Who's cold weather testing this week?

[Ratdog]

Relaxing out in the hammock, 17 degrees outside. Watching the AFC playoff game on the ipad.

UGQ 20 degree Zepplin, 2QZQ UQP, HG 0 degree Burrow, WBBB XLC

The little 12 lb dog has joined me in the hammock, he's a hammock hound.

Now if the migrating geese would keep quiet, I could snooze a little.

[The Tree Frog]

Relaxing out in the hammock, 17 degrees outside. Watching the AFC playoff game on the ipad.

UGQ 20 degree Zepplin, 2QZQ UQP, HG 0 degree Burrow, WBBB XLC

The little 12 lb dog has joined me in the hammock, he's a hammock hound.

Now if the migrating geese would keep quiet, I could snooze a little.

Nice to have a portable heater!

I didn't go out last night because I wanted to set up in the daylight. I am set up and sleeping out tonight. Should be 15f or less all night. Setup previously posted in this thread.

Enjoy your sleep!

[BillyBob58]

I'm so frustrated, I tried to hang again last night. The temp was 38 when I went out and it got to 30 by the time I went inside around 7:00a/m I have a brand new hg 20 degree Phoenix uq and a new wl tq rated at 15 degrees.
I was real warm on top (toasty ) but was cold on bottom all night. I tried everything that I've read on adjusting the uq. I tightened till I could tighten no more, no luck still cold. I loosened up all adjustments and then started tightening a little at a time until I was once again out of adjustment. This went on for 6 hours and no warmth. Ugh!!! I was really cold on my butt and back, it felt like I was laying in just a hammock with no insulation.
Is it possible the hang angle has anything to do with my problem? I'm at wits end as I need to get this figured out before I start my hike in March. Please help.

It has to be something like this. If my 20° UQ consistently keeps me warm in single digits, and the 0° UQ didn't quite cut it at -5°, something is going on. There was a lot of wind last night though. Plus I suspect my hammock angles were all off, and too tight. But it was 0° and windy at 10PM so I just had to go with it.

Welcome to the world of UQ/gathered hammock mysteries! Some folks have no problems from the get go, others have endless problems. I am thinking of the other current thread concerning CBS with an UQ(an MW3) that I have done very well during my trials. I think we gave him every suggestion possible, and I'm pretty sure he tried them all, but no use. CBS at temps well above rating remained, first case of it I remember with that UQ and that type of suspension. And then there are the variations from 1 hang to the next. Let's face it, there are just a whole lot of variables to get wrong every time we try to hang some insulation from under a hammock and particularly when we try to lay crossways (diagonal) to the direction of the UQ.

Congrats Christine on your new PB of 5 degrees. Nicely done.

SirMarkos was you GG pad a full length, 3/4 or just a small footbox pad on the kidneys?
What I was thinking is if a small patch of ccf on the kidneys would keep one from needing to get up that would be a major improvement since most of us have to do that at least once a nite.

You are definitely on to something there, IMO, O+B! Pads in general can be such a life saver. And very small and much easier to use pads- much more comfy than full length pads in most hammocks- can so easily solve the most common UQ problem: CBS. Cross reference Chris's recent post on going from CBS with a 0F UQ to uber warm just from adding a small pad. Or, more OT, just using a pad even when you are not obviously having CBS, to keep the kidneys extra warm. To keep from having those frequent urges to take a leak! That is worth a lot, and a 12x12" or so piece of CCF pad, or a sit pad like Shug puts under his feet, might really add major benefits. While serving multi-purpose! Though admittedly, with or without pads, it's been many years since having a coolish kidney area has cause me to have to get up every hour or two. (my 1st experience with that was as a shivering ground dweller 29 years ago in a June 24F WY snowstorm) But I did get plenty of experience with this phenomenon my 1st year or so using hammocks. It never occurred to me to routinely use a small sit pad to prevent that.

I got out last night as promised. Not a personal record or really anything to write home about. One matter of note though. In her incessant concern for my personal safety, my wife must have asked me a half dozen times, "Are you sleeping out tonight? It's really cold out there.", to which my reply was "That's the point.". So I decided to put to rest this matter of which she believes I am constantly lying about. When I finally woke up this morning (around 7 a.m.) I grabbed the Acurite I had hanging on the line with and brought it into the hammock with me. I snuggled back into my sweet spot and drifted quickly off for a short nap. About twenty minutes later I woke up and looked at the gauge. The low last night was 24* but inside my downy goodness it was a balmy 77*. This was warmer than it was in the house when I got inside. I showed this to the wife to which she just shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "You're still crazy." I may be crazy, and if I am I don't want to be sane. .........

Way to go DD, warmer than in the house! What equip were you using?

[SirMarkos]

Congrats Christine on your new PB of 5 degrees. Nicely done.

SirMarkos was you GG pad a full length, 3/4 or just a small footbox pad on the kidneys?
What I was thinking is if a small patch of ccf on the kidneys would keep one from needing to get up that would be a major
improvement since most of us have to do that at least once a nite.

