Went on a night hike and hang to use my new
Warbonnet Travel Sock Olive Brown
From Warbonnet Site...
The 9.3 oz is the weight of the Travel Sock with the stuff sack per Bandon and may vary a bit.The Travel Sock is our hammock sock designed to be used with the Blackbird and Traveler hammocks. A "sock", named after a tubular wind sock is a giant breathable fabric sack that the hammock hangs entirely inside of. It encloses the hammock and underquilt, and since it's enclosed it will generally be about 15-20 deg warmer compared to outside air temp. The Travel Sock is meant to be used mainly in cooler weather to protect the hammock and underquilt from wind and windblown moisture that might come in under the edge/ends of your tarp. The fabric is wind and water resistant, not waterproof. It will repel light moisture, but if conditions contain wet snow or moderate rain you'll still need a small tarp
Weight 9.3 oz
On my scale I come up with the following....
9.5 oz / 270 grams with stuff sack
0.6 oz / 216 grams for the stuff stuff sack
8.9 oz for just the Travel Sock
The stuff sack that comes with the Sock is very high quality. It has a grosgrain tab with a metal grommet that the cord comes thru. First Class. It is also about twice as large as needed for storing the sock. For backpacking you can use a stuff sack about 1/3 to 1/4 the size the sock came with. Or you could just cram a bunch of other gear in the stuff sack with the sock. I made a separate stuff sack to use when backpacking.
Quality of the sewing is first class and just what one would expect from Warbonnet.
The ends use omni tape that can be opened for passing the hammock thru and then closing the ends back up. Opens to about 6 x 6 inches for passing the hammock thru. There is a small metal ring that you can use to attach the sock to the hammock suspension.
The zipper is about 87” long and is the same double slider found on the Blackbird.
The first night I planned to use the sock was a no go as it rained all that day and night. A few days later the weather forecast said the skies were clearing so I took off after work and headed for my local hiking trail for a night hike. Lows were suppose to be in the mid 30's with some wind and clear skies. Had a 2.5 mile hike in the dark which I have done many times in the past. The moon was brite enough that I did not need to use my headlamp until I encounter a section of trail under water from the rain. a By the way. If you have not done so, try hiking your favorite trail in the dark, its like hiking a different trail.
Gear Used...
BB 1.7 Double
WB Travel Sock
HammockGear Winter Palace 12 ft Cuben Tarp
HammockGear Phoenix 3/4 UQ 20 degree
Enlightened Equipment RevelationX TQ 0 degree
DIY Pillow
Whoopie Slings Single Line Tarp Ridge Line (uses a Knot Bone and a Nite Ize small Figure 9)
As I knew I would be setting up in the dark so I inserted my BB into the Sock at home to make set up at my camp site a little easier. Setting up my UQ was a bit of a challenge as I have not used the sock before so it took about a minute longer than normal to set it up. Set up my tarp using the Whoopie Slings tarp line which I found to be very easy to use.
Got my UQ in place and took some pictures and then made sure my pack and other loose gear was put away before getting into the hammock.
As the Sock totally encloses the hammock there is no way to use the BB side pull outs. This resulted in the sock pressing in against the BB Skeeter netting which I found to be a bit annoying and I solved the problem by throwing the skeeter netting over the hammock's ridge line. I will have to get some of Dutch's Clip On Tarp Pull Outs and see if they can be used with the sock to pull it out and away from the hammock. Figure that if I use the pull outs towards the bottom of the sock they should keep the sock pulled out and away from the hammock.
I did have a bit of trouble zipping up the sock in the dark as first I had to find the zipper pulls plus the fact my old back does not bend as it use to. Figure that using some zipper pulls with some yellow Zing It to contrast against the Sock material will solve that problem.
Once I had everything set up in the hammock I laid back and found that I could make out the moon thru the Sock and Cuben tarp. Nice.
The Cherry Point MCAS is close by and I was entertained by helicopters and jets flying overhead for several hours.
After a couple of hours I had to answer natures call. As I was also experiencing some CBS on one side so I check my UQ before I got back into the hammock. Before I got out of the hammock I had felt underneath and I could not feel anything out of place.
Once I was out of the hammock and could check out the UQ placement with my headlamp I found the UQ had not been set up properly and was only on one side of the hammock. I adjusted the UQ, climbed back in to the hammock, zipped up the sock and had instant warmth from the UQ. Asleep in minutes.
Finally got up in the AM as I had to answer natures call and make a doctors appointment.
Checked the temp and is was 36 degrees at 7:30 am. Did not have a thermometer in the hammock with me so I can not say how much if any temperature difference there was using sock. The only thing I can go by is that it felt colder once I opened the sock. Some scientific testing using thermometers inside the sock and outside will be needed to determined how effective the sock is in keeping it warmer inside the hammock.
In the morning I discovered what was tickling my nose all night. There were a few stray threads from the sock fabric dangling down in just the right spot and they were so fine I did not spot them with my light. A lighter will take care of that problem.
Hopefully I will be able to go out this weekend for another hang and another chance to test the sock.
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