Quote Originally Posted by BillyBob58 View Post
What about, Kurt? Did you ever get your insulation wet? If so, do you think it was from not having every thing well covered with the VB/SB?Bill
I have *always* used the SB with the SS, so I have no data on use w/o.

I have experienced a few mornings where the OCF pad was a bit damp, ironically these were not really cold nights. If you read my Multimat review you'll see pictures of frozen condensate on that pad in sub-zero conditions after a night in the UC. In fact, there was enough ice there that the multimat froze to the OCF pad causing some damage to the OCF when I separated the two. It might have worked better if I had the nylon side up instead of down.

On the nights where I've used down jacket and/or sleeping bag in addition to the OCF pad in the UC I have never seen enough condensate to cause a problem with moisture in the insulation.

I generally don't go out for more than 3 consecutive days in winter, so I can't testify to truly long-term impact.

What my experience to-date would indicate is that if you use the SB as a top-layer VB, condensation will not be the biggest problem, rather getting enough insulation well-distributed and suspended properly in the UC is. The UC is not an ideal insulation suspension system: it is slippery and elastic. It works, I've put lots of stuff in there, but it doesn't like to stay out at the ends. Thats why the OCF has elastics.

FWIW,
--Kurt