It was a full-size that her and I cut in half so the final measurements were 30x38 roughly. Basically a 2/3 length pad. Light too at only 6.5oz. but it's got me thinking about a low bulk option like the Klymit X-Lite pad.

[Ratdog]

Down to 11 degrees and dropping with a little breeze, think I will layer a 40 degree top quilt between the hammock and under quilt. A little chilly.

Or maybe just throw a light wool blanket in the hammock.

[drchip]

Apologies in advance for the lengthy post...

I figured given the really extreme temps predicted (vs. my experience), I'd treat it like car camping in terms of the gear I'd use. Basically, I was firing everything I had at it.

First, for under insulation, I used a full sized car camping sleeping pad, plus a small section of blue CCF from Walmart, both in the double layer of my Warbonnet Blackbird hammock. I added my 0 degree HG Incubator underquilt (which has 4 ounces of down beyond the standard 0 degree rated version).

For top insulation, I decided to use a 1970s era North Face down sleeping bag given to me by a friend last year. This thing is like polar weight -- 60 ounces for a down mummy bag with no hood! (I chose this instead of my 20 degree HG Burrow down top quilt, as I was pretty sure the sleeping bag would be warmer given the weight in down.)

Then, I used my new 11' Dutch winter sock to help reduce the wind chill effect. Given the sock and clear skies -- it was beautiful last night! -- I didn't bother to hang my Superfly.

I wore polar weight fleece thermal underwear top and bottom, plus a pair of fleece sweat pants and a down vest. I also wore a pair of wool socks and down booties. I used a down jacket in a pillow case under my head, plus a fleece hat, a fleece buff to cover my neck and face, and a removable down hood (that came off the down jacket I was using as a pillow). I also had a really heavy pair of gloves that go almost half way up my forearms.

I had 32 ounces of boiling water for inside the sleeping bag, plus 28 ounces of boiling water mixed with a packet of jello in another container to drink through the night if I needed it.

When I went out at nearly midnight, the real temp was 2 degrees above zero; not sure what the wind chill was.

I never put the gloves on. I went back and forth taking the hood on and off, but it was on more than off. For a while I had the down vest unzipped. Within the first half hour I'd taken the boiling water out of my sleeping bag and put it in the shelf of the hammock because I was too hot.

The major problem for the night was my face. I was worried about frostbite, so I was trying to cover as much of my face from exposure as possible. I pulled the hat down over my eyes, and the buff to right under my nose and as high on my cheeks as possible. But, my cheeks and nose were not covered.

Here's the bottom line. I stayed out all night, coming in around 8am after starting out around midnight. I was never once cold anywhere on my body except the exposed skin; more often, I was hot, although when I pulled the sleeping bag away from my neck I quickly had to put it back. I slept really awesome, and consider to have had no problems whatsoever handling the cold -- going probably 25-30 degrees colder than my previous record.

I have to admit I'm shocked how well it went, especially since I'm a cold sleeper even in the house. Weather reports said lows with wind chill were -18, with real low temp at -4. I did fine even without using everything at my disposal. The only problem? Lots of condensation on the sleeping bag and sock despite the venting on the winter sock.

[got hammocks?]

Waiting for some cool weather here in South Fla. Dying to test out my new Arrowhead underquilt!

[GoatHanger]

Well, winds didn't gust quite to 40mph but they got to every bit of 30+. 3.9°F when I woke up. Min temp on thermometer said 3.5°F, so that's my new personal best. I was very warm overall, but my heels were a touch cool when I woke up. Should've stuck a little pad in the footbox of my quilt.

Just wanted to update here, as I realized a mistake I made in my setup. I slept out again last night, and it only got as low as 9°, I was so warm I had to vent.

When I went out to put my TQ in earlier in the day, I noticed sag on the foot end of my UQ. I didn't notice the last time because I must have been in such a hurry. I had forgotten to cinch the cord for the draft collar. I had slept overnight last time that way! No wonder my heels were cool!

I cinched that up first, and I was VERY warm all night. No need for the pad in my footbox. Really awesome considering the only insulation at my feet underneath is the 20° incubator. Awesome quilt.

So, I made a mistake that I learned from. Always a good thing.

[The Tree Frog]

Tested layering underquilts and stuffing one sleeping bag in another. 15F last night and plenty warm.

20150111_080842.jpg

20150111_094216.jpg

20150111_080826.jpg

20150111_093413.jpg

Hammeck Envy with topcover
2QZQ UQ Protector
Big Agnes 15 degree down sleeping bag (no insulation on the bottom of bag)
REI 40 degree down bag
AHE New River 25 degree synthetic UQ
AHE Jarbidge 25 degree UQ (3/4 length)
Superfly Tarp

[Black Foot]

I got out in the backyard hammock stand last night. Low was 6 according to my accurite thermometer. Didn't beat my previous low (5). Here is the gear I used:

DH Thunderbird with topcover
2QZQ UQ Protector
Hammock Gear Incubator 0
Underground Quilts Flight Jacket -10

No tarp. I vented the top cover quite a bit but still had some condensation. Wish I could figure out a way to eliminate that. Shug's frost bib isn't an option for me as I move around too much and would likely strangle myself