true summer "quilt"?

[c0wb0y_hubs]

I made a double layered fleece TQ with a layer of tightly woven ripstop on top. It has a foot-box that can be untied, so it can be used as a blanket. Here's the thread for more info. https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...-Weathershield

[dimjim]

Right now I rock my ozark trail 32F rated sleeping bag as a "top quilt" of sorts - it's unmodified, but easy to unzip the size and ventilate if it gets too hot. I'm thinking about modifying a poncho liner for a basic summer underquilt for nights in the 60-75 range. That's the plan at least. I believe my down underquilts are overkill for most summer nights here in NC, so I'll be trying to leave them at home.

[Tehghost132]

I picked up a cheap fleece sleeping bag from wal-mart for $20. Only rated to 50 degrees or so, but it works fine on those hot summer nights here in NC.

[Mr. Jowee]

Hammock camping in summer in Coastal Texas is a good bit different from most other places in the country. We're dealing with temps above 90 on many nights, high humidity, and a relatively high probability of rain---some of it torrential. The principal challenge for July and August especially is how to keep cool rather than how to keep warm. Even then, we'll have nights where the temps "dip" to the 70's and layin down nekkid just won't work.

Down here the only way to be a little bit cooler in summer is to use the air conditioning system God gave you: evaporation of sweat. I have used both a muslin and silk sleeping bag liner. In hotter weather, both will wick sweat from you body when its hot and spread it over a larger area that promotes faster evaporation and will drop the temperature you perceive on your skin a few degrees. On cooler nights, they provide just enough warmth for what we can expect the "lows" to be. The silk bags promote more evaporation on hotter nights, while the muslin bags are a bit warmer for the cool ones. I also use a very light weight UQ when temps get "down" to 70 or so.

The really good news is that sleeping in a hammock and a tarp, especially light weight hammocks made of 1.1 nylon, will keep you a good deal cooler than any tent will.

I'm really glad I found this thread, and this post in particular. I was just outside of Alexandria, LA a few weeks ago on a weekend that saw 87 during the day and 73 at night, a low that was 20 degrees warmer than the previous night. I had a 40 degree down UQ (JRB Shenandoah, which was perfect when hung loosely), but all I had for upper insulation was a fleece, or nothing. The fleece was too much, and nothing wasn't enough.

Just a few weeks previous to this trip I was in a tent with temps in low 50's and I was sweating with a 45 degree sleeping bag. Staying cool at night is pretty much the reason I wanted to try a hammock in the first place.

[BillC523]

Well fella's, I just stumbled into this forum and find your comments quite interesting. I'm in South Carolina and it's hot! But, cheer up, summer's on the way. Been working on two underquilts, two top quilts, was supposed to go Wednesday to a littleplace that's supposed to have Trout to catch on my little ultralight spinning pole. Only proble is the dang line is to small to catch, little lone put through a size 12 fish hook, I thonk they call'em salmon egg hooks. Anyway, My son says he can't go till 10th of June, sure be hot! But on theupside my grandson will be out of school and we plan, I said plan to go june 10th, this year. So I need to get more busy and make another top and bottom quilt. I am using military poncho liners, quite interested in what you had to say about them. I have made two under quilts and cut them down to be a better fit under a Warbonnet Blackbird, the second will go under a new blackbird (it's on the way) the third willbeunder an older henessey ultra assem. The top quilts are cut downn to about 45 inches width w/ an optional footbox, I say optional, I installed snaps at the end of the quilt and under the center portion for about 16 inches. Velcro is sandwitched in between the snaps at the end of the footbox. As designed it can be used as a simple quilt or footbox w/ some air conditioning or sealed off if needed. How comfortable it will be, I guess i'll just have to see.

[DRobertson]

Fleece! if you dont think you'll be warm enough, double it!

[sargevining]

Quote Originally Posted by sargevining View Post
Hammock camping in summer in Coastal Texas is a good bit different from most other places in the country. We're dealing with temps above 90 on many nights, high humidity, and a relatively high probability of rain---some of it torrential. The principal challenge for July and August especially is how to keep cool rather than how to keep warm. Even then, we'll have nights where the temps "dip" to the 70's and layin down nekkid just won't work.

Down here the only way to be a little bit cooler in summer is to use the air conditioning system God gave you: evaporation of sweat. I have used both a muslin and silk sleeping bag liner. In hotter weather, both will wick sweat from you body when its hot and spread it over a larger area that promotes faster evaporation and will drop the temperature you perceive on your skin a few degrees. On cooler nights, they provide just enough warmth for what we can expect the "lows" to be. The silk bags promote more evaporation on hotter nights, while the muslin bags are a bit warmer for the cool ones. I also use a very light weight UQ when temps get "down" to 70 or so.

The really good news is that sleeping in a hammock and a tarp, especially light weight hammocks made of 1.1 nylon, will keep you a good deal cooler than any tent will.

I'm really glad I found this thread, and this post in particular. I was just outside of Alexandria, LA a few weeks ago on a weekend that saw 87 during the day and 73 at night, a low that was 20 degrees warmer than the previous night. I had a 40 degree down UQ (JRB Shenandoah, which was perfect when hung loosely), but all I had for upper insulation was a fleece, or nothing. The fleece was too much, and nothing wasn't enough.

Just a few weeks previous to this trip I was in a tent with temps in low 50's and I was sweating with a 45 degree sleeping bag. Staying cool at night is pretty much the reason I wanted to try a hammock in the first place.

Thanks.

While a lot of people responding to this and other threads have nothing but good intentions, few realize just what life on the Gulf Coast is like. The OP is from Spring, Texas---practically a neighbor of mine. He's no more than 60 miles from the Gulf, so when he's talking about "real summer States", he's not talking about NJ or NY, he's talking TX, LA, AL, MS, GA, and FL. There's just no comparison between those and anything above the Mason Dixon Line---its like comparing Zimbabwe to London.

Last weekend we had temps at night in the high 70s to low 80s, tonight and tomorrow night are forecast to be in the middle 50s. You can go from 90* during the day to 60* at night in spring and fall---a 30* change in temperature in just a couple hours. Most of that drop happens while you're asleep, so if you're not prepared for it, you're gonna wake up in the middle of the night freezing your butt off.

On top of the fluctuation in temps in the shoulder season, toss in the humidity. Round here sometimes there's more moisture hanging in the air on Friday afternoon than New England will get in rain all summer long. That much humidity argues against down for any trips of more than a weekend or so. You just won't get warm if you've hung your down bag for three or four days soaking up that airborne moisture and then it suddenly gets cold like it will this weekend. We're better off taking the weight penalty for those few weekends each year where we need Yankee style warmth.

UQs are more important than TQs, IMHO. You can put on a hoodie and sweat pants to take care of sleeping in the high 60s and low 70s, but there's nothing you can do when moist air starts moving under your hammock and you don't have something under it. My lightweight UQ was DIY'd out of the material that they wrap TV monitors with. It traps just enough body heat for that narrow range of temperature. Nights above 75, and there's no real need for a UQ---and that describes more than half the year down here.

[Mr. Jowee]

Should there be a separate sub-forum for hot weather? The top sticky could be "Avoiding Detection while Sleeping Naked".

[sargevining]

Might not be a bad idea.

Sometimes I think the whole of the camping/hiking/backpacking industry and commentariat believe that the only places people hike/camp/backpack are the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails and the climate everywhere is exactly like New England.

[Bamaman35]

I slept in my hammock this past weekend when the low was 66 at night. I used a CCF pad from walmart and my 30 degree WM sleeping bag on top. I just moved the bag off of me if I got hot. Slept like a baby...