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  1. #21
    Senior Member sidneyhornblower's Avatar
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    I spend a lot of nights in the back yard and find that 60 to 90 minutes would be my minimum recommendation. A couple of hours would be better, depending on whether it's almost enough insulation or definitely not enough.

    For instance, 20 degrees and windy with a fleece blanket? Not going to take me long to be certain that won't work. But if it's right on the cusp of enough or not it's going to be longer to make up my mind.
    "...the height of hammock snobbery!"

  2. #22
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    I say go with what Shug said: overnight. Confirming what others have suggested, here's the graph from Wikipedia, and spot on for my body, year-round. Sleep research labs say the same.

    Body_Temp_Variation.jpg

    So if you don't wake up feeling too cool roughly around 4:30 a.m. (other than to wake up to return your water to the earth) what you are doing passes the test. Note wind conditions, what you are wearing, etc. when you find out what works for you. For myself, a geezer, regardless of indoors on a bed or outside, I need a carb snack such as a Clif bar after waking around 3 to 4 a.m. feeling wide awake after 6 hours of sleep (not good!). This carb load puts me back to sleep in about 30 minutes for two more hours at least of good sleep, typical REM sleep in the last hours before awakening. I used to overcome this very common problem in older people's sleep cycles with a big bowl of cheerios cereal. And by coincidence, discovered my barber had been doing exactly the same for her own early awakening after inadequate sleep. I mention this because I solved this common premature awakening but know it has nothing to do with being cold, which is what you're asking about.

  3. #23
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    Having suffered through decades of military flying--the physiology part especially--and as a former triathlete, I can honestly say.....it depends. There are an unlimited number of both internal and external factors that contribute to human performance (essentially what you're testing....) Internally things like sleep cycles, accumulated fatigue, nutrition (or the lack of), caffeine levels, overall health level, recent illnesses, etc, etc combined with the fact that no two days provide the exact same external environmental conditions all lead to widely varying levels of human performance. As many others here have already said, your best bet is to test regularly in as widely varying conditions as possible to build a level of confidence that what you're asking your body to deal with will ultimately lead to a successful outcome. There is no other way, no quick fix, no easy solution, time and repetition are your friends.

  4. #24
    Senior Member Vanhalo's Avatar
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    What is working for me.

    For the SE


    • 20° Qulit
    • 40° Quilt
    • Quilt Liner
    • 20° UQ 3/4
    • Thermawrest Trail Seat/Foot Pad



      *Mix and match as needed.
    "...in Florida, she felt air conditioning for the first time, and it was cold and unnatural upon her skin."


  5. #25
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    like others have said, midnight to 4 am is the test window

    if you're comfortable there, you're probably good to go

  6. #26
    Senior Member Beast 71's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by goober View Post
    Obviously, staying overnight is ideal. But I think a lot can be learned by experimenting and keeping an eye on the thermometer and adjusting my gear as the temp changes. If you're sleeping in a bed, you can tell pretty soon if you're too cold. So I think there is more to learn from ten 1 hour "experiments" than one overnight session. Maybe my question should have been "what is the minimum amount of time to draw a quick conclusion."
    And as for starting to feel cold at 4 am: that's about when the minimum temp is reached. Maybe a little later. After an adjustment period, 20F at 10 pm is not that different from 20F at 7 am.
    I disagree with the above. Although 20F is the same temperature, there is a huge difference in the way it feels at 10:00pm, while your metabolism is still up from the days work, than at 7:00am after your basal temperature has dropped and you've been lying still all night. So I think an overnighter is the only way to tell for sure and even that is imperfect, because it's different going well fed from a warm house to a hammock than spending all day out in the cold and going to bed cold, wet, tired and hungry. That being said, if you're cold after an hour, you'd certainly be cold after an entire night, so short tests aren't worthless, but in my opinion, they're incomplete.

    As a night owl i find I'm colder around 4:00-6:00am because even if I go to bed early, it usually takes me until after midnight to fall deeply asleep. If I'm having my coldest times later than the norm,I'm guessing an early bird might have their coldest time earlier than the norm too.
    "In your face space coyote"-HJS

  7. #27
    Chard's Avatar
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    I'll agree with most and say that overnight is the best way to test. Your core has cooled and in the wee hours it'll be coldest.

    That being said, if after five minutes my butt doesn't feel toasty warm then I probably need to adjust my underquilt and make sure that there is no sagging causing air pockets. In my experience, any dead space between your hammock and your quilt will compromise the system. Usually I know almost right away if my underquilt is warming up and even if I'm already cozy, I'll force myself out into the cold to readjust. I've even resorted to having a couple of d-rings sewn into my DIY winter underquilt so that I can attach some extra suspension to a ridgeline. Pay attention to the details and everything will be alright.

    Having a wool sweater or section of blanket as a buttpad also goes a long way.

    Also, if testing in the deep cold, consider having a bailout option handy. You don't want to be testing gear in the backwoods in frigid temperatures.

    WINTER IS COMING!!!
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  8. #28
    New Member Boats 116's Avatar
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    Was looking at lows last week when it was colder here & north in the mountains. Coldest bottomed out probably 5-6, and warmed slowly after, but 4am could be start of low temperatures

    Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

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