Maiden Voyage Tonight!

[body942]

Gonna spend my first night in my WBBB 1.7dbl here in about an hour. I know I don't have anything on you MidWest or EastCoast guys, because it's only supposed to get down to 45 deg tonight. It's windy outside, does that count for something? I don't shy away from cold, but it's all I got!

Spent all day with the hammock hung playing with my pad in it, and opted for a last minute DIY UQ. Pretty proud of that, BTW. Two HEAVY Coleman canvas bags opened flat, mated the feet, gathered the heads, and hung from the buckles. The best "man" part? I reinforced the zippered foot sections with C-Clamps and the gathering w/ zip ties.

After about 20 mins of fitting, I got it "good enough" and within 5 minutes of getting in, I had the UQ v. pad debate settled. Will begin saving for the UQ immediately.

[Bradley]

The best "man" part? I reinforced the zippered foot sections with C-Clamps and the gathering w/ zip ties.

I just spit on my screen . . .

Have fun and enjoy tonight . . .

Ohh and the part about not very cold . . . ya gotta start somewhere . . .

[JohnSawyer]

From another not-so-cold hanger, welcome aboard! Glad to hear you're at least hanging!

Practice often!

[gunner76]

Did you survive the night or wake up dead ?

[chillyhiker]

its not about how cold can you go its about enjoying the experiance and being comfortable..id take a low of 45 everynight and never complain...enjoy and waiting to hear your report back. chilly

[body942]

Still lying here in my hammock... that was an interesting night.

Physical comfort: right up there with my best night on the ground, and I know that it's only gonna get better. I realized my trees are maybe a little too close together for a perfect hang.

Temperature management: frustrating. It stayed windy till about 0300, and my poor DIY quilt just couldn't handle it. It was trying to do it's job; I could feel very cold spots eventually warm to "just chilly", but it was still enough to screw with my sleep. Luckily I'd only discarded my normal kit superlight four season pad in the bushes right here, so when I got up to relieve myself (oh yeah! Realtree sleeping layer + 0300 + front yard in a cul de sac = ultimate ninja potty break) I grabbed the pad and stuffed it in between layers. The rest is predictable. I couldn't get it just where I wanted it, it kept moving. But I'm a warm sleeper, so every point of contact immediately felt like I was sleeping on a hot water bottle. After about 20 mins I settled on "good enough" and drifted back into pretty good sleep. Right now the pad is all the way up on my left side; breeze is up again, so at least it's making a good wind break.

End result: Still enthusiastic. Still gonna save for a quilt.

I did go completely unnoticed by the solicitor that knocked on our front door (fifteen feet away) about half an hour ago. Time to go in for breakfast!