I had to use my 40 degree hammock setup on a 30 degree night and my lower body was kinda cold. Feet the coldest.
Do I solve this with a sleeping bag liner such as Sea to Summit Reactor (lightest option) that adds up to 14 degrees in warmth?
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I had to use my 40 degree hammock setup on a 30 degree night and my lower body was kinda cold. Feet the coldest.
Do I solve this with a sleeping bag liner such as Sea to Summit Reactor (lightest option) that adds up to 14 degrees in warmth?
Elionoxa, Welcome to the forum. The heat loss in a hammocks is different from that sleeping on the ground. On the ground, you usually lose heat by conduction - contact with something cold, like the ground. Your sleeping pad isolates you from that loss.
In a hammock, you usually lose heat by conduction - the air currents flowing under/around your hammock. It helps to keep that in mind.
For example, if you were just using your sleeping bag in the hammock, you had very little insulation under you. Any loft the sleeping bag provided is compressed to almost nothing underneath you. So you need add something there - more effective than adding a sleeping bag liner. How that is done, depends ... If your hammock is double layer, you'd put the pad between the layers. If your hammock is single layer, you'd put it inside the hammock. If you use an underquilt protector (UQP) and it had a snug fit, it might work between the hammock and the UQP.
As you read posts in the forum, you'll see that people sometimes put a small Pad under their feet. Or they put a water bottle with hot water in it - be sure the lid is on TIGHT - at the foot of their sleeping bag or top quilt. Usually that hot water bottle is in some sort of fleece bag so it is not right against your skin.
Often, after some experience, a person buys an Under Quilt (UQ). It's like the bottom half of a sleeping bag. It hangs under the hammock body, but snug up against it. Often it is more comfortable that a pad because you don't slide off it.
One other thing - those temperature ratings are "suggestions". For example, after many nights of experimenting, I've found that for myself, it works best if the item provides a 10 degree difference from the expected night time temperature. For example, if I thought it was going to be 30 degrees at night, I'd have a 20 degree quilt. Everyone is different in that area.
Almost forgot - I'm guessing that Sea to Summit liner assumes you are sleeping on the ground. Again, you need something to prevent convection heat loss under you - a pad or UQ.
Hi, sorry I forgot to mention that I am not a complete noob. I am just looking for something that can help me get past that unexpected night out where the temperature can drop below my gear temp rating.
this is when I am on offroad adventures on my motorcycle sometimes I camp on hot weather and next day I am in the mountains where its colder. 95% of the time its above 40 degrees but that 5% is not worth carrying a warmer UQ and TQ
My setup is:
dutch chameleom + asym bugnet
dutch bonded hex tarp
HG premium incubator 40 degrees
HG premium burrow 40 degrees
thank you
I can't answer your question about whether the liner will solve your problem but what I do is always change into a fresh pair of heavy socks before climbing in as there is sometimes moisture in the clothes you've been wearing whether they feel dry or not. Also fresh base layer sometimes too, if really concerned I might add pants and shirt as well, etc etc until I feel sufficient. Beyond that I sometimes take in a good solid screw on lid nalgene that can handle hot water. I've also alternatively done hot rocks stuffed into a large sock or pillowcase type thing, you just have to be sure it's not too hot to melt anything. I don't put the rock directly in the fire, just on the outer edge, like on top my fire ring. Should not be too hot to handle in a sock and should not melt the sock. Something like this will kick start you by getting your feet warm off of the getgo. Often I have to make sure I don't get too hot when I do these things and sometimes end up throwing the heated item out, but they get you kick-started.
I've had better results with top covers (even improvised) than with liner bags in terms of boosting the performance of my gear. You mentioned that you're in a Chameleon. Maybe add the top cover to hold in a micro-climate on top and then toss in one of the thin-light closed cell foam pads from Gossamer Gear or Mountain Laurel Designs underneath. I routinely carry one of those 1/8 inch pads; weight of the pad is 1.6 ounces for a 20x40 inch piece and it can really make a difference in marginal conditions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elionoxa
I remember my feet were cold from above rather than below, i guess the dutch top cover will solve my issue but when i stop to think about it… if the hammock cannot stop any cold from below without the UQ how is the top cover supposed to help?
I would say you need something to aid underneath you. An underquilt protector may give you that little extra you are looking for.
But .. you may also break about even if you switch to a 30° underquilt vs adding another piece of gear to supplement.
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The top cover helps hold warmer air close to you on top, instead of allowing winds and air currents to pull that heated air from around you. It isnt usually much, but 5 or so degrees. Additionally, an UnderQuiltProtector can give similar and additive results because it allows the quilt to have less disturbance of trapped air.
Pay attention to the Dew Point.
If it is 40 degrees F and the Dew Point is 40 degrees F, then there is 100 % relative humidity (RH).
The above, in turn, means that the air is saturated and cannot hold any more water vapor, therefore water droplets will form.
Think dew on the grass, which happens at all sorts of temperature above freezing
Now, when you apply this concept to the vapor barrier, you have a RH inside the vapor barrier bag, and a dewpoint associated within the vapor barrier bag. When the inside temperature of the bag equals the RH inside the bag, dew drops begin to form.
Then this concept is applied to the exterior of the sleeping bag and the air surrounding your hammock.
A candle lantern with unscented lamp oil can mitigate the dewpoint of the air surrounding the sleeping bag if applied judiciously. This, in turn raises the temperature and allows more water vapor to saturate the air - ie., thus the air temp becomes higher, allowing more "headroom" for the RH to saturate the air before dew drops begin to form.
Temps below freezing are easier to manage because the RH is near zero, freezing temps have little to none RH.
An ever-shifting landscape to be sure.
Operating an Environmental Temp and Humidity chamber for Schlumberger Austin Engineering Center for testing rack chassis; for Downhole Drilling operations helped my awareness for storage and operational parameters.
Hello,
Without buying upgraded quilts you might be able to do a few things:
Use Chemical Hand Warmers inside the gear you already have. Pop them into your quilts prior to climbing in or keep them handy in case you get chilled during the nite.
Take a coat and stuff it down around your feet and/or the area on your lower body thats cold. This fills up any air pockets that your body heat is trying to fill.
Put on a hat or buff enclosing your head, ears and neck.
If it was just your upper body area that was chilled, maybe bring an extra sleeping bag to stack your top quilt in. If your butt and back area of your body was warm, I think stacking the top quilt would be your most successful experiment.
Have fun.
Bob