Sleeping bag liners?

[earlyriser26]

How well do liners work? Possitives / negatives? Suggestions?

[rustmd]

somewhere i read the amount of heat increased by adding a sleeping bag liner, but i forget the number. i have a liner and can testify that it definitely raises the temperature for me. i have a silk liner, weighs mere ounces. i refer to it as "the furnace".

dottie

[Tipi Walter]

How well do liners work? Possitives / negatives? Suggestions?

By your mileage I can assume you've spent some time cocooned inside a zipped up mummy bag? If so, you know how miserable it can be, but to stay warm it's often needed. Now add another mummy sack-within-a-sack and you see where I'm headed. Claustrophobic and constricting. And then sometime in the middle of the night you want out in the worst way and have to fumble and fight two sacks instead of one. There's a better solution: Get a warmer bag---one bag---and leave the liner at home.

[30 Large]

I have a 20deg bag which gets too warm at times in spring and a 45deg bag that isn't warm enough in spring. I use a cotton liner (8deg rating) in my summer bag for early spring trips.
I will agree with Tipi though. It can be very restricting at times. Best advice is try one out and see if it is too your liking.

[ChinMusic]

I'm prob in the minority by I do not like liners. I find them too confining, too difficult to get in, too difficult to get out. I prefer clothing to be my "liner". I get dual use out of it that way.

[Tom Murphy]

I prefer clothing to be my "liner". I get dual use out of it that way.

+1

I have nested a mid weight fleece liner in a mummy bag to extend the temp range. I have also nested two 15*F bags for winter camping. It becomes a huge PITA to get in, all zipped up, and comfortable. Then do it in the middle of the night after a nature call....

I am also very leery of claim of + 10*F and +15*F from the silk and cotton liners. If those materials were truly that good at insulating, we wouldn't need down and synthetics.

The one positive point I could see is as a barrier to prevent dirt, mud, debris from the inside of your bag over the course of a multi-day hike.

[Doc Mike]

I have a reactor liner(silk) which probably adds 8-10 degrees to my marmot hydrogen
BUT it is a PIA esp in the middle of the night.

[buz]

If you want to try one for no charge, take a single bed sheet, pin it up to liner dimension you find, try and test sleep in it with your bag. I am flippy floppy side sleeper, liners don't work at all for me. They may for you, but try before you buy would be my .02. If you want something for sleeping in, silk jammies are a great thing, I made some that weigh 3 ounces. Really nice to jump into. But I cannot believe any liner made of cotton or silk adds real warmth, fleece like stuff, sure, but they are heavy and bulky.

[klpicktown]

I dont use a sleeping bag - i just stick with the thermolite tech blanket snapped to the fitted sheet. i was a bit chilly up on the greyson highlands this past summer (as in my hands and feet in stuff sacks chilly ) so i picked up a Sea To Summit Reactor Thermolite Sleeping Bag Liner and love it. it knocks the chill off just enough - love it.

[earlyriser26]

Thanks for the replies. I do find a mummy too restrictive, so I guess this would just make it worse. Maybe better sleeping clothes is the best solution. I normally get out once in Oct., but it may not be until Nov. this year.

[wcgornto]

I use a silk liner, NOT for increase temperature rating, but to protect the sleeping bag from the mud and muck and sweat that accumulates on me over several days of hiking. It is much easier to throw a liner in the washing machine to clean out than to deal with cleaning a down bag.

[theinfamousj]

I use a sleeping bag liner to keep my bag clean. So far it has done an excellent job as I haven't yet had to wash the bag. I wash the liner at every possible opportunity.

Also, here in good old NC, I sometimes don't even need a sleeping bag and can just sleep in the liner as is. I've done this in the dead of summer at the beach, and then just did it this past weekend at Lake Lure, NC, on Friday night. So I have to figure there is some sort of insulating value there, but I figure it is equivalent to sleeping under a top sheet only (as I do at home in NC summers; without airconditioning).

[Ironbelly]

Try using something like a military poncho liner. It's just a light blanket, use it on top of you inside the bag and just drape over your sides. I did this before I bought a 0F bag to extend my 15F bag. I use the poncho liner alone for summer, it's plenty warm enough. And as already mentioned you can wear a few more layers of clothes to bed.

I think paying 40+ dollars for a gimmicky liner is a waste of money.

[Linesman]

I used a liner every night of my thru. A layered clothing system is best, so why not a layered sleeping system too? With a liner I could sleep in just the liner, in the liner with the sleeping bag draped over, or in both together for the cold nights. My silk liner is easy to wash and imo more comfy than the high tech sleeping bag fabric. And if you think sleeping in a mummy bag sucks then try hiking more. By the end of my hike I had changed from claustrophobic to absolutely loving my bag.

[Odd Man Out]

The Cocoon brand liners are quite popular. Their web site is very informative with charts explaining the differences among various fabrics, styles, etc, including weight and temperature ratings.

http://www.designsalt.com/index.asp?...geName=fabrics

[MuddyWaters]

RAB claims their silk liner adds 2C, which is 3.6 F. But it only weighs 4.5 oz and keeps your bag clean.

I dont believe claims of very thin liners adding 10F. A 1 lb fleece liner could add 10F, but not a 5oz almost see-thru liner.

For its weight, liners are very innefficient. Better is dual-use warm clothing, unless to keep bag cleant

[BirdShooter]

I bought a fleece backpacking sleeping bag liner from REI that has a cinch strap at the bottom to hold the heat in and it works great in the summer months here in the South. It also has a zipper down the side and a cinch strap at the top if it gets cold and I need to hold some heat against my body. I wouldn't recommend it for summer camping in Maine, but it's a great substitute for a backpacking sleeping bag during the humid weather we have here in Georgia in the summer time. If you are struggling with buying a backpacking sleeping bag liner or a backpacking sleeping bag (or even both) then check out the link which will lead you to an article that may help you decide.

[-SEEKER-]

In addition to the above mentioned positive features of bag liners I would like to add this. My Sea to Summit Thermolite Reactor mummy shaped bag liner works great as a mosquito shield during the night. I just pulled the front and back edges together at the top and tucked them under my head while using shelters.

[Spokes]

I bought a silk liner years ago (back when they were cheap) and still use it today. Comfy in chilly weather. Been known to use it by itself in some questionable hostels.......... you guys know what I mean.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I have an REI fleece liner. Weighs 15 oz (heavier than I would like). It works well, and gives me an extra 5-10°. I have used mine both in a tent and in my hammock. I frequently use it by itself from mid-spring to mid-fall. Tipi and others are right, though, that when coupled with a sleeping bag, it is hard to get comfortable in the never-quite-adjusted-double-layer-sleeping-system. But once settled, it does keep one warm.