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  1. #1
    Registered User AO2134's Avatar
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    Default Sleeping Bag Liner as Summer Bag?

    Hey guys. I was wondering does anyone use a sleeping bag liner as a summer sleeping bag? If so, how is it? I never used one so I have no clue if it could work, but I think it might be worth a try. I usually sleep very warm. In the summer, I usually sleep on top of my sleeping bag until about 2-3 am anyways and then I get in but keep it open mostly.

  2. #2
    Registered User AO2134's Avatar
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    http://www.backpacker.com/gear/sleep...omfort-system/

    This looks interesting as an alternative.

  3. #3
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    Just looked at zpacks site. 40* bag 12 oz., 30* bag 1lb. Ouch $350. My Kelty Cosmic 40* cost $125 or so, weighs 1lb 12 or so Cheap summer chilly night insurance. I recently bought a light fleece blanket to use as a lap blanket at home it weighs 14 oz, cut it down mummy style maybe 10-12 oz, $10. I doubt that it would rate to even 60* . A good night's sleep is too important, and hypothermia too dangerous to mess with either. Be smart be safe!

  4. #4

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    I am not doing that Cascades Designs system. I am doing that concept, however, with Hammock Gear Burrow 20 top quilt and NeoAir XTherm.

    I don't think AT trail advice, however, would be for a 20 F sleeping system.

    I do think after you hear from the AT hikers, in the forum, you might put something together like it. It makes sense: the "fluffy" insulation under you is not compressed. It makes a sweet sleeping system with the NeoAir small and a sit-pad or backpack underneat legs and feet. It is low weight and low volume. I have a Borah gear side zip bivy on the way to me, from Borah Gear. I think this will be my best sleep system ever, including even that 900-fill Brooks Range "elephant foot". I got that one at one of those onlnie deals, worth looking around to find.

    Hammock Gear has 50, 40 F, 20 F and 0 F Burrow top quilt. Maybe the 40 F Burrow is the right one?
    Last edited by Connie; 11-22-2014 at 16:56.

  5. #5
    2000 miler Doc's Avatar
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    I have a down liner that I bought many years ago from L.L.Bean. This is my go-to bag during the summer months despite having several other bags including a nice WM bag. I used it for most of my AT hikes and it worked fine. I don't think that Beans carries it any longer.

  6. #6

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    Like most things, it depends. Even at the peak of summer, it can get really chilly just before dawn.

    A typical silk liner is a bit too thin to use by it's self. When it's really hot I'll start out with just the silk liner, but have my bag ready to pull over me when it chills down early in the morning.

    You might get away with one of the heavier sea2summit Reactor liners. For those of you who hike in the south during the summer, a thin fleece blanket would probably be sufficient.
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  7. #7

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    in the summer I just simply use my bag like quilt or sleep on top of it, it's best to have it than not at all, be SMART about it GO PREPARED.

  8. #8
    Registered User johnnybgood's Avatar
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    I have experimented with using a fleece liner from an old Coleman sleeping bag in lieu of a true summer bag with good results. Generally here in the mid-atlantic region during the peak of summer, July and August, evenings are so humid often times I don't even pull it over me until the hours just before daybreak.

    In a nutshell, I'd imagine this works okay on a nobo thru for the summer months on the trail, into the lower elevation states of MD/NJ/PA, as long as temperatures remain normal. Factor in your tolerance for chilly early mornings and thermal insulation choices, i.e.(sleeping pad ) and have an additional top base layer to slip on as added warmth if needed and a liner can suffice .
    Getting lost is a way to find yourself.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doc View Post
    I have a down liner that I bought many years ago from L.L.Bean. This is my go-to bag during the summer months despite having several other bags including a nice WM bag. I used it for most of my AT hikes and it worked fine. I don't think that Beans carries it any longer.
    Bought something similar from Montbell about three years ago. It's call a Thermal Sheet. I open it up and use it as a quilt. Weighs about 13 ounces and think it cost me about $180 when I bought it. Packs tiny!

  10. #10
    Registered User HeartFire's Avatar
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    I always use a liner (http://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/54)
    in the winter, I'm inside of it inside my sleeping bag, in mild weather I'm inside the liner and kick off the sleeping bag, in summer, when it's really hot, I put my neoair inside the liner so it's like a sheet and I sleep ontop of that - I don't like the sticky feeling of my skin against the plastic of the neoair, so if I'm not sleeping in long johns, I have the liner between me and the neoair.

  11. #11
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    I also don't like that clammy feeling sleeping on the plastic air mattress. So I bought a fitted sheet. Coolmax I think. Weight 6 oz. Gee the Coolmax bag liner is about 7-8 oz, and much more versatile. Heck with the sheet I'm bringing the bag liner.

  12. #12
    Registered User handlebar's Avatar
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    +1 to Heartfire's approach above except I use a Sea to Summit's silk liner which is much lighter than the one made from Colmax. On the AT, I also switched to 45 degree rated Marmot Pounder as a summer bag from Harpers Ferry north thru MA. I started on Mar 15 and was glad to have a 15 degree rated bag both in the south and from the White Mts. thru ME. If I were doing AT again, I'd probably go with my Western Mountaineering Ultralite rated at 20* but still switch. Out to the Pounder for the Mid-Atlantic states.
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