Underquilt for Clark TX-250

[84Hanger]

I love my Z-liner not sure how Low I can go. Been down to 40 degrees with a 20 degree sleeping as a top TQ.

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[litetrek]

It was posted in one of your other posts. Sell it. Forgive me if you will, but Ill post once, but include info from your other posts. I understand your frustration.
The Clark has a wow factor. Its hard not to be swayed by all the doo-dads and features. But it does have its issues, heavy, bulky, hard to stay warm/insulate, pricey.

One issue I see with your situation is you are trying to conform another vendors quilt to a your very specific hammock.
Why not ask Clark? Do the Clark pockets work? Why not just use those?

You throw the other vendors under the bus.
But in reality, its your hammock that is the issue, not their gear or suspension systems.
You mention not wanting to spend money..what did you pay for hammock?
Your hammock has spreader bars, pocket fabric, tabs and what not, that make fitting a standard quilt problematic.

Over the years, there have been posts of diy pocket tubes of down that seem to work. You stuff the tubes into the Clark pockets, they loft up and create a pseudo quilt, if you will. Seems feasible...if the total Clark system does what they say. From what I gather, you're supposed to stuff the pockets with shirts and pants and jackets. How did that work for you?

Tool Man Tony did a youtube video on how he utilizes carabiners to hold the quilt suspension. Have you looked at that?

A Chevy part doesn't work on a Ford.
The other vendors have made lots of good products, that work on lots of typical hammocks. Proper fit and usage is the end users responsibility. At home practice is always one of the first recommendations this Forum tells folks. Know your gear, be it the hammock, tarp, pad/quilts, pack, shoes, whatever.
Hanging in a hurricane certainly poses its own issues, and probably a situation you may never encounter again.
Your pad was not tested. I can use a pad with a double layer hammock without much issue. The pad goes in the pocket, and stays put. But in a single layer hammock, it is a struggle.

I get it, you had a bad night. But it isn't always the gears fault. You took untested systems into a difficult environment.
A poor carpenter blames his tools.
In the end, you learned something about your gear.
And you have a story to tell, "I hung during Matthew".

NOTED. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll just overlook some of the condescending comments you've made.

When the hammock vendor indicates that any underquilt will work well with his hammock (before the sale) AND the underquilt vendor indicates that his quilt works just fine with the hammock (before the sale) and then over a year is spent trying to find a solution that actually works it is a bit frustrating. I don't plan to sell my Clark.

[bartdelatte]

I know this doesn't help the OP, but for future readers the Clark Z-liner underquilt works great. I've taken it down to the mid 20s with a down topquilt. It makes an already oversized and silly heavy bulky hammock about 3 times the size though. If you are packing the volume and weight of a Clark, you're carrying too much already so what's a little more?
I understand the OP wanted something that wasn't Clark limited, and the Z-liner definitely is.

bart

[Brian Miller]

It was posted in one of your other posts. Sell it. Forgive me if you will, but Ill post once, but include info from your other posts. I understand your frustration.
The Clark has a wow factor. Its hard not to be swayed by all the doo-dads and features. But it does have its issues, heavy, bulky, hard to stay warm/insulate, pricey.

One issue I see with your situation is you are trying to conform another vendors quilt to a your very specific hammock.
Why not ask Clark? Do the Clark pockets work? Why not just use those?

You throw the other vendors under the bus.
But in reality, its your hammock that is the issue, not their gear or suspension systems...

First of all along with my friend litetrek, Thanks for the response and I'll overlook...

My UGQ 20° Zeppelin UQ (with a 40° UGQ TQ) works great with my Clark NX250. Using the setup in my pics on page 2 of the thread, the sides of the quilt come up and stay up as high as the Clark zippers at the top of the sides of the hammock, which are at least 6" above me when laying in the hammock. Clipping shock cord with toggle locks and mitten hooks onto the UQ's triangle rings along the sides of the quilt that just happen to line up nearly perfectly with the four go to ground tie outs under the hammock pole pockets is lighter and works better than carabiners.

The 6 Clark NX250 pockets are great for storing my clothing. They are below the hammock bed, and above the UQ so I sleep over them instead of on them. As a result the clothing provides a bit of additional insulation underneath me plus stays toasty warm for putting on in the morning. On my last trip I tried storing my boots in pockets to keep them warm the first night where temps dropped to the high 30s but believe they made too big an air gap between me and the UQ and I had some CBS. The next night I left the boots on the ground and I was warm and comfortable even with cooler overnight temps.

The only other tweak I'm trying to make is holding the very end of the UQ (last pic, page 2) higher up the sides of the hammock near the velcro to spread out the quilt a little more at the ends for better coverage and a tighter seal. I accomplished that using bungee cords larks headed at the top of the head and foot hoops with toggle locks and mitten hooks clipped into the triangle rings for the UQ primary suspension at the very ends of the quilt in addition to what is shown in the pics.

When a vendor says he is going to post pics showing how to rig their quilt with a particular hammock, and then for whatever reason fails to do so, asking about getting the pics posted before dropping $375 is a fair question.

[SoaknWet]

I own the nx270 and have used a Thermarest slacker into the low 40s with success. I replaced their string with shock cord and attached to my Whoopi slings, I put safety pins on the slacker lined up with the little loops other Clark than small loop of shock cord and cord locks to adjust the slacker and have some give. Did the same thing with my ENO under quilt, not perfect but worked. Personally the pockets are great for storage but not insulation..

