14 Degree Test of HH

[stickman]

Last night I put up my HH in the back yard to see how I could do at a lower temperature than I've experienced before. I used my Jacks R Better underquilt and my Mountain Hardware Phantom 32 degree bag. I dressed in mid weight poly underwear, mid weight wool hiking socks, and a silk weight poly balaclava, gear that I would normally have along in colder weather. I got in at bedtime, felt pretty good, and fell right to sleep. But about three hours later I woke up with some cold spots under my back and feet. I moved onto my side and tried to curl up into a fetal position, but it wasn't enough. In the woods I could have made it through the night, though I'm not sure I would have gone back to sleep. As it was, I moved back into the house. The temp in my back yard at that point was 14 degrees, with some wind. This morning the radio said the wind chill was zero.

I did this as a confidence test, and learned that this was too cold for the way I was set up. A month or so ago I made it through the night in comfort at 25 degrees, with a 1/4 inch CCF pad under me in the hammock, as well as the underquilt and the MH Phantom.

I love the hammock and the JRB underquilt, though I'm not sure I have the system adjusted correctly. There was wind getting between the quilt and the hammock, and/or the hammock was too tight against the UQ in a few places.

Any one have any tips for how to make sure those adjustments are made right when you are by yourself? My wife helped me with the adjustments a month or so ago, butsince then I have put the hammock up and taken it down a few times with the UQ still attached, and I imagine the tensioning lines have slipped a little. Has anyone found a way to permanently attach a UQ to the hammock, positioned properly for a specific person?

Stickman

[neo]

excellent report,keep on hammock hanging:cool: neo

[Cheesewhiz]

During cold weather i've experienced drafts as well. One thing I do now to cut down on the drafts between the underquilt and the hammock at the ends, what I do is I take the drawstrings for the quilt and tie them above the ridgeline as though I were tying my shoes, it holds. I also use my side shock-chords and instead of tying them out, I tie them above the ridge line as well. you end up with not a whole lot of room inside but your warm in your hammock. I've come to realize that in the winter I prefer my tent but after the shadblow trees bloom im swingin' from the trees. Yes, I am starting my thru hike this year with my tarp tent. The hammock winter setup was not heavy but it just had too much bulk.

Fri. night I let my girlfriend sleep in my hammock at 15* and she was super warm but I hooked her up with her REI 20* bag inside with the No Sniveller and Nest underneath.

I was under my 8x10 Sil tarp with a customized "flying diamond" set up. I slept perfectly fine on a piece of 3'x7' tyvek, 3/4 Zrest, silk bag liner, equinox bivy bag, and my JRB Old Rag quilt.

[skylark]

Thanks for the report. So it sounds like if the quilt is too tight, it compresses the insulation, and not tight enough it lets wind between the insulation and hammock.

[Hana_Hanger]

Great report...sorry to hear you did not stay as warm as you would of like.
Sometimes the location helps us stay a whole lot warmer.

[neo]

Thanks for the report. So it sounds like if the quilt is too tight, it compresses the insulation, and not tight enough it lets wind between the insulation and hammock.

wow i like your web page,keep on hammock hanging:cool: neo

[timhines]

did you have a tarp over/around you?

[River Runner]

I used my Jacks R Better underquilt and my Mountain Hardware Phantom 32 degree bag. This morning the radio said the wind chill was zero.

Stickman[/quote]

Sounds like you did okay considering you were using a 32 degree bag at 14 degrees with a windchill like that. At least part of the chill you felt could have been from losing heat from the top.

[stickman]

I agree the bag was not really warm enough. Also, I did not put up the Fly. That said, its still true that the UQ has to be just right: too loose and wind gets in, too tight and you compress the insulation.

Stickman

[Just Jeff]

From a previous thread:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10606&highlight=25f



This is gonna sound complicated, but it's really not...it's just tough to explain over the internet. Of course, it's not as simple as throwing a pad in the hammock, either.

There are lots of variables affecting how it will hang for each individual and each site, so it was kinda trial and error to get it right, but I think the same tricks would work for everyone.

A few of these I did before I even got in. The only things I did after I was ready for bed was tighten the suspension on the foot end and move the velcro position.

Here are some of the things that might help:

- Tightening the drawstrings on the end too much creates a pocket of air at that end...tighten them only enough to snug the quilt to the hammock. Remember that you might have a gap between the Nest and hammock while unoccupied, because the hammock will stretch and sag when you get in.

- If you can't tell whether or not there's a gap under your back, ask a buddy to check for you. If no one is around, grab the HH along the bugnet seam and pull it towards you until you can see the Nest. Then grab the Nest through the bugnet and pull it up around you. Hold it there for a few seconds. If there's a gap, you should feel it get warmer pretty quickly. If it stays the same or gets a bit cooler, you're probably compressing the insulation and there isn't a gap there.

