
Thanks MedicineMan! Really appreciate the great tips. I can already tell there is going to a bit of learning curve to this thing. I'm going to sleep in it tonight with my traveler. Just tried to hang it and did a test lay. I could tell that I was compressing the down. Had the end of the pod lined up with the hammock ends and seemed too tight for the pod. Do you try to get the ends of the pod around the gathered ends or is it ok to close it up and let the gathered end stick out a little?
I will continue to fiddle with it. Report back in the morning!
~S~
The gathered ends can be as way out of the pod as you need.....or on one end the gathered end can be inside the pod. For me both ends of the hammock are 6-8 inches out of the pod and I use the cord from the pod to cinch down the hammock at the point where the distal ends of the pod wrap around the hammock.
In my youtube channel there is a vid showing my step by step approach to the double pod system but cant remember if it details the ends but I know it covers the JRB hood attachment and the sleeping bag extender inserted into place---that extender gives me 8 inches more of girth where I needed it to prevent down compression.
Def. tell us how it goes with the pod. The PeaPod was/is one of the great hammock inventions and with the Traveler and those like it you dont have to carry the extra insulation on top so you are in essence carrying a full length UQ and TQ just all connected into one; so I wonder why its not used more.
I think Wisenber has several PeaPods--one rated to 30F and one to 20F so I think the 30F model could see much use throughout the year.
If you are like me, when using the PeaPod on a several night journey I dont separate the PeaPod from the Traveler once it is set up----or even set it up at home--then both together go into the stuff sack. Once in camp up goes the tarp then the Pod/hammock and done! much quicker than dealing with a UQ and TQ and hammock.
Now another combo I've used is with another great invention in hammockdom...combining a PeaPod and the MacIX hammock sock...in the deep winter when anything coming down H20 wise will be solid there is no need to carry a tarp!
Last year on Roan first night I was with full on winter tarp set up---second night per Mac's suggestion just the pod system and the hammock sock and I was good to 1.6F in the non stop 20k winds we had.
What has gotten me excited was watching BlazeAway put his PeaPod into a ULA Ohm!
Ok, so I spent the night in the "Pod" It was about 50*F when I went in. I was very warm. Sometime in the middle of the night, I got over heated and had to opener her up to vent.
Around 4 or 5am the temp dropped to 41-42*F and I closed it full over me. I was a little afraid of re-breathing my own CO2 that I stayed awake. I was feeling some chill and noticed that it was coming from the Velcro area. I was wearing shorts and a tee shirt (normally I wear a smartwool base layer) but thought I would see how warm it was with just minimal clothing. Also had on a fleece hat. The cold seeping from the Velcro area was enough to make me worry about the 20 degree temp rating. I think it would be a better design if the Velcro area overlapped by a few inches or had some collar or baffle that sleeping bags often have next to the zippers.
On inspection I also noticed that there are 8 tubes that make up the quilt. The bottom 4 and the top 2 have baffles between the tubes. However, between the bottom 4 tubes the two top tubes, my quilt has sewn through stitching. I am not sure if all the Pods are that way or not. Maybe they had to do that in order to add the overstuff and sew it back? It seems like an area where cold could seep in as well. Now granted I am cold sleeper and have to take away about 10 degrees in warmth to any rated sleeping bag/quilt to get an accurate number for me. I also feel that I could have gotten the quilt closer to the bottom of my hammock. As it stood there was about an inch or two gap between the hammock bottom and the quilt.
It is the warmest quilt I have, but I think it's going to take a while before I can dial it in. For starters, this thing is so long that there is a lot of space (air) that I am sure my body is not doing a good job of heating. I am not sure why the Pod is as long as it is but for me if it were a foot shorter on both ends, it would be more thermal efficient. My thoughts at this point are to stuff clothing that I already carry to fill up the voids at the ends of the hammock. I think with this quilt I will need to have some sort of top covering to reduce exposure to the heat loss on from the Velcro closure. I may try installing some sort of batting over the Velcro area to correct it.
When I think of the difference between my traditional quilts and the Pod, they are many. One of the nice things I really appreciate about the Pod is that I move around a lot, back to side, side to stomach and repeat. With my traditional quilts, I always feel the draft as I shift and have to reposition the quilts to accommodate my new body position. Once inside the Pod, I can move around a great deal without introducing drafts.
The feel of the Pod is really different as well. Kind of like being in big roomy mummy sleeping bag. It was difficult to tell where the hammock ended and where the quilt started. Overall I am intrigued by the Pod and what it can do. Theoretically this set up should be a lot warmer then the equivalent UQ/TQ because of the way it wraps around you. I will be spending the next few months trying to bridge theory and reality.
~S~