temporary under insulation

[uutuku]

This is for you newbies who are trying to find a temporary substitute for an under quilt. I managed to squeeze the price of a HH Expedition out of our limited budget recently, but can’t afford an under quilt yet. I tried various things we had around the house, but nothing seemed to quite work, always seemed to have a cold spot or two. I have a Hammock Bliss Double that was my first hammock. I was watching Tom Hennessy’s video on their Super Shelter and was seized with an inspiration. I dug out the spare hammock and hung it under the Hennessy like an under cover. I just larks headed it to the underside of the whipping on the upper hammock. I had an old rectangular synthetic sleeping bag with a broken zipper kicking around also. I laid it out flat on the floor and folded it in half perpendicular to the center line, then again the opposite way giving me a four layer thick rectangle. wide enough to span both shoulders and long enough to cover from neck to ankles. I put it between the two hammocks and adjusted the hang of the bottom one so it holds the folded sleeping bag against me when laying in the Hennessy. It took a bit of fiddeling to get the tension right on the bottom hammock, but it works great down to about 50. I also spread a Mylar space blanket between the sleeping bag and the bottom of the Hennessy which seems to add to the warmth. once set up everything but the extra sleeping bag fits in the H stuff bag. It’s not for ultra lite back packing but works great indoors or car camping. If you don’t have a spare hammock laying around just make one like a gathered end hammock out of any material you can scrounge up.

[old4hats]

This definitely gives me an idea. Hadn't thought of hanging a separate hammock to support insulation. I also have a very large, heavy rectangular sleeping bag laying around and with a few yards of something cheap I can easily support it. Too heavy for the trail, but around home very do-able. Thanks for the jump start.

[djminnesota]

thats pretty much how i made my first uq. but i cut the sleeping bag to size and put in some channels on bith ends. then i ran some shockord through it, and wala, an uq

[joemcc]

Great idea! It can hold up temporary UQs while I figure out how I'm going to mod them.

[PokeEm]

I think I will start looking at bargain sleeping bags to fashion an underquilt. Thanks for the idea.

[thepikey]

I've had luck using foam underlayment for hardwood floors. I was using it as an IX substitute. A double layer of it got me into the low 40s upper 30s on an AT section hike last fall and I was toasty. It's a little bulky to pack, but not too bad and it weighed in at just under a pound. I don't know how it would do for real cold stuff, but a roll of 4x25 for $25 wasn't bad at all. I'm using it as my summer rig for the moment.