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rpettit
12-02-2004, 18:37
I have only used my Hennessy ultralight asym a couple of times. I experienced a lot of condensation build up on the head end of the bug screen and the chest area of my sleeping bag. The low temp was around 40, no wind, clear night, no rain fly, set up beside a creek in the Wilson Creek area, probably at an elevation of 1500 ft. I'm looking for any feedback/recommendations/experience on this issue.

orangebug
12-02-2004, 21:08
Quit breathing. :rolleyes:

This is another reason to consider wearing a balacava or covering your nose and mouth with a bandana at night. Your exhalations are very humid. In the cold, this humidity will condense on colder objects such as netting and tarps. If you keep that condensation in the immediate neighborhood of your respiratory tract, you might reduce the amount of water use lose by the act of breathing.

Glee
12-02-2004, 21:25
Hmm,, Well this is just a off the wall guess on one of them..
The 1st one, are you wearing any type of vapor barrier liner in your bag? Or are you wearing vapor barrier clothes?

The other thing, and I don't know if your male of female, but I know I've done some pretty weird things in my sleep. I use a little bottle (With a big opening) :) that I hang from my ridge line when I have to take a pee... I've been so tired after on the trail all day that I would unzip my bag and think I had untied the bottle... Ya, it was not pretty. :-?

Just a thought, but better then just stop breathing....

rpettit
12-02-2004, 21:40
1. No vapor barriers.
2. Umm...no.
When using the rainfly, does the vapor condense on the fly, bug net or both?

orangebug
12-02-2004, 22:23
Both, but mostly the bug net in my experience with an HH.

I was impressed that the Speer Hammock does not have this problem as long as you leave a bit of the Peapod open above your face.

Glee
12-02-2004, 22:29
I've been sleeping outside in mine for over a month now trying out different setups. The temp tonight is going to be around 27 degrees and I will leave the fly off. No river near by, but I've been getting some heavy condensation on my fly but not the net. However, that is when I've had the fly on the net.

The Will
12-02-2004, 22:39
I'm suprised to hear of noticeable condensation build up on the bug mesh.

I would guess that the moisture on the chest area of your bag was just the normal moisture given of by your body. Once this moisture makes it outside of the sleeping bag in quickly cool, condenses and collects. I don't know that I've ever experience that on such an islolated portion of my bag...unless perhaps your head was slightly down-turned and you were exhaling onto the bag.

Youngblood
12-03-2004, 09:50
I have only used my Hennessy ultralight asym a couple of times. I experienced a lot of condensation build up on the head end of the bug screen and the chest area of my sleeping bag. The low temp was around 40, no wind, clear night, no rain fly, set up beside a creek in the Wilson Creek area, probably at an elevation of 1500 ft. I'm looking for any feedback/recommendations/experience on this issue.

As others have said, it is a result of the warm humid air that you exhale when you are breathing, very humid conditions and no wind. A face mask using a bandana covering your mouth & nose will greatly limit this but it may not be practical/comfortable if it is above freezing. You don't have the option of removing your bugnet (which would help if bugs weren't a problem) with the Hennessy hammock even if you wanted to, so you are stuck with this if you camp in a windless, high humidity area. It might not have been an issue if you had camped a hundred feet or so higher than the creek, ever notice the early morning fog banks in the valleys-- they are pretty high humidity and most everything will have a dampness to it. I can remove the bugnet and tarp on my hammock; I have been 'dew'd on' before in the right/wrong(?) conditions when I have slept like this. Ain't the end of the world... did you have a good trip?

Youngblood

Glee
12-03-2004, 11:21
I left the fly off last night. Temps in the low 30's. No condensation at all on the net, but there was 2 to 5 mph wind which would come and go.

I did use my vapor barrier liner inside my bag (20 Degree) last night and underarmor top and bottoms which were both wet this morning. (Which is better then a pool of cold water inside the vapor barrier liner). I did stay warm all night and did not wake up due to any cold. Since I was using the vapor barrier liner on the inside and had it wrapped tight, I put a vapor barrier liner on the outside of my bag and pulled it up halfway thinking it would help keep the lower part of my body warm. I thought because I was wrapped tight inside my VBL inside my bag that no water would get out. However, this morning the area (Half of my sleeping bag) was wet. Nothing bad and just the outside. The part not covered was nice and dry. I guess it does not matter if you use a vbl or not on the inside. If you use any type of bag to try and keep the dew off your bag it will get wet anyway.

rpettit
12-03-2004, 12:17
Thanks for the input. I'll try hanging further up the hill next time. Maybe there will also at least be a slight breeze with the warmer air rising out of the valley. My bag has a pertex shell so it doesn't soak the down.