[litetrek]

First of all along with my friend litetrek, Thanks for the response and I'll overlook...

My UGQ 20° Zeppelin UQ (with a 40° UGQ TQ) works great with my Clark NX250. Using the setup in my pics on page 2 of the thread, the sides of the quilt come up and stay up as high as the Clark zippers at the top of the sides of the hammock, which are at least 6" above me when laying in the hammock. Clipping shock cord with toggle locks and mitten hooks onto the UQ's triangle rings along the sides of the quilt that just happen to line up nearly perfectly with the four go to ground tie outs under the hammock pole pockets is lighter and works better than carabiners.

The 6 Clark NX250 pockets are great for storing my clothing. They are below the hammock bed, and above the UQ so I sleep over them instead of on them. As a result the clothing provides a bit of additional insulation underneath me plus stays toasty warm for putting on in the morning. On my last trip I tried storing my boots in pockets to keep them warm the first night where temps dropped to the high 30s but believe they made too big an air gap between me and the UQ and I had some CBS. The next night I left the boots on the ground and I was warm and comfortable even with cooler overnight temps.

The only other tweak I'm trying to make is holding the very end of the UQ (last pic, page 2) higher up the sides of the hammock near the velcro to spread out the quilt a little more at the ends for better coverage and a tighter seal. I accomplished that using bungee cords larks headed at the top of the head and foot hoops with toggle locks and mitten hooks clipped into the triangle rings for the UQ primary suspension at the very ends of the quilt in addition to what is shown in the pics.

When a vendor says he is going to post pics showing how to rig their quilt with a particular hammock, and then for whatever reason fails to do so, asking about getting the pics posted before dropping $375 is a fair question.

Thanks Brian. You and I have been talking about this for at least a year. I haven't overlooked your solution(s). They are among the best ones out there. I'm just juggling several constraints. First, several of us in my family backpack and several of us use hammocks. I would like anything I buy to work with any of the hammocks we have due the high cost of a quality down quilt. Second, I'm a long distance backpacker (sometimes) and the clark is already too bulky and too heavy for long distance hiking, in my opinion. Getting it was a compromise for the luxury of it that required me cutting the weight and bulk in my pack in other areas. So, adding the Zliner is just out of the question - crazy bulky. I'm sure it works great if you're carrying it 20 or 30 feet from your car to your campsite. If you have to lug it for a week on a long distance hike it takes up way too much space. And finally to gargoyle in my defense - I asked pertinent questions about how the gear would work together BEFORE I bought both items and got "optimistic" responses from both vendors which border on not so realistic.. Call it throwing the vendors under the bus if you wish but I'm an engineer. We deal in facts. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

[litetrek]

I own the nx270 and have used a Thermarest slacker into the low 40s with success. I replaced their string with shock cord and attached to my Whoopi slings, I put safety pins on the slacker lined up with the little loops other Clark than small loop of shock cord and cord locks to adjust the slacker and have some give. Did the same thing with my ENO under quilt, not perfect but worked. Personally the pockets are great for storage but not insulation..

I love the pockets too and agree that they have essentially no insulation value.

[Brian Miller]

Thanks Brian. You and I have been talking about this for at least a year. I haven't overlooked your solution(s). They are among the best ones out there. I'm just juggling several constraints. First, several of us in my family backpack and several of us use hammocks. I would like anything I buy to work with any of the hammocks we have due the high cost of a quality down quilt...

I could be mistaken, but I think that if all your hammocks are gathered end, the Clark is going to be the odd one to fit. Other gathered end hammocks should be easy to fit and dial in. The quilt slides fore and aft on the primary suspension to adjust the placement. Having to clip the side rings of the UGQ to the Clark precludes that so I am real glad the UGQ rings line up with the tie outs at the pole pockets.

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[84Hanger]

Sorry Should have look at your original post.

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[litetrek]

I could be mistaken, but I think that if all your hammocks are gathered end, the Clark is going to be the odd one to fit. Other gathered end hammocks should be easy to fit and dial in. The quilt slides fore and aft on the primary suspension to adjust the placement. Having to clip the side rings of the UGQ to the Clark precludes that so I am real glad the UGQ rings line up with the tie outs at the pole pockets.

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I agree. I just don't want to buy an oddball width or length for the Clark that "sort of" works with my gathered end hammocks. One is an ENO - my daughter is only about 5-6 and one is a homemade 11 footer. If I get any more gathered end hammocks they will all be in the 10 to 11 foot length range.

I was hopeful that UGQ would post the info they alluded to a long time ago. I have one of their under quilts. Its an awesome piece of gear and I'd buy from them again without hesitation. Seeing what length and width works best in actual video by the manufacturer would have been the information that made me go ahead and spend nearly $300. I'm not upset that they apparently never posted the info, just disappointed since it was the deciding factor for me.

I typically use under insulation that is less than full length to keep the weight down. I bought the jarbidge because it was the cheapest thing available at the time that I was told would work well. Its longer than anything else I've ever used. Solutions people have given for the Clark that require an even longer quilt aren't as attractive to me because it adds weight I don't really need. However, if that's the only good solution I'd probably do it. Its hard to get a feel for it looking at pictures - another reason I was hoping for the video. I'd hate to spend $300 and a month later see that someone has a better idea that I didn't think about.