So, after occasionally borrowing my son's Blackbird and reading these forums obssessively for the last few months, I finally pulled the trigger on a Dangerbird 60 that arrived last week. I've tent camped for a long time, including car camping and backpacking (though I haven't backpacked in a while).
I haven't yet invested in an underquilt or top quilt. Son is 9 years old, and he does fine with a 3/4 length Thermarest and a 50F kids bag used like a top quilt. He's slept like a baby down to around 50F in that rig.
I have an extremely cushy Thermarest ("Luxury Camper," maybe? It's 25" wide, 72" long, and 2" thick when inflated), and I attempted to use that last night in an experimental backyard hang. Even mostly deflated, it seemed entirely too large and was interfering with my hammock's sag. I also had a 20F bag in there with me that's way too heavy and bulky. It only got down to 55F last night, so I was burning up. I got rid of the pad and bag eventually, and I was fairly comfy after that, but when the temp dropped below about 60F, I got cold.
Man, do I need an underquilt. Most of my camping is car camping with the Cub Scouts, and it's pretty fair-weather camping, too, so I could probably get by with a 3 season UQ and a fleece blanket or the like for a while. We'll be heading off to a Boy Scout troop in about 18 months, and I'll need to have my backpacking gear pile rebuilt by then. We've found a troop that mostly hangs already!
I also felt like I wasn't getting an optimal hang, even with a structural ridge line.
I used a tape measure and Derek Hansen's handy Hang Calc iOS app to do the math on my hang today, and it was way off optimal. My trees are 20.5 feet apart (best option in my backyard) but I had my straps only about 6.25 feet off the ground. My ridgeline was TIGHT.
So, today, I got a stepladder and put my straps up where the math says they should be (87.3") with my hammock (120") and SRL (100") and also measured my suspension length (which was also way off), and that resulted in a near perfect (mathmatically, anyway) hang. It feels nicer, but I still don't want to put my bigass Thermarest in there.
Some observations:
I'm not good at eyeballing the hang geometry yet, and doing the measure and calculate was illuminating. My previous funky nights in my son's Blackbird probably were mathmatically less than optimal, too.
I sleep mega-hot. I knew that, but really felt it last night with that pad and crappy bag. Need to get some lighter, more appropriate insulation.
I needlessly ordered extralong straps and whoopies. Not sure why. I've had to use some big ol' trees before, and maybe that was it. But I certainly didn't need 10' straps AND 10' (maybe they're 8ft) whoopies. With my 20-foot span, my whoopies only have about an inch each to shorten. I would have had to rig differently (I have some Dutch buckles, and I can tie a marlinspike hitch) with trees any closer.
Using trees 20 feet apart, I can't get an optimal hang as I can't reach to 7 feet 3 inches (I'm 5 feet 8 inches tall). Can't pick new trees in my yard, but will look for more optimal distances in the woods from now on.
Papa Smurf makes a nice hammock! I like the boy's WBBB, too, but I really dig the Dangerbird (DB60 crinkled taffeta).
Looking forward to more nights in the hammock as I get it dialed in.
Thanks!
Steven
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