Where to focus my money

[Broadwater]

Hi Snowplow... Welcome aboard! Like others, I think PappyAmos' post is great advice. The only thing I'll add is that you may want to take into consideration a slightly different approach. Doing your first hang on a limited budget in cold weather can be a big a roll of the dice and challenging. With that in mind, if you want to proceed cautiously, I'd first get a cheap hammock now.

There have been a lot of good cheap hammock recommendations already, and I'll give you one other option - the Equip hammock at Walmart for about $25. It's a decent hammock that a lot of people find comfortable. I'm a fairly big guy (6'3/230lbs), and I can sleep in it comfortably. Try sleeping in it inside and outside now during the warm weather - see if hammocking is for you. If you find out it's not your cup of tea, you are only out the $25.... you might even be able to return it to the store if you really dislike it. If you do like it, and eventually move on to another hammock, you can keep the Equip and use it as an equipment hammock to hang over (or under) your new hammock and store your gear while camping.

One word of advice - I can fall asleep easily almost anywhere, but it took me about 6 or 7 tries before I could fall asleep in a hammock. Now, it's no problem.... the point is, give it a few tries before you make a decision.

If you do wind up liking it, then you can start adding on components for the cold weather - UQ, pad, etc. One inexpensive option that I think will help is to buy some Reflectix insulation at your local Home Depot or Lowes, and cut a piece of it to size for your sleeping bag. Place it inside your sleeping bag, along with a closed foam pad that you have also cut to fit your bag, and lay on top of those 2 items inside your bag. Placing your pad and reflectix inside the bag will help you with the slip-sliding that can happen with pads. This system should take you down close to 20 degrees, but like others have said, try it at home in cold weather before you take it into the field.

Also, one thing that can help a lot for cold weather is a couple of hot water bottles... they are cheap and can stay warm most of the night.

The hammock, foam pad, Reflectix, 2 hot water bottles and tarp should all come in well below your $150 budget. If you can, get a cheap down comforter from a local Salvation Army / Goodwill store to throw over your sleeping bag, just for some added insurance.

Good luck!

Broadwater

[Snowplow]

UPDATE!

Thanks for all the great help everybody. I ended up with this-

Dutch 11' hammock
20* HG Burro TQ
20* HG Incubator UQ
12' Simply Light Winter Haven

Thanks to all the vendors for the super quick turn around!

Now, I am wondering how to store them. Here's how I see it going-

1. Winter haven tarp in a small drybag
2. Hammock and quilts in their individual stuff sacks
3. All of the above in a compression bag (its already small, but each sack could get about 1/3 the size)

What do you think of this idea? How do you guys do it? I'm in rainy WA, so do you think that's enough protection from my wet tarp to my down bags?

Thanks for all the help!

[LuvmyBonnet]

Have the tarp in an outer pocket or top of the pack. If weather turns ugly you want to be able to set up the tarp quick. I don't use compression bags because I don't like squishing the down that much. The quilts go in a trash compactor bag to protect from water.

[PappyAmos]

Congrats on purchasing a lot of great gear. It will serve you well.

Do not "store" quilts compressed in their individual stuff sacks or any other compression type sack. They should be stored either uncompressed hanging loosely in a closet or in a large, roomy, very breathable cotton pillow case like bag also in a closet uncompressed by anything else. The closet should be in a well ventilated, climate controlled area away from pets, odors and any type of smoke - particularly tobacco smoke.

The tarp can be stored in a dry bag - shouldn't be tight for storage. Before storing it, it should be set up to dry thoroughly following each use. Similarly, the hammock can be stored in it's stuff sack after it has been aired out following each trip

The quilt stuff sacks are for when you are packing the quilts to go out in the field. Personally, I don't use them - just stuff the quilts into the bottom of the waterproof liner bag I have in my pack. Loosely packed like that they tend to blend into the available space around the soft objects you put on top of them - your clothing, hammock, etc. Your tarp in it's dry bag goes outside of the pack liner bag as it may be wet when put away in the field.

Now all you have to do is practice setting all that great gear up!

[Snowplow]

Thanks for all the good ideas. So my pack is a giant drybag mounted on an external pack frame. Maybe it makes sense to just have the tarp in it's original stuff sack and mount it externally. Then who cares if it gets wet or goes away wet right?

[jrmyh]

If you're not concerned with weight, I wouldn't invest in a down underquilt. Just carry plenty of normal quilts, friend of mine did that on a trip in CO since weight wasn't an issue and was just as comfortable as I was in my fancy underquilt.