HANGCON '20 FL > Doe Lake, Ocala National Forest, Florida>Jan. 17-20, 2020> HANGCON '20

[Floridahanger]

Amanda, come on down and bring everyone with you.

I wouldn't suggest you buy your insulation based on HangCon temps. I would suggest you buy based on your hanging style where you live.

A 0* UQ is more than enough down here. If you choose a 30* TQ and want to hit that temp or a little lower, it depends on who you get the quilt from. Most of our Vendors are very conservative in their ratings and a 30* should be fine here as long as you're not a cold sleeper(which you said you were).

Most usually suggest a 20*/20* TQ/UQ set as a comfortable starting point. This would be for deep Winter here in Florida. But, what's the coldest you expect to camp in up there? Remember that this is car camping so you can bring your bag and pad as well as any new quilts you get. That way you're ready for any temp swings. Don't let the quilts stop you from coming down and make sure your husband sets his correct priorities and puts his 2 weeks notice in. No, don't do that but a lot of folk do use their vacation time for this hang.

See you there in Jan 2020, MLK weekend.

[Randonneur]

I've only been once in 2017 so I don't remember the layout of the kitchen but are there any ovens in the kitchen? I'm thinking of doing some fresh sourdough bread. If not I can bake it before the day before I get there.

[Floridahanger]

All cooking is done outside. We use Dutch Ovens, Cast Iron Skillets, BBQ grills, Smokers, Trashcan Ovens, Huge Pots, etc.

If you want, I can bring my combo cooker that doubles as a Bread oven.

There is a microwave oven inside but almost never use it. Also, sometimes someone will bring a Hot Plate.

Let me know what you need and we'll make it happen.

[BookwormStorm]

Amanda, come on down and bring everyone with you.

I wouldn't suggest you buy your insulation based on HangCon temps. I would suggest you buy based on your hanging style where you live.

A 0* UQ is more than enough down here. If you choose a 30* TQ and want to hit that temp or a little lower, it depends on who you get the quilt from. Most of our Vendors are very conservative in their ratings and a 30* should be fine here as long as you're not a cold sleeper(which you said you were).

Most usually suggest a 20*/20* TQ/UQ set as a comfortable starting point. This would be for deep Winter here in Florida. But, what's the coldest you expect to camp in up there? Remember that this is car camping so you can bring your bag and pad as well as any new quilts you get. That way you're ready for any temp swings. Don't let the quilts stop you from coming down and make sure your husband sets his correct priorities and puts his 2 weeks notice in. No, don't do that but a lot of folk do use their vacation time for this hang.

See you there in Jan 2020, MLK weekend.

Our temps in the winter up here get down into the low teens with wind chills that drop into sub zeros regularly enough that I'd like to have something that can handle camping a good portion of the winter at least, and there's a pretty good chance that this would be my only quilt purchase for at least a year, possibly two, so that's where my train of thought was going with it. My current set up is totally fine for summer, and I could probably do late spring early fall with the right clothes, but anything outside of that would be risky I think. But I think it would be possible for me to be able to layer some stuff that I have here at home for up top and maybe just put more effort into getting an UQ, I'm planning to purchase from UGQ.

As for my husband, lol, he's not converted to hanging (YET! I'm gonna get him!) and the company he works for is weird about people taking off work in the month of January. They have a slow period in November and December and January is when it ramps back up. But we're going to put his request in as early as they'll let us do it. He also hates long road trips so he's planning to stay home with the kids, but he knows this trip is important to me, so it'll be a priority for him, so the situation could be worse lol.

Thanks for the encouragement, and I truly hope to get to meet all of you in person this January, it's gonna be a blast!

P.S. I forgot to ask if a bugnet is needed that time of the year?

[Floridahanger]

Ok. Several items I can suggest.

-Get the warmest insulation for the coldest you expect. That would still be ok for Florida and if you get warm, it's easier to vent the quilts to cool down than it is to try and warm up.

-Layering is perfect. I made a Summer Series TQ that's thin(probably 50*) and then made a Costco Down Throw(probably 40*) TQ that when I layered them, I got to the 30's with no signs of cold. Still wondering how cold I could take this.

-Since you have a bag, I would also suggest an UQ first and UGQ does make some great products. They're great friends of HangCon and usually bring or send us a few quilts for the raffle. Beautiful quilts, tarps and beanies actually.

-If your husband can get the time off, bring him and the kids and put them into a tent. As long as they're comfortable, it makes it easier for them to be converted We have a lot of kids of all ages coming to HangCon. It's very family friendly and we usually have a class of some sort for them on Saturday.

-As for a bugnet, it's not usually needed. That said, plenty of folk like using them here for the 30*-50* temps. That's usually too cold at night for the bugs to bother us but folk like it because it seems to hold in a little bit of heat which can help your TQ situation.

Hope that helps you a little bit.

[BookwormStorm]

Ok. Several items I can suggest.

-Get the warmest insulation for the coldest you expect. That would still be ok for Florida and if you get warm, it's easier to vent the quilts to cool down than it is to try and warm up.

