Hammock Sock Condensation Issues/Questions

[Coffee]

I did a test with sil, uncoated, and DWR. I put the material on a fan set on high, then my face on the other side. I could not tell a noticable difference.

My tarp is usually set pretty low and blocking all of the wind. I think the socks man purpose is to trap in your heat, vs blocking the wind.

But to each physics guy his own.

[slowhike]

if a person used a light weight non-treated nylon for a sock & decided later that it wasn't as wind resistant as they wanted, they could simply spray it w/ dwr from a can.

[Just Jeff]

The sock makes a big difference by blocking the wind underneath the hammock...providing a big layer of dead air between the air currents and your insulation to slow convective loss. It also traps heat from rising.

But I agree that aside from breathability issues with sil there's probably not much difference between the fabrics for this purpose. But I can tell a difference between the untreated fabrics in my homemade hammocks and the HH...I can feel the air coming through my homemade hammocks. But a sock isn't stretching under force like a hammock is.

[Coffee]

I think the size of tarp comes into play on the amount of wind. On mine, you cannot see any of the hammock of hammock sock from the side. I think it blocks the air currents that circulate underneath.

Maybe a scientific test with wind and temp sensors is in order.

Edit: I think it provides good coverage from the wind that always seems to come in the head or foot end on my tarp.