Maryland > Cecil County> Oct 22> Hang on the Beach

[Chesapeake]

Next Saturday I've been asked, er...ordered, by my older 2 daughters to have a bonfire on the beach for homecoming weekend. They also want me to pitch the big 3 room tent so there friends and them can camp out. So, to counter act the high levels of estrogen and teen girl giggles all night, I figured I'd see if anyone wants to join me so I don't lose my mind lol. Its a HUGE beach, and we would be hanging on the opposite side so if they are up super late it won't be an issue. Plenty of places to hang mere feet from the Chesapeake bay. Gonna do the standard hot dogs, smores etc etc.... Wives and children more than welcome also. If anyone is interested, pm me and we can figure out details. Cool temps , fire, a Beach and a hammock.... What else could any man ask for? Lol

[Marmaduke]

Can't imagine why more people haven't signed on to go hang out on a beach with a bunch of giggling teen girls............haha. Good luck :P

[Chesapeake]

I know right? Lol. I doubted anyone would want to come, I just figured I'd still offer though.

[Chesapeake]

So I bit the bullet this weekend and let my middle daughter have a few friends over Friday night after her homecoming game, and oldest daughter have friends over last night , so they could camp out on the beach in my big 2 room, 8 person tent. The beach is huge so Friday night I put them on one end and I hung in my usual spot by the pier on the other end. They didn't burn the beach down with the bonfire I started for them, and crawled into the tent sound 12 or so. I gave all 4 of them each a sleeping bag, pad and extra blanket but with the high wind it got down to about 45° and they bailed around 3am. Good thing BC they kept me up ALL night with their 13yo antics lol.

I did get a little sleep but was cold on top even though I was wearing a thin synthetic base layer top and bottom, synthetic boxers, thick wool Sox, a fleece beanie and fleece gloves, all under my Snugpak TQ. For an UQ I had my JRB winter nest snugged up and used the HH slit with the nest slit for the first time, making it much easier to get in and out. I'm learning to snug the UQ up closer to me where before I was afraid it would be to tight and rip or compress the down. Using the tie outs on the HH with the loops on the winter nest opens it up more,but I've found out that I don't get as good of coverage by my shoulder and feet because using the tie outs with the nest loops pull those areas down and keep it from being high enough to get down by my toes and shoulder. So from now on Im gonna skip that and just hang it like any other UQ to let the sides of the UQ go up higher and block more wind and get the down on my shoulder and toes where it should be.

Last night my 16yo oldest daughter had a few friends over to camp out and it was the total opposite of the night before. They were quiet, polite and included my 4yo daughter in everything they did. I got the 4 of them settled in with the heavier and lower temp rated mummy bags I have and reflectix pads underneath around 1030, and then I crawled into my HH. I was warm until around 4 am when I woke up to use the bathroom and was freezing cold on top. The temp had dropped to about 42° with a 20mph wind off of the water that was cutting right through my UQ and TQ, even though I had the typhoon fly pitched low with doors on. This time I put poly warm-up style pants over my base layer bottoms, a down vest over the base layer top and when I got back in the hammock I put my Snugpak Insulated Poncho Liner on top of my TQ. This did the trick and I was warm after that.Tonights temp is gonna be warmer, around 49° and not so windy. But Tuesday and Wednesday are forecasted to be around 35°-37° plus wind, the coldest its been here so far since I started down the hammock rabbit hole this past April.

My Snugpak TQ while rated to around 32°, is at its lower limit for me around 40°-45° without adding extra insulation since I'm a cold sleeper. Im pretty sure I'm gonna order a custom length HG 0° burrow with sewn footbox and 2oz of overstuff, but I'm still considering a custom length JRB Old Rag Mountain to have a matching TQ/UQ set instead.
An UQP I think is a must also due to the wind I get here. I have an old G.I poncho that I'm gonna rig up until I can buy either a 2QZQ UQP or JRB DRI Duks poncho w/ mod. A new TQ is an absolute must have though if I'm gonna hang through the winter here with temps that can be single digits and below 0° with wind chill. I'll stop rambling now lol, just thought I'd share my weekend hanging experience and ask for advise in trying to get a few more degrees out of my current TQ until my first ever down TQ gets here. Thanks! Sorry I wrote so much!