New low for me, 17.7*

[Rat]

Cold night and a surprise. Last night was the coldest night this year so far, so I didi what any slf-respecting hammocker does, I stayed outside!

I went NEO style!

I used a military CCF pad with homemade SPE, a Zlite on top of that and my cheap but good SG Sleeping bag.

My bag is a hybrid, synthetic on bottom, down (700fp) on top, mummy style, 15 or 30 degree bag.

I have never used mummy bags before; I always felt they would be too restraining, I bought this one because it looked good and it was cheap.

I gotta tell ya, trying out the bag in the living room, it felt great, but once I was in the hammock forget it. I just about killed myself gfetting it zipped up, and then I can't even get an arm out to reach my glasses or adjust my pillow. No good for me.

So I unzipped it and used it as a quilt! It works great this way.

I was wearing light wool longjons, under medium 70/30 wool/poly longjons and wool socks. No headgear at all, I had it if needed, just didn't wear it.

So anyway, I punched through 20* @ 3:00 AM and hit a new for me low of 17.7* with this gear.

I was comfortable with only occcasional cold/cool spots that were easily fixed with a little rearranging.

I am pratty happy with the outcome actually. This much CF makes for a big pack, but since I was using synthetic quilts it's not that much difference in volume, except it's on the outside of the pack now.

I am now a Neo CCF convert. There's no school like the old school!

January 2 08.jpg

[BillyBob58]

All right! Once again, simplicity and low cost, low weight. I recently advised Ashman - over on WB - that the simplest, most cost and weight effective approach was pads, with an SPE if needed. That is for those, of course, who can tolerate pads and who don't feel thy compromise hammock comfort too much. You appear to be one of those.

What was the total thickness of those pads? What hammock?
Bill

[Rat]

I used my new Travel Hammock with an installed ridgeline and webbing.
military pad= 3/8 inch
Z-Lite= 1/2 inch (egg crate like texture, not a flat sheet)
Wings Blue Wal-Mart Pad= 1/2 inch

So, directly under me was 7/8 inch and the wings were 1/2 inch. The pads are 3/4 length so nothing under my feet and calves, but I usually spend much of the night on my side in a semi-fetal position and they are on the pads then. No tarp last night either.

The pads don't bother me too much as far as comfort wise, especially when it's cold; being warm is good enough. But when it is warmer (55*-70*) it is defenitly more comfortable for me to have a light underquilt rather than a pad.

[sherpaxc]

What is an SPE?

[Cannibal]

Segmented Pad Extender. Cool piece of 'pad-gear'.

[slowhike]

I am now a Neo CCF convert. There's no school like the old school!

awwwl man... did you have to go & say that??? now we'll never hear the end of it
shhhh... maybe neo won't see this post

[NCPatrick]

Does being "old school" also involve sleeping on the ground?

[txulrich]

Just ordered a DAM and hope I can go lower than 20. My buddy, Tango61 is making a pair of hammock sock/travel pod for us, so it should work out.

[jlb2012]

I have gone to 10 deg F with a DAM (Exped 9cm, not the deluxe) - this is where I discovered that a DAM by itself can take a long time to warm up and while its warming up whoever is laying on it will be cold. Any time after this I always put a CCF pad on top of the DAM just to slow the heat loss from my body while the DAM warms up. At 10* the warm up time was about 20 minutes - with a DLX the warm up time will be longer due to the larger internal volume.

[GrizzlyAdams]

I went to 3 F last night on top of a DAM DLX. (it was positioned between my hammock and an underbody). And it does take a DAM long time to warm that thing up! Will try the layer on top thing next time. I wonder if this would be a good application for the insul-brite fabric...a lot lighter and packable than a CCF pad.

I also had a folded back JRB Nest beneath the mattress. Don't really know if it contributed but it surely didn't hurt. At a minimum it gave me more coverage on the sides.

Grizz