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  1. #11
    Senior Member Peppy's Avatar
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    The Towns End bridge is much wider than BMBH, Ariel, or RR, so I'm curious how UQ's are fitting it. One night in on the Luxury bridge with my AHE RidgeCreek XL. It seems to do pretty well. It's been pretty hot around here the last few days, so no real test on warmth. With the mods I made it stayed in place and wasn't saggy.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Johnny Gunz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OutandBack View Post
    Back when i was using a bridge hammock I found all my Wilderness Logic UQ fit perfectly.



    I'm digging that cover/pod! That's a nice rough weather set up.
    But for the grace of God, there, I go...

  3. #13
    Senior Member Johnny Gunz's Avatar
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    Peppy, my Zeppelin seems to work well with my Biggy Deluxe so far. Hopefully, I'll be able to test it more this winter.
    But for the grace of God, there, I go...

  4. #14
    Senior Member
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    Peppy-
    A little honesty first... I've been so focused on the bridge itself I never wrote down or kept track of who was using what to be honest.
    I definitely didn't hear much on the bridge specific quilts and can't recall anyone using them so that's why I figured we'd work on it.
    And some of the big guys already had wider than normal GE quilts or big mats/pads.

    I had two guys memorably struggling with quilts, one guy giving up and going with a pad.
    Otherwise everyone seems to have worked it out between Mark's original method for full length quilts and my hybrid version going to the RL.
    There are a good handful of full time in home sleepers now but not exactly sure what they are using.

    Sleeping pads are a no brainer, but a wide (26"+) is a must I think. Most bigger guys or HF members are likely to have this already. Some of the backpackers tend to use 20" pads which can be tough to use in anything buy my micro bridge (which was made specifically to work with a 20" pad on your side).

    I didn't keep a list... but here's the general drift by memory.

    Thus far...
    Apex based quilts-
    I ended up with another customer the same weekend I shipped yours who had an Arrowhead version but he said it didn't fit well (one night). Not sure how much he tried to be honest though.

    This is nothing against Arrowhead or Paul- but I would say Climbashield Apex would be the hardest to use unless you went overboard or really nailed the fit. I would not expect a summer series (2.5-3oz apex) to work very well. A three season may fit better for summer use with some losses made up for by the warmer quilt. (5-6oz apex). I don't believe in Apex any thicker than that. Sorry.

    To be fair to Arrowhead- the XL version looks promising... but quite simply it's hard to get something with under an inch of loft to fit the complicated shape of any hammock IMO. Even as much as I love and work with Primaloft Gold I don't see synthetic as a great option beyond summer use for UQ's. So not saying I could do any better either- I just feel synthetic has it's place- outside that place Down is better. Unless you are WV level of wizardry with synthetics... down seems the clear UQ winner in my book for all but high summer.

    Peppy- I can see you doing well enough with it at your height and weight.
    I can see your son perhaps struggling, but hopefully your testing will prove otherwise.


    Karo step (EE)

    The Revolt from Enlightened seems to be a slightly flawed UQ period. In my opinion the Karo Step doesn't do as well as other baffle designs in this application. Nothing against EE, but unless you really want to work with the down on each pitch the Karo seems a bust for this bridge... and a bit silly for a smaller bridge. It works fine on a regular GE for the most part... but I wouldn't buy it again. Just figured EE was a vendor some of the hammock guys might not have used that the backpacking crowd is more likely to try so that's why I got it.
    Enlightened is the UGQ/HG/Loco Libre all rolled into one in that community even if they aren't as well known here. By far one of the most commonly carried top quilts amongst LD hikers.

    Square quilts/woobie/CostCo
    Plain jane square Underquilts, sheets, blankets, etc.... these generally work okay but require some DIY innovation and assembly of the system. Mini Binder clips can be handy to close up tricky spots or put a dart into the center. They will work, but seem to lose some performance for sure.

    A heavy wool blanket laid in works decent if you sleep pretty statically for home use.

    Shaped GE quilts-
    The Zeppelin and the Incubator are well known and popular quilts period... so it makes sense many of my testers had them already. They are both well thought out shaped quilts (more than a rectangle). And other than figuring and fiddling to get the prussic loops rigged or playing with busting a draft... no complaints and even general happiness.

    I was in the incubator last night (20)* in my shop trying to play with that a bit more. It's 60 odd degrees in there and it wasn't too hot. Playing more with it I am really liking sticking with the basic suspension clipped up to the RL ends. This may wear the shock cords a bit early but that's the only drawback I see.

    What was very handy was that as I switched from side to side, to side with arm up, to center of the bridge curled up, to belly sleeping...
    I just reached over the end or side respectively and slid the quilt on the primary suspension to keep it with me

    That's been the challenge I have been thinking about/dealing with. There is 8' of bridge and an infinite number of ways you can use it.
    A simple bar to bar 3/4 length quilt would "work" but you'd be stuck in the middle... which is fine if that's where you sleep.
    So would a monster quilt that insulates the whole bridge end to end and side to side. It would be heavy but for home sleepers or car campers- that's a pretty nice solution.

    For taking this thing mobile though in colder weather we need a full length quilt system that can be used at a reasonable weight.
    It seems funny/full circle that coming back to a traditional GE full length primary may be the solution.

    Folks who find a comfy position can fit a quilt to that position.
    Big guys are buying for the weight limit and to be blunt are somewhat limited in where they can lay.

