augmenting my uq for colder weather?

[Vanhalo]

Looking for some sage hanging advise on the best options to beef up my sleep system for cold weather. I have a 20 degree Hammock Gear Incubator that I use on a Chameleon. Wondering what my best option to go with the 20 degree uq. I could try to use my WL 40 degree uq with the HG Incubator? Or use a Thermarest foam pad with the Incubator. Or get a different pad. Another uq isn't really an option either in the budget or timewise.
Lastly, any difference in condensation issues between a foam pad and an inflatable pad? I have tried the foam once and it's an odd thing I can't really say if I was warm, cold or what during the night, possibly both.

Spend the winter in your backyard and you will figure it out.
I have not found a reason to change my partial UQ from 10°-60°
We rarely see temps below 20° @ 870ft. in East TN.
I love the cold air and a restful night in the hammock.
Best sleep of my life.

[GilligansWorld]

Spend the winter in your backyard and you will figure it out.
I have not found a reason to change my partial UQ from 10°-60°
We rarely see temps below 20° @ 870ft. in East TN.
I love the cold air and a restful night in the hammock.
Best sleep of my life.

Best advice I have seen so far. I have come to discover advice is great but experience is king. What works for me and what I like...........Well let's just say Different Strokes for Different Folks or .........HYOH - and how to you get to have "your own hang"?............experimentation and like anything I have ever done, having a safety net (ie the ability to call it quits and go inside) compiled with lots of variations = "my own hang"

[Phantom Grappler]

I stack a 20 and a zero underquilts.
I place 20 closest to hammock
I place zero on outside closest to ground
When dialing in correct tension for zero underquilt (or underquilt that is coldest rated) I make sure underquilt lifts empty hammock about one foot.
This will compress top most underquilt. I do not risk the chance that I could compress and compromise my coldest rated underquilt. The underquilt that is compressed will lose some insulation value, but not all of it.
You are free to try order of stacking both ways.
And there can be circumstances that can change order of stacking—like different size and length underquilts. And you can sometimes augment underquilts with a small pad placed under buttocks and kidneys.
Good luck

[Pete02093]

Thank you everyone! I'll try the 40 degree Wilderness Logic over the 20 degree Hammock Gear Incubator,happy to get that , not sure I would have gone that way. I also have a 2QZQ underquilt protector. That with a top cover for the Chameleon, Feathered Friends 30 degree quilt and a foam sit pad for back up will have to do, perhaps bringing the WL summer top quilt. Also getting some down socks.
Also, good to see Shug is still kicking!

[INhammockcamper]

thank you for the info! the chart is helpful and Shug always comes thru with sage advice. I have a 30 degree incubator and a 40 degree phoenix. stacking per this will help me get down even lower this winter. Will have to give it some testing in my backyard laboratory of course...

[Shug]

Thank you everyone! I'll try the 40 degree Wilderness Logic over the 20 degree Hammock Gear Incubator,happy to get that , not sure I would have gone that way. I also have a 2QZQ underquilt protector. That with a top cover for the Chameleon, Feathered Friends 30 degree quilt and a foam sit pad for back up will have to do, perhaps bringing the WL summer top quilt. Also getting some down socks.
Also, good to see Shug is still kicking!

I never quit kicking!
But my swinging subsided a wee bit.
Shug the Kicker

[BillyBob58]

Just to be different, here is a totally different approach than most, an approach that most will probably have nothing to do with based on their personal preferences. It was actually my personal best(PB), since we don't get much below zero action this far south. Still, it was a cold enough temperature to drive plenty of people back from the campground to some kind of heated shelter, especially us southern boys. I was using what is normally a 30° system for me, so I was about 25°F below that. For bottom insulation, I added about 3 ounces or so(maybe a smidgen heavier, can't remember for sure) of open cell foam insulation covering my butt and back, and another several ounces of closed cell foam Walmart Blue pad cutdown as a sit pad under my lower legs, initially added to help deal with calf ridge more so than the cold. Nothing was really added for top insulation that I would not have been already using with this very light weight top quilt(20 ounces for long wide) at 30°F other than a 3-4(?) ounce piece of thin nylon known as the Hennessey top cover or over cover. I don't really count the vapor barrier clothing as extra weight, since it replaces some Long John style underwear that I would have been wearing anyway. Bottom line, slight augmentation for a 30°F system(In my experience) ending up very warm and toasty at 6°F and 85% humidity(also, no tarp), I think I could have definitely gone below zero by at least a few degrees. My feet were actually overheating to the point of sweating all night long. The rest of me simply toasty, and all was bone dry with the exception of my feet(but skin level moisture only, wool socks and booties remained a bone dry) and my frost bib, which was pretty wet from my condensing breath, as planned. Everything else was bone dry. But certainly a different way of doing it that works for me, it doesn't cost much, and doesn't weigh much or take up much room, and is great for keeping insulation dry and lofty for those longer trips. YMMV, and do not attempt this unless you know what you're doing(Done wrong, you'll end up very cold and wet, but not really hard to understand) and have a safe bailout while experimenting.
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...-VBs-and-HHSSs

[woodscavenger]

I noticed with my UQ it was my feet that limited me. I used some fleece and ripstop to sew a simple “over-foot box” which slides over the end of my UQ and attached with a coupe of snaps. I can slip it off and use the fabric to sit on in camp or open up and put under my butt when sitting. Looking at the photo up above in the thread the coat that is zipped around the end of the hammock over the foot boat is basically the same thing.

[rweb82]

I used this setup for -13° this past year. I stacked two 20° quilts. But I'm sure a 20° + 40° would work below 0°.

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[Pete02093]

Though I can't find the specific link here's a look at what stacking quilts will do:

Attachment 169266

In theory you can go to -10* F by stacking the 20* quilt with the 40* quilt. Of course, that assumes there are no gaps and you're not compressing the down. I always stack the lighter quilt on the outside (because that is what makes sense to me), but some do the exact opposite. I've stacked quilts down to -3* F and was toasty warm.

Great chart. But does this apply equally to underquilts? It seems to be referencing top quilts.