Many thanks to BillyBob and Eay for a few points that have given me some ideas as well as potential explanations to what I'm experiencing. I'm going to play around with it and see what I can come up with. If nothing else, at least the PeaPod has relatively good resale value.
I theorized in previous post that using the pod on the extra wide and long ENO dbl was resulting in the pod being pulled both too high by the hammock side walls and too long by attaching to the ends of the hammock unless some special (longer) attach cords were added. Either of which could maybe result in a more narrow and tight fit.
But I forgot the obvious: have you called or e-mailed or PM'ed ( user name NotToWorry ) Ed Speer? I'm sure he would love to discuss the problem with you. If you do, let us know what he suggested and if it was any help to you.
I wanted to test out the theories first. Something I realized when looking back at some of my pictures from this weekend: If I'm not laying on a VERY angular diagonal in my ENO, then the hammock forms a deep high walled channel. As you said a higher vertical wall of the hammock causes the peapod to form a more narrow channel as well. The reason that I've never noticed this when hammock camping during the Summer because the Thermarest prevents the hammock from forming that narrow channel. I always start sleeping on the diagonal, but my tossing and turning I end up rolling down into the symmetrical position.
A fully open Pea Pod is down right huge( laid out flat, it is 9.5 feet long and 6 feet wide in the middle, though it narrows near the ends). The extra large JRB quilts are 5 ft 1" wide for comparison, and 4 feet wide for a No Sniv. So, if just trying to use the Pea Pod as a bottom quilt, there should be abundant room.Originally Posted by eay
I think the problem room wise is when you try to close the Pea Pod over and extra wide and extra long hammock. Because the pod does not just have to surround your body, but has to go up and close in the middle, over the hammock side walls, which may be quite a few inches higher, on each side, than your body.
I have been able to make it work for me on some larger hammocks, but it takes some fiddling with. As we know, hanging the hammock with more slack leaves the sides pretty loose on a wide hammock, so that you can even pull them over you like a blanket sometimes. This should (hopefully) also allow doing the same with the pod if it is also hung loosely enough so that it sags ( before getting in) well below the hammock, and is not connected TOO close to the extra long hammock ends.
With my Speer 8.5 foot long hammock, or my 10 foot long but NARROW Claytor No net, I can lay on the diagonal pretty much as the hammocks normally allow without the pod. But unless I sometimes have trouble if I try and put my hands behind my head with elbows out to the side. I can't remember if this on the diagonal or on the midline, it is only with one or the other.
However, if I draw my knees into full fetal and try and get as completely side ways as possible, stretching the Speer hammock as wide as possible, the pod will not really allow this. I am at the least then compressing the loft on the pod.
Bottom line is: the pod is not the roomiest option out there, though it is roomy enough for me. In fact, this lack of room is one thing contributing to it's warmth. It can not be as roomy as a separate UQ which does not close over you.
But, if the hammock is not causing it to be lifted way over you, it should be wide enough for most folks in most positions. After all, what is the widest sleeping bag any of us slept in during our ground days? Whatever it was, I'm pretty sure the Pea Pod is wider, often much wider. The only dif is to whatever degree the hammock width or length causes the pod to be lifted up/pulled tight and thus narrowed.
Is a Treklight dbl very similar is size and design to an ENO dbl? I have the TL ( not the ENO) and spent some time this morning trying it with the Pea Pod. It was not optimal, but it worked pretty good. I had to make sure the hammaock was adjusted right on the longer TL. When on my normal amount of diagonal, the shoulder room was not much different- maybe very slightly reduced- than without the pod, at least if I left myself a 6" or more diameter breathing hole. Sealed up tight, room was reduced some, but nothing I would call shoulder squeeze. It really didn't feel all that much dif than with my Speer hammock. Now this was with a good bit of sag in the hammock, and the pod with additional sag compared to the hammock. The main problem was I couldn't keep the excess fabric of the hammock out of my face and it was driving me crazy.
Tried it with my Speer, felt about the same, but hooks up and adjusts easier.
Works absolutely best with my Claytor No Net ( more narrow even than the Speer, 10 foot long hammock). I am still always impressed when laying on my side so that my face is on one edge, and my feet on the opposite side. Legs straight or drawn up, doesn't matter. Then my face is into open air, not hammock fabric. Then I just rotate the pod so that the opening is by my face, and because I am in this narrow hammock the pod is mostly laying right down on my body. I am then for all practical purposes sealed up in a big mummy bag, but with my face unobstructed. Unless of course it is desperately cold and I decide to close it down to a small blow hole or close it totally. There is no difference, in this position, in how this hammock feels with or without the pod. I forget about this approach which I discovered last year in WY's Wind River Mountains on a cold snowy windy night. IMO, if not the very best, it definitely rates at the very top for comfort and efficiency of any hammock/insulation scheme I have tried.
There are some positions I can not use with the pod. With some of my wider hammocks, if I get on my side fetal, with my knees/feet against one hammock wall and the back of my head against the other, it can be really comfortable. I get really close to fully cross ways. But I can not really do this with the pod, it will pop open.