    But many people buying this bridge in the Luxury model are looking at it precisely because they are not static sleepers.
    So being able to slide the quilt all the way to the edges in any direction may best be achieved the same way we do in a GE.

    Overall-
    The simplest and easiest thing to suggest is an overkill down quilt period. (20* beyond what you need in 7/8 or full length)
    Let's be honest... a 3" lofted down quilt with draft stopping channels at each end seals up just about any slop in your set up pretty well.
    You don't have to be that accurate and using a 20* quilt in summer means odds are pretty good even if you catch a little draft you're not going to get cold. If you're using one of these bridge, even backpacking, an ounce or two of extra quilt to bump it up 20* is going to be well worth it to avoid the aggravation of fighting with it.

    What remains to be seen is more testing into three season and winter trips. The bulk of the testers and early adopters have been in the southeast. Which is the bulk of the forum members I think geographically anyway so no big surprise there, lol.

    Most of us doing deep winter stuff are probably only out for the weekend. Where even I'm happy to curl in my tight little GE hammock in a huge bundle of feathers. I don't know that the large bridges will ever make a very practical zero degree setup... they are pretty wide, flat and open. I suspect you'll always get a decent bit of loss thermally because even if your UQ fits perfect- you'd need to fit your TQ right to it (pod style) too or you'd have heat leaking out the wide body of the quilt itself.

    Part of the reason UQ's work so well in GE hammocks is that they are so tightly wrapped around the heat source. This big wide bridge is like holding a sheet of paper near a light bulb vs wrapping that paper around the bulb and potentially starting a fire. You would always have a hard time throwing heat to each edge of a full width quilt, and everytime you moved away that heat would be lost.

    I camped with Grizz this last winter at around 1*... he has a very nice system for his Ariel including two very clever and impressive things he can share if on his own.

    But in deep winter pads seem the better solution for these. If needed you can always drop down and pick up 20*.

    That's all I did that trip- I just dropped down and slept on my pad on the ground... sacrilege perhaps but it's worked pretty well the last 30 years, lol. Much past 10* If I'm cold I just drop it and use the pad.

    So... I feel good about getting these going/adapted. But mainly for summer/three season use
    I'm sure they COULD be used... where there is a will there is a way.
    Really I could probably put my Exped duo in there with a zrest or similar foam pad or reflectix liner and go to zero just fine. But at some point it gets a bit silly IMO when you've got a sled to carry your hammock gear. My xtherm, 1/8 GG foamy and winter mummy take up less space and are good to -10 to -15 and work just fine. Snow is pretty comfy too, lol.

    I'm perfectly fine with understanding the limitations of some gear. Somethings we should switch out seasonally... I'd rather have a perfect rig for each season than a decent one that worked year round.

  5. #15
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by fallkniven View Post
    Me and my other bridge sleeping friends just use regular uq's and they fit perfectly.
    If WV is one of yer bridge camping friends you'll get to see one.

    The only issue I've had with a regular UQ is a bit of a gap in the center due to lack of a cat cut on the side of a traditional square quilt.
    The really big guys tend to exacerbate this issue because of how much wider they spread the quilt at the shoulders vs how much it has to narrow back down to the foot end.
    On my medium bridges- a traditional UQ wraps up and around the sides so your top quilt easily seals it. With this size bridge it doesn't quite work that way unless you already have a XL/wide UQ. The bar itself is 43 wide", many UQ's are 42-44.

    Grizz's Ariel and my medium are about 44-45" wide fabric at the poles... so they work fine with the regular quilts. There's roughly a foot more space in the shoulder area of the Big Guy or Lux.

    Some mini binder clips, or even laying your top quilt there can plug that gap well enough...

    Generally I agree though... first time you hang an UQ we all struggle a bit.
    It'll take some fiddling and finagaling; perhaps a more experienced friend for some folks.
    But once you get it tuned in you're usually fine.

  6. #16

  7. #17
    Senior Member
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    This also shows the “canoe” we were discussing in another thread.
    I would imagine the zeppelin and not other quality full length quilts would work just as well.
    So long as you lay in the hammock once to set the ARL fully clipping to it seems to work better than going ‘Biner to biner’ as I was doing before. It’s not enough tension on the ARL to break the constricton if it’s set.

  8. #18
    Senior Member
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    The only drawback I could see is that the possibility of popping a poorly set bar could be higher.
    But when not in use this keeps the UQ and the full package up in the air so it won’t drag on the ground or catch wind.

    In field use it’s the wind that tends to knock a Pole out.

  9. #19
    Senior Member Peppy's Avatar
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    Lots of testing for sure as it cools off. My son is easy 6'2"-6'3" and 205, and it's fitting well thus far. It's close on his shoulders, but complete coverage with no side slipping so far. Initially this is looking promising. Be out a few nights the next several days. Then a trip to the Richland Creek wilderness in Oct. I'll try to keep updates coming as we get a chance. The cold weather testing won't com until Dec or Jan.

  10. #20
    Slugger's Avatar
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    Trying to see what you got going... but guessing with your home rig set up for GE your suspension anchors are probably higher than needed since the bridge pitches a bit shallower (like a 20* vs a 30*)
    I know with GE hammocks you're told to try to get 45 degree angle on the suspension. You saying it should be a lot less with the BGBH?
    Retired US Navy, 10-year Stage IIIb colon cancer survivor. I believe my last words will be "Hold my beer..."



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