Yeah. Had a good time at Wilson Creek, going back next weekend hopefully. Good place for winter hiking, moderate temps. Creek crossings can be very wide and numerous on some trails, take sandals and such if hiking along a creek bed. They can be difficult to successfully rock hop without getting wet. Extremely crowded in the summer .

SGT Rock
12-03-2004, 12:31
Another option is to pitch the tarp like a lean-too with one end down to the windward side to act as a wind block and the other end up with the stupport of a pole or tying it high in a tree so you get beter ventallation but still providing cover.

Youngblood
12-03-2004, 12:35
I left the fly off last night. Temps in the low 30's. No condensation at all on the net, but there was 2 to 5 mph wind which would come and go.

I did use my vapor barrier liner inside my bag (20 Degree) last night and underarmor top and bottoms which were both wet this morning. (Which is better then a pool of cold water inside the vapor barrier liner). I did stay warm all night and did not wake up due to any cold. Since I was using the vapor barrier liner on the inside and had it wrapped tight, I put a vapor barrier liner on the outside of my bag and pulled it up halfway thinking it would help keep the lower part of my body warm. I thought because I was wrapped tight inside my VBL inside my bag that no water would get out. However, this morning the area (Half of my sleeping bag) was wet. Nothing bad and just the outside. The part not covered was nice and dry. I guess it does not matter if you use a vbl or not on the inside. If you use any type of bag to try and keep the dew off your bag it will get wet anyway.

Glee,

That's a disappointment. I would have thought/hoped what you did would have worked... any ideas of where the moisture came from? How sealed up was the vapor barrier liner inside your bag? You think maybe a small amount made it past it; seams, maybe the material itself or around the vapor barrier but inside your sleeping bag near your head? One thing that Stephenson stresses in his vapor barrier info is the need to vent to prevent overheating inside the vapor barrier to prevent excessive sweating so that you keep the amount of moisture generated to a mimimum. Stephenson has the best info about vapor barriers that I have came across. He builds a vapor barrier into his sleeping bags, I think he uses silnylon for the inner fabric on the top layer... that way I don't guess you would get moisture leaking around the vapor barrier and into the top insulation. Don't know if they seal seams or not.

Youngblood

Glee
12-06-2004, 09:23
Glee,

That's a disappointment. I would have thought/hoped what you did would have worked... any ideas of where the moisture came from? How sealed up was the vapor barrier liner inside your bag? You think maybe a small amount made it past it; seams, maybe the material itself or around the vapor barrier but inside your sleeping bag near your head? One thing that Stephenson stresses in his vapor barrier info is the need to vent to prevent overheating inside the vapor barrier to prevent excessive sweating so that you keep the amount of moisture generated to a mimimum. Stephenson has the best info about vapor barriers that I have came across. He builds a vapor barrier into his sleeping bags, I think he uses silnylon for the inner fabric on the top layer... that way I don't guess you would get moisture leaking around the vapor barrier and into the top insulation. Don't know if they seal seams or not.

YoungbloodThe VBL I was using is from Dancing Light. It's a full liner which is almost like a mummy bag as you can seal it around your face. It;s very airtight. I think 2 things happened here.
1. The heat from the bag comes out thru the sleeping bag. The cold air between the sleeping bag and the VBL cover turned to vapor and caused the wetness.
2. I think unless you have something that does not allow air in between the sleeping bag and a waterproof cover then there is nothing to keep the dew off. Of course that night there was no dew and the area between the outside VBL (About 2 feet) was dry.

I'm still trying all different types of things to see what works in different temps and situations. From the teens to 40 degrees with rain and everything in between. I'm also trying different sleeping pads and seeing how different setups work with the fly off as well.

I'll post what I find as I go along...

neo
12-27-2004, 03:39
i have never had condensation problems in my hh hammock:sun neo

Pooja Blue
12-27-2004, 14:13
I could never solve the condescenation problems with my Hennessy, that's one of the main reasons I stopped using it.