To give you a good idea of what I'm facing. If I lay in the hammock and manually hold the edges of the peapod to the edges of the hammock, it is quite comfortable with no cold spots. I could probably use a few clothes pins and it would work out quite well.
The only problem I have with this, is that I purchased the peapod for the full enclosure capability...
Exactly, you didn't buy it to use just as an under quilt, for which purpose it would be quite heavy and needlessly expensive.
I just spent the weekend camped with my JRB BMBH and MWUQ, with a Golight Ultra top quilt. The temps were only low to mid 40s, so the MW was way overkill for the temps. It was very damp with lots of fog and condensation the first night, camped right beside the lake. The 2nd night was dryer, and that may be why at 0400 I had to take my hat off and vent the TQ some, because I was a little too warm. But the point is, this approach is wide open, limited in room only to whatever degree the hammock bu itself limits you. It is an extremely comfortable and warm set up, for me any way. The big advantage it has over the Pea Pod is sense of roominess. The separate top quilt provides all of the top warmth, and there is no more room restriction than there is with pulling a blanket over you at home.
As great as I think the Pea Pod is, like Eay said, not every solution is for every body. For whatever reason, you may just need more room than the Pea Pod provides. If some of the suggestions don't solve the room problem, you may just be better off selling or returning the Pea Pod and going with a separate UQ/TQ combination.
Or, how did you do comfort/condensation wise with your pad? You could always use an Speer SPE and stacked pads.
Like I said earlier, I just bought a peapod to use with my extra long diy speer. Your post kind of scared me--------im about your size, and I havnt tried out the peapod yet---oh no, did I buy somthing that doesnt fit? ------------So.....this morning, I set up my hammock and tired out the peapod. It works great, close quarters, kind of like a mummy bag. My shoulders were fine, and I was able to lay slightly on my side with no problem. I think its going to work great for me. I looked up the specs for your hammock last night--------its about a foot and a half wider than a speer. (I think thats your biggest problem) As far as the length, if you have the peapod set up like the pictures on eds website,, with the ends cinched tight, it is actually making your extra long hammock into a shorter hammock. I did notice that the shoulders are tighter as the hammock is shorter. I wonder if theres a way around that, like at the head end of the peapod, have a stuff sack full of cloths etc, and have the peapod cinched around it to close the gap/stop the draft. That way it wouldnt be cinching the end so tight, and cramping your shoulders so much. Anyway, those are just a couple of observations that may or maynot help you-----good luck!
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My Pod works at least as good, and probably better, with my 10 foot long Claytor No Net. Though it is more narrow than the Speer. But I don't think length is much of a problem, as long as you don't try and put the pod ends as close to the hammock ends as would be done with a regular Speer. I have also thought of the clothing stuffer into the ends as you said, it is an idea that seems to have some promise, though I have never tried it yet.Like I said earlier, I just bought a peapod to use with my extra long diy speer. Your post kind of scared me--------im about your size, and I havnt tried out the peapod yet---oh no, did I buy somthing that doesnt fit? ------------So.....this morning, I set up my hammock and tired out the peapod. It works great, close quarters, kind of like a mummy bag. My shoulders were fine, and I was able to lay slightly on my side with no problem. I think its going to work great for me. I looked up the specs for your hammock last night--------its about a foot and a half wider than a speer. (I think thats your biggest problem) As far as the length, if you have the peapod set up like the pictures on eds website,, with the ends cinched tight, it is actually making your extra long hammock into a shorter hammock. I did notice that the shoulders are tighter as the hammock is shorter. I wonder if theres a way around that, like at the head end of the peapod, have a stuff sack full of cloths etc, and have the peapod cinched around it to close the gap/stop the draft. That way it wouldnt be cinching the end so tight, and cramping your shoulders so much. Anyway, those are just a couple of observations that may or maynot help you-----good luck!
Glad to hear you pod seems to be working good for you from the get go, even with your DIY extra long Speer! Remember to leave at least a few inches of extra sag in the pod- more than the hammock- before you get in. The hammock will sag a lot more than the pod will, compressing the down. It is easy to feel under the hammock and check so that the pod is just barely, or almost, in contact with your butt/back. And you may have to shift down from head end to middle occasionally, for full loft where you need it most on really cold nights.
So after some playing I have come to a very important conclusion: It's not the peapods fault. It's the hammocks fault.
When I lay in the hammock without any insulation I lay on a very extreme diagonal. Attached is the only picture I could find (form this weekend). You can see what kind of diagonal I'm laying on, and most of my legs aren't even in the hammock. I fully realized the peapod couldn't handle that kind of diagonal. What I didn't realize was how much of a channel my hammock makes when I roll into a symmetrical lay. This channel raises the sides up high walls the peapod has to try and close around. Bottom line is, it can't.
I'm very bummed because I spent the little extra on the peapod so that I could use it in conjunction with a 35* top quilt I have and hopefully take it down to temperatures that would last me year round in certain places (lower Smokies). So yeah, there are the conclusions to my toying. the peapod's awesome, I just can't seem to make it work with my danged ENO!
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