- Also, the quilt will tend to pull into a straight line from your butt (lowest point of contact) to where the suspension attaches to the HH rope. Tightening the suspension increases that angle, which tends to increase the gap under your back and knees. Not a big deal in 40F+ for me, but this time I found a different way to use the shockcord so that angle is as small as possible. It's simple to do but kind of tough to explain, but I'll try (eventually I'll post a pic). Attach the shockcord to the HH like the directions say. Before attaching the biners to the quilt, wrap it once around the very end of the hammock fabric (kinda like a half-hitch), then pull separate the two strands of shockcord and attach to the Nest as directed. This way, I could tighten the tension without changing the angle, and the direction of force remained more vertical and closer to the hammock's body, rather than pulling further and further away from the hammock.

- Use the right hole in the ladder loop. Along with this, I've found that tying the HH side tie-outs higher (rather than staking them to the ground) helps keep the Nest more snug along the bottom.

- Finding the right amount of tension can be tough. One thing that helped me was that after adjusting and climbing in, I put my hand through the HH slit and felt how much space was between the hammock and Nest under my butt.

- This night, I somehow had a nice fit along my back until it got to my butt, where I had a small pocket running from my butt to my legs. Attaching the Nest to the HH entry slit velcro helped keep the Nest snug to the hammock without compressing it. Later, I made an adjustment from inside the hammock by moving the quilt's velcro closer to the foot end before attaching it. That left about 3" of HH velcro attached to itself (next to my butt), then the Nest attached to the HH for the rest of the way.

That was the final adjustment I made to get the best fit, and probably the easiest since it was done from inside the hammock.

[peter_pan]

Stickman,

Just Jeff says it pretty well... would add that, it is best to get the adjustment at home with help first...then you know what is optimum and how fine adjustments will work....also FWIW. when all is adjusted properly, and no pad is inside, you will feel the heat radiate back to your back within 2-3 minutes of lying down in temperatures above 35...you feel it to lesser degrees below that temp... if you don't observe this phenonom you probably have an air pocket that above 45 is no big deal but for colder weather you don't want an air pocket, you want the under quilt gently touching the hammock bottom.

Pan

[stickman]

Thanks for all the tips. And to be clear, I thought this was a pretty hard test (eg using a bag that was underrated by about 20 degrees!), yet I could have made it through the night. A little more tinkering and learning how to make these adjustments and I won't sweat the cold stuff! Both the HH and the Nest are quality gear.

Stickman

[Heater]

Thanks for all the tips. And to be clear, I thought this was a pretty hard test (eg using a bag that was underrated by about 20 degrees!), yet I could have made it through the night. A little more tinkering and learning how to make these adjustments and I won't sweat the cold stuff! Both the HH and the Nest are quality gear.

Stickman

Were the conditions really similar to what you might experience on the trail?
High winds and horizontal rain? Maybe some updraft of moisture?

I have been watching these threads pretty closely because I have been considering the hammock option but don't wan't to fork out the bucks just to try it out. Thanks for the posts on your test.

[Tinker]

is to buy some cheap polyester insulation, a couple (or three) yards of light uncoated nylon, cut it to the shape of my Byer Traveller hammock, and hang it underneath by attaching it with light shock cord. I figure it wouldn't compress as much as down, and moisture wouldn't affect it as much. A plus is that it wouldn't need two layers of fabric to hold it in place, like down does. I think that's the basic concept of Hennessy Hammock's open cell foam underliner, but using a batt of poly insulation, and possibly gluing it to the nylon outer sheath (not the hammock), could save weight and dry more readily. There's someone I've read about on the forums here who makes a synthetic underliner, but he uses an outer and inner layer of nylon, and stabilizes the insulation with short strands of yarn knotted on each side of the nylon fabric (after being punched through the insulation batt).

Please! Someone - beat me to it before I go spending more money which I don't have experimenting................:o

[Just Jeff]

Integrating insulation into the hammock is probably the best way to stay warm because it completely eliminates air pockets and fit concerns (underquilt's biggest drawbacks) and you don't have to worry about staying on it at night (pad's drawback).

For synthetic, I think you'd need the yarn loops to hold it snugly against the hammock body to eliminate the air gaps. There are a few plans for what you're talking about, though...one is at www.imrisk.com (http://www.imrisk.com) and one is at http://www.tothewoods.net/HomemadeGearWarmHammock.html . Several other folks have made them with pretty good results. Once you get the design down, it's probably worth using PG or Primaloft instead of the Walmart batting.

Be sure to post pics if you make it!

[Tinker]

Thanks for the info, Jeff. The pictures are a big help.

[Hana_Hanger]

I like your idea a lot Tinker!!
I cannot use ANYTHING with down in it at all...it just molds over here.
Even if it does not get wet...It is always damp in the rainforest.

I did make one using the ideas off the links Jeff stated. Which were wonderful and great pictures it helped out alot.

But I want something lighter than the one I made using the soft Tarp I bought from Lowe's or was it Home Depot. Anyways it works but is too stiff.
Thanks again I am a terrible at sewing..but it does not seem to be costly to try your idea. I'll post pictures if I do it. Please make one before me...
hint hint.