-Layering is perfect. I made a Summer Series TQ that's thin(probably 50*) and then made a Costco Down Throw(probably 40*) TQ that when I layered them, I got to the 30's with no signs of cold. Still wondering how cold I could take this.

-Since you have a bag, I would also suggest an UQ first and UGQ does make some great products. They're great friends of HangCon and usually bring or send us a few quilts for the raffle. Beautiful quilts, tarps and beanies actually.

-If your husband can get the time off, bring him and the kids and put them into a tent. As long as they're comfortable, it makes it easier for them to be converted We have a lot of kids of all ages coming to HangCon. It's very family friendly and we usually have a class of some sort for them on Saturday.

-As for a bugnet, it's not usually needed. That said, plenty of folk like using them here for the 30*-50* temps. That's usually too cold at night for the bugs to bother us but folk like it because it seems to hold in a little bit of heat which can help your TQ situation.

Hope that helps you a little bit.

Very helpful, thank you so much. I'll work on my husband, but to be honest I'm not going to hold my breath lol. Maybe I can get him to lay out a few times when I do some dry runs to practice my set up before then and convince him that way.

[Randonneur]

All cooking is done outside. We use Dutch Ovens, Cast Iron Skillets, BBQ grills, Smokers, Trashcan Ovens, Huge Pots, etc.

If you want, I can bring my combo cooker that doubles as a Bread oven.

There is a microwave oven inside but almost never use it. Also, sometimes someone will bring a Hot Plate.

Let me know what you need and we'll make it happen.

In retrospect, I think baking all the bread beforehand would be the best way to go. Sourdough bread lasts a lot longer than a yeasted bread does.

[MacDuff1031]

BookwormStorm,

Come down and I’ll challenge you to the most newbie unprepared rig. My underquilt is 2.5 APEX and is probably rated for 40 deg.

I’m hoping warm sleepwear and a wool blanket will be enough beyond that.

If I get too cold I’m climbing in the tent with my kids.

[Randonneur]

I think I won that in 2017. I was testing a newly home made 12' hammock and a home made Gemini under/top quilt combo. It was probably rated to 50F and it got down to 28F that night. I didn't even bring a warm jacket to the event and had to run into town to get a warm sweatshirt the next day. I wore every piece of clothing I brought to make it through the night but the under quilt kept popping out from under me in the middle of the night. The CBS was instant when it did making for a long night. You know what? I still had fun and learned quite a bit in the process.

[BookwormStorm]

BookwormStorm,

Come down and I’ll challenge you to the most newbie unprepared rig. My underquilt is 2.5 APEX and is probably rated for 40 deg.

I’m hoping warm sleepwear and a wool blanket will be enough beyond that.

If I get too cold I’m climbing in the tent with my kids.

I think I won that in 2017. I was testing a newly home made 12' hammock and a home made Gemini under/top quilt combo. It was probably rated to 50F and it got down to 28F that night. I didn't even bring a warm jacket to the event and had to run into town to get a warm sweatshirt the next day. I wore every piece of clothing I brought to make it through the night but the under quilt kept popping out from under me in the middle of the night. The CBS was instant when it did making for a long night. You know what? I still had fun and learned quite a bit in the process.

Well this does make me feel a bit better, I also have been rewatching peoples videos on YouTube of Hangcons past and noticed a couple of people using utility tarps on their rigs.

MacDuff- I have a lightweight synthetic bag that I bought from the dreaded WalMart to use with my hammock before I knew anything about under insulation. It's rated for 40 deg. but I'm sure that would be pushing it. I made some modifications to it so I could use it as an underquilt and it worked excellently this past summer at a camp out, But if it drops down into the 20's like it has in the past I'd be in trouble trying to use it and a blanket up top. So my plan is to pull the trigger on an UQ but use my bag as a TQ and layer it with my wool cloak [yep a cloak]. Now that it's cooling off up here I'll have to try that combo out to see if it's going to work as well as I think it's going to, it was way to hot last time I was out for what is basically a heavy wool blanket. But I did wear it in some really heavy winter mix back in January this year and stayed toasty warm so I'm optimistic about it working.

Randonneur- My modded sleeping bag underquilt thingamajig still needs some tweeking to use it, I think I failed to use enough shock cord for the suspension it never slipped completely off but it still moved around quite a bit. I reckon I'm just worried about being prepared enough, it's about an 11 hour drive for me to make it down, not counting stops, and I'd hate to get all the way down there and have to bail out because I didn't pack enough warm stuff lol. I've even been trying to brainstorm on what I should be supplementing my wardrobe with since you bring up not packing a jacket. As enthusiastic as I am about getting into camping, it's hard to get gear together with all the other parts of life that get in the way. But I'm sure that no matter what I show up with, I'm going to learn something and get some awesome stories out of it. Even the stories we have of when we mess up are helpful to someone, even if it's just to give 'em a laugh!

Hope to see you both there!