And so it begins...my wife is going to hate all of you!

[Liberty Guy]

will your son also be doing some ground camping? if so you can use a top quilt for both or look for a used Stevenson Warmlite triple down bag. it is a bag that has no bottom insulation but a pad pocket. I use it for hammock camping but there are times i will not be able to hang and this can be used for both.

Its a good alternative to having different setups.

[Chrisja77]

I think I'm going to order the hammock and just make him stick with his overly heavy bag and pad for now...at least for his first few hangs. This whole car camping to backpacking switch is getting expensive! Haha. On a side note after chatting back and forth with Chris at ULA I just got my first backpack ordered...went with the circuit. I think I'm gonna be more than happy with it.

[Chrisja77]

Ended up ordering a new Dutch hammock and tadpole tarp for him, told him that he would have to drag his bag and pad around this spring and we would look at quilts later in the year....after that, my pack, a set of hiking poles, and a set of synthetic clothes, socks, and underwear I was still out right at $1,000 today so momma wasn't happy with the idea of quilts too! Hahaha

[Canahang]

My original set up was a tadpole with a parachute nylon hammock that I used with a mummy bag and pad. Good call. A right of passage and he'll be that much more grateful when he finally gets a quilt

[cougarmeat]

You know how they make a forest fire better by making MORE fire (a back fire). Well I think you can make this purchase better by spending MORE money. You need to buy your wife a hammock - and a nice TQ and UQ. Then all will be forgiven.

You can use a sleeping bag as a TQ by just unzipping down to where you want your foot box to begin. If you are going to use the TQ in ground situations, know that it will not hug your shoulders the way a sleeping bag does so you may need to pay more attention to tucking it in. the HG feature of a snap at the head end so you can cinch it snug up there is great. I didn't appreciated it until I tried a TQ that didn't have one. That TQ works okay in the hammock where the hammock sides keep it snug. But on the ground, it is much more difficult to corral the top edge.

[Chrisja77]

The wife is not a hiker...or a camper...or a get away from the air conditioner really if you want to find the root of it all...

[nualle]

Hammocks are wonderful indoors, too.

[Liberty Guy]

The wife is not a hiker...or a camper...or a get away from the air conditioner really if you want to find the root of it all...

get her a hammock and take her to a nice beach. - with something to hang from of course. that might start changing her mind

[Phillip W. Martin]

My youngest is a fellow Hammock Fanatic, so we have been slowly getting him geared up. We also went with a dutch hammock, and he will use a pad/bag combo for now. With the Scout troop that his older brother is already in they are required to use the troop tents on a lot of outings. This lets it be more flexible, I'm thinking his next item will be a nice TQ. My advice is to only let him have gear he has mastered the use of without your guidance, in the end he will be better off.