Ditto on testing at home or with a bail out plan in case something does not work as planed. Nothing worse than being out in the woods when its cold and or raining and finding out the hard way that your gear is not suitable to the conditions.
Ditto on testing at home or with a bail out plan in case something does not work as planed. Nothing worse than being out in the woods when its cold and or raining and finding out the hard way that your gear is not suitable to the conditions.
I am still 18 but with 52 years of experience !
Eat something right before you turn in so the digestion will help keep up your core temperature.
If you have to pee during the night, suck it up and go pee. Your body will waste energy trying to keep your bladder warm.
Last edited by Bubba; 09-02-2012 at 08:48.
Don't let life get in the way of living.
DON'T wear TIGHT socks or gloves. Wear down or fleece booties that are loose on your feet. Wear loose mittens or socks over your hands. Tight socks cut off the circulation to your extremities, making you cold all over!
"Pips"
Mountains have a dreamy way
Of folding up a noisy day
In quiet covers, cool and gray.
---Leigh Buckner Hanes
Surely, God could have made a better way to sleep.
Surely, God never did.
Make or buy a Hammock Sock. It will trap more of the air around you and your hammock. Use a larger tarp that can reach the ground around your hammock, forming a kind of tent like structure. This will also block some wind and make it easier to stay warm. I am currently building a large Tarp just for that reason. Its gonna be a double tarp for me and my wife to hang under.
Fronkey is coming over today. Were doing a 20oz. overstuff on my "Polor Pod" and adding a suspension to it. Downee goodness
" Wiggs "
________________________________________
Using a 30F underquilt and expecting to supplement that down to 0F is a tall order. If you are partial to synthetic underquilts, keep an eye out. AHE puts their Jarbridge underquilt on sale periodically. Stacking underquilts is a good way to boost your insulation.
Everyone's other suggestions are spot on as well. One big one not many people consider is to sleep in as little clothing as possible. This will allow your top and underquilts to do their proper jobs as insulation. Start off in your base layers and if that isn't enough, get up and add a layer. Wear booties on your feet.
I have a luxury option that most winter hammockers don't have. I use a canvas wedge tent and have a wood burning stove with chimney in it. If I had to (ie really really cold) I can start a fire to warm up my shelter. However I haven't needed to do that. My usual operation is to start a fire in my stove to warm up the shelter, dry out my gear and this warms me up if I happen to be cold. I let the fire die out as I go to bed.
Last edited by BrianWillan; 09-02-2012 at 13:22.
Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment. - Unknown
live in South Carolina....
Give a man fire and he's warm for the night.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. Dante
I use a 0f* UQ/TQ and wear a base layer as well. I also have Papasmurfs winter sock that adds another 10 degrees when fully cinched up. Also use a hard side bottle like a nalgene (not a gatorade...its an instant fail...ask me how I know) and use it as the hot water bottle. I throw it in my TQ about 5 min before getting in. Then I push it all the way down to the end with my feet when I get in, making sure the lid is facing up. Also a beenie on the head, and wool socks on the feet. Beenie goes off and on through out the night to regulate temperatures. And I keep a cliff bar or something like that in my gear loft incase I get too cold at night, I have a few bites of it to warm me back up.
Often times I take an extra garbage bag and put my boots in them and then put them in with me as well....that way there not so frozen in the morning.
I know I'm missing stuff, but its just a matter of getting out there and doing it, and learning as you go.
I miss my 4.8Lb base weight as a ground dweller...But I sure DON'T MISS the ground.
Kinda makes me think of th hefty tattooed lady . . . And moving picture shows all year long . . .
Touque . . . wear a Touque . . .
. . . apparently you loose most of your heat through your head, so I've heard.
Keep your head warm and it is a start,
down socks, the part against the bed will be cold.
instead of a hot water bottle, drink hot liquid just before laying down,
that will send heat out from you to warm the surroundings.
The trick is to retain heat . . .
I lived for years in a tent even during -40 weather.
I know well that in a camping situation,
all outside body heat cools or goes out.
The trick is to retain heat . . .
Bradley SaintJohn
Flat Bottom Canoe
Start A Biz
The Transition from Ground Sleeping to Hammocksis the Conversion from Agony To Ecstasy,and Curing Ground-In-somnia.
"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show you great and mighty things . . ." Jeremiah 33:3
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