I live in central Georgia and am relatively new to hammocking, although I first played around with it a number of years ago when there wasn't much available. The reason I looked into hammocks was that I had a bit of arthritis in my spine and could no longer lie down flat, so tent camping was out. I though that maybe hammocks were the answer. I bought a dual layer jungle hammock that was made in the UK, and, although it was a bit short, it was fine for warm weather, but when temps dropped at night, I tended to get cold. This was before the advent of the underquilt. So I just got away from camping altogether for too many years.
Then, this year I decided to look into it again and was amazed at the advances that had been made and at the amount of reasonably priced equipment that was available. Amazon was absolutely awash in the stuff. So I bought a really nice 10 foot double hammock for about $30 and a decent 12 foot tarp for about $40 and, after digging out the North Face Dolomite 20 sleeping bag that I had put away, I was back in business. I could use the bag as a top quilt. I also had an old and really heavy, but also really warm, military sleeping bag that I could use, if necessary. Of course the cold butt syndrome was still a problem, but I found that there were some low-priced underquilts available, as well, and decided to try one of the OneTigris winter underquilts.
I also found the Hammock Forums and YouTube hammocking videos and went on an information consuming binge. Sort of like Johnny Five in Short Circuit - "Inpuuut, more inpuuut!"
So that's where I am at the moment - testing the bag and quilt combo to see how low I can go. I sleep cold, so just making it through the night is not good enough. My goal is that toasty-warm-all-over feeling that makes you want to snuggle down and go to sleep. So far, the OneTigris UQ is not quite what I hoped it would be, but I may not be using it properly. We'll see. Even so, it's a heck of a lot better than what I had before, which was ... oh, yeah ... nothing. Did okay into the 40's but had to boost the UQ a bit with a lightweight sleeping bag as a second layer. Got cold when I tried it down to 32 degrees. So still testing, and we'll see how it goes.
I'm also testing a goofy-but-good-for-me hammock suspension system based upon the continuous ridgeline suspension system for tarps. I'll post a photo and description when I get around to it.
In the meantime, cheers, and happy hanging!
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Originally Posted by Phantom Grappler
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