enjoyed my first real overnight hang with my 8-year-old son (a young scout) last night. right in the back yard where we were able to escape back indoors if the need arose. got down to 16F and wind was howling, but we made it through unscathed. my son says he never got cold, and i might have said the same if i didn't need to get up to relieve myself. 3 times.
i've read so much from these forums and am very thankful for the experience and guidance provided here. using what i've learned here, i chose to purchase a hennessy expedition and a cub for my son. the velcro entry system is really an interesting idea, and it does work - but so far i think i like the cub's side zipper better. some of my clothing catches on the velcro, and the whole thing is really a bugger to open with gloves and/or frozen thingers and fumbs. the zipper was pretty simple to deal with in comparison.
i replaced the hennessy ropes with self-made whoopie slings, and moved the tarp to its own 550 ridgeline. i successfully used prussic knots/loops to keep everything tight through the windy night. it took a bit of playing to figure out how/where the attachment points to the trees needed to be in order to keep the two ridgelines in close proximity. with the very minimal included tarps, everything had to be quite close to have any hopes of blocking the wind. i attached the whoopie slings to the tree straps using marlin spike hitches. works great once you have tension, but without tension they just pop right off (so the first one was a bear).
we slept on el-cheap-o walmart blue camping mats, and covered with unzipped +5F mummy bags. i eventually zipped myself up inside, but my son says he didn't. holy bat baloney, was it a PITA to get situated on top of the mat. you know, all 4 times, and particularly while zipped inside the mummy bag. i'd love to ditch the mats and replace them with under quilts, but that presents two problems: they seem to be quite expensive, and and i have no idea how to make that work with the hennessy velcro entry. recommendations on these two points will be gladly welcomed. and in the end we'll need to outfit 4 hammocks - one each of the expeditions (myself and my wife) and two each of the cubs (son and daughter) - so the cost of the quilts add up quickly.
based on recommendation, i have the tarps packed in the snakeskins (in case things get wet). the theory was to stow the hammocks in our backpacks (they fit!) with the bags still inside (doesn't fit!) ... recommendations here are welcomed as well, remembering that we're hoping to do quite a bit of this in scouting in the coming years.
overall i'm very happy with what we have - despite the rediculously cold weather (for 'round here at least) my night was way more comfortable that what experienced so far in ground tents. but the pad and bag situation is a real hassle, and i feel like i have a long way to go with figuring out how to properly pack everything. i also have the self-inflating therm-a-rest pads, but don't see those being any different than the cheap walmart blue mats.
looking forward to trying again and figuring things out - and to hearing your recommendations too.
so ... thanks again for all the great stuff so far - and happy to be putting it to good use in the great state of nawth cackalacky!
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Originally Posted by mrpeapody
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