Tell Me Your Secrets to Winter Moisture Management

[LOTW131]

DGrav, that's interesting.

I can't see how/why that would prevent the humidity from leaving the mask with your breath. The water you expel has to go somewhere....where does it go? If it's not on the outside, it would be on the inside of the mask, right? If it's on the outside of the mask, it would be on the quilts or other gear, right? What am I missing?

[Grumpy Squatch]

I use covered hammocks and socks exclusively. The trick it to know when you can zip them up and when you can't.
People think the colder it is the more you zip them closed. That is the exact opposite of what you have to do.

And when it's really cold out there you don't zip up. You need to own the proper quilts and tarps.

You don't have to abandon your sock, they have their place and OutandBack nailed it IMHO.

The colder it gets the more all the components of a system matter. The sock or overcover is just one component and it has a specific function: to reduce the convective cooling on your topquilts or to create a warmer pocket of air so you can use a warmer quilt than you otherwise might.

As temperatures get colder, one option is to throw heavier quilts at the problem. Well below 0° (like -15° F) I typically stack my 0° and 40° quilts. But that is a royal pain in the topquilt department - I tend to move around when I sleep and the two quilts twisting inside each other is frustrating. An overcover allows me to skip the 40° topquilt below 0, so dealing with the moisture issues is worth it to me. OutandBack is right about unzipping the sock/cover around your head. I'm typically a side sleeper so this is even more important for me. I usually sleep on my left side, so I will try and set up my system to support that. That means orienting my hammock head/foot ends so that my left side is downwind so that unzipping and venting the cover doesn't make it too cold. I always have a couple micro binder clips in my gear bag to help keep the cover open after unzipping. And setting up the tarp to block wind is critical.

For me the overcover is most useful in three scenarios:

1. With temps in the mid to low 20s so I don't have to supplement my 20° down topquilt or switch to my 0° quilt which is bulkier. I rarely get frost at temps this warm and minimal condensation.
2. With temps in the single digits to slightly below 0 so I son't have to supplement my 0° quilt. Venting is critical at these temps.
3. At warmer temps (think the 30s or 40s) when I don't want to bring my full winter tarp with doors and worry that a breeze might be too much for a smaller tarp.

When it gets really cold, like < -10° F, I find the need diminishes, and the condensation issues make it less valuable, but I still use it with venting as needed. I like having it as a tool in the toolbox, even if I don't always use it.

[bkrgi]

The only sock one should use when the temps really go down is this (from Molly Mac gear)


or drape a cotton canvas painters tarp over your rig (and no need for a tarp either)

With nylons you HAVE to compromise as stated.
But it is all about compromises no matter what
In the end keep playing and work with what works for you

[TrailSlug]

I guess we need one of these to get some of that moisture out from under the tarp and out of the sock.
Mask.PNG

[heyduff]

Tell Me Your Secrets to Winter Moisture Management

My first thought to 'moisture management' was Depends. <commense eye rolling now>

I stayed out in -10*F and started to have similar issues about creating my own snow system. I was in my Dutch Halfwit with the end of the Wit opened up--not closed and it was collecting on the underside of the bug net and when I moved, it would filter down. What I have found now, when temps get that cold, I keep the air above my head uncovered the best I can, except for the over head rain fly--which I try to put up a little higher, if I can. The breath is going to freeze, my thought was to get it up up and freeze somewhere except right above my head and on something that gets disturbed when I moved. This openness around my head seems to have really helped--some condensation still builds around me, but not as much. For that little bit left, I am going to try what Shug did...an old sweatshirt, with just the front and neck, one side over my head and other up to the ridgeline--the thought is to catch the frost on that instead of on my gear--not sure it'll work for me since I move around. Any how--my experiments are now to keep nothing above my head and have the tarp up high. Those are my thoughts right now.

[bkrgi]

Experimentation and having several tools in the tool box and understanding their parameters is crucial to moisture management.
Local climate, you as a person, open skies, cloudy skies, temp, humidity, where you hang etc etc etc all are factors which affect things.
The more you do the more you understand what works or not for you....don't concern yourself with others. You have to figure out what works for self.
We can supply the tools but one has to understand how each tool works and its parameters...nothing is totally cut and dry here.


Good job Heyduff on the continued experimentation....keep adapting as it truly never ends

[tennistime99]

I seem to pump out moisture from my feet overnight. The night I stayed out in 23 degrees Fahrenheit the outside of the hammock and underquilt were frosted up pretty good. My quilt near my head was iced up (my fault for breathing through it) and the foot of my quilt was iced up.

I also wonder if it has to do with where you live. Here in Western Washington we don't get to those temps very often and not for long, so outside humidity is pretty high going into the cold spell.

I learned that I wouldn't want another night in the same equipment with no chance to thaw and dry out!

[Theguywitheyebrows]

I have. On bug nets, socks and top covers.
In that kind of cold you will get ice for sure.
My solution is a frost bib.....that helps keep it off the quilt. It is amazing how much can build up.
Shug

you are the solution to hammock ails brother! thanks for this, now i know. i'll never suffer from frosted TQs thanks to you shug, you hero you!

[OneClick]

I seem to pump out moisture from my feet overnight. The night I stayed out in 23 degrees Fahrenheit the outside of the hammock and underquilt were frosted up pretty good. My quilt near my head was iced up (my fault for breathing through it) and the foot of my quilt was iced up.

That happens to me often. I don't think there's really any way around that. Dewpoint and all that sciency stuff.

[TrailSlug]

That happens to me often. I don't think there's really any way around that. Dewpoint and all that sciency stuff.

I like this scientific answer