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  1. #1
    LowTech's Avatar
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    I hate wearing sleep gear!

    I know w/ all this modern high tech gear you're basically supposed to "cocoon" yourself so that it never touches your grubby body, . . . at least that's how it often seems.

    In the "old days" you just slept in your crappy sleeping bag and washed it when it got dirty. Now that doesn't seem to work.

    I live in the desert and travel to other hot locations. Most of the time I have trouble even wearing a shirt and I'm supposed to"suit up" before crawling into my hammock, and what about all the 80/90/100+ deg days when I just want to chill in it for an hour or so? In the rest of my life I sleep "commando".

    Am I the only one that has issues w/ wearing clothing to sleep in? Is there some sleepwear that's as close to nothing as possible? Hopefully made out of natural materials?

    Definitely could use some help on this, . . . either that or I need to learn how to clean my gear and do it way more often than anyone else.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    When my stuff gets dirty, I just clean it. I don’t worry too about about it ‘wearing out’. Things wear out and need to be replaced at some point - lines, loops, nets, straps, bags. I take care of everything, but thats just how it works, much like the brakes and tires on my car.

    It seems that synthetic materials may be a good choice if you want to more easily clean it at home, especially if you don’t need to support very low temps.

  3. #3
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
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    I think you should sleep how you want to sleep.
    No rules to that that I know of...personal choice. Your gear, go commando!
    Shug
    Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven

  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    For backpacking, two tips:

    1) Wash up. Clothes or no clothes, i find it very helpful to rinse off at the end of the day with a washrag and water bottle at the very least. Nearby running stream is even better. You will sleep much more comfortably and smell much better.

    2) Cotton Sleepwear. On longer trips, i carry some comfy cotton boxers and undershirt, just for sleeping and being in camp. Having at least underwear on helps avoid feeling the grit that inevitably accumulates at the bottom of the hammock.

    My general routine is to wash up and change into cotton at the end of the day, then wash my hiking clothes and hang them up to "dry" overnight. In the morning before setting out, i will switch back into hiking clothes and put the dry cotton into a safe place in the bag.

  5. #5
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tpatter View Post
    When my stuff gets dirty, I just clean it. I don’t worry too about about it ‘wearing out’. Things wear out and need to be replaced at some point - lines, loops, nets, straps, bags. I take care of everything, but thats just how it works, much like the brakes and tires on my car.

    It seems that synthetic materials may be a good choice if you want to more easily clean it at home, especially if you don’t need to support very low temps.
    I would LOVE to wear out my gear!!

    I agree that if you would rather sleep in the buff and clean your bag instead of your clothes - a synthetic bag/quilt is the way to go. Much easier to wash.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    Use your gear how you want....keeping it all pristine is as if it’s waiting to be sold, in that case you’re just keeping it nice for the next guy!
    Maybe try some super light merino shorts/tee otherwise?

  7. #7
    cougarmeat's Avatar
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    LowTech, I see this is your first post so welcome to the forum.

    You only specified US as your location so that doesn’t give a hint as to the heat/humidity you are dealing with.

    Maybe things are different today, but in yesteryear, cleaning a down garment was non-trivial. If taken to a dry cleaners, they had to use the right method. If done at home, there was a big danger of tearing interior baffles. And I once shredded a synthetic bag by putting it a top loading agitator machine.

    Plus, I don’t like the feel of nylon against my skin. Cotton (or silk or merino wool) jammies for me. So it’s not the “wearing out”; it’s the degradation as body oils migrate into the fabric and insulation that inspires me to wear bed clothes.

    I’d think that if it is so warm that you’d only be comfortable in the clothes your mother made, you wouldn’t even need a down quilt - a light synthetic blanket, like they use on airplanes, might do the job. Given how easily a hammock can cool, with only a slightest breeze, I’m guessing you are living coastal with high humidity.

    Your little side mini-profile is gender non-specific so this may not apply to you, but I’ve heard there are stores where womenfolk can find “some sleepware that's as close to nothing as possible."
    In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.

  8. #8
    LowTech's Avatar
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    Thanks everyone for the encouragement to carry on.

    As far as "wearing it out" I'm not very concerned about that, I use my stuff a lot and then when the time comes I upgrade.

    I'll have to look into cleaning methods for the "non-down" TQ that I got mostly for when I kayak camp. The rest of the time I'm more likely to use wool as I have loads of it in different weights.
    Also how to clean the hammock.

    Cougarmeat - thanks. The lack of a more specific address is because I don't have one. I could narrow it down to the SW, . . . well maybe the west would be more specific, or less specific, but then I do go east for kayaking and river camping.
    In fact just back from kayaking the headwaters of the Suwannee in Georgia and a couple rivers in the western panhandle of Florida, where we rode out the fridges of the hurricane in our hammocks. Two sharing the same posts w/ a spreaderbar at the head end and under one tarp. It was a bit of a ride.

  9. #9

    Join Date
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    I recently completed a SOBO thru hike of the Benton Mackaye trail in NC/TN/GA. Our first night got down to the thirties so I was glad to have the 20 degree quilts. The weather warmed up considerably for the rest of the trip so much so that I was wishing I had my 40 degree set. I switched into "clean" baselayers so I didn't have too much skin touching quilts, but by the time we were done, I felt the need to wash the topquilt. I bought some Nikwax Down Direct and washed it in my front loading machine on super gentle cold water with an extra rinse and spin. To dry it, it only took two cycles on extra low heat/gentle cycle with 8 tennis balls. It came out so fluffy it looked like it was pumped up with air! Super easy process and really didn't take that long.

  10. #10
    LowTech's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clisbyclark View Post
    I recently completed a SOBO thru hike of the Benton Mackaye trail in NC/TN/GA. Our first night got down to the thirties so I was glad to have the 20 degree quilts. The weather warmed up considerably for the rest of the trip so much so that I was wishing I had my 40 degree set. I switched into "clean" baselayers so I didn't have too much skin touching quilts, but by the time we were done, I felt the need to wash the topquilt. I bought some Nikwax Down Direct and washed it in my front loading machine on super gentle cold water with an extra rinse and spin. To dry it, it only took two cycles on extra low heat/gentle cycle with 8 tennis balls. It came out so fluffy it looked like it was pumped up with air! Super easy process and really didn't take that long.
    Sounds like you have a down quilt. I have an old mil sleeping bag that's down and have washed it that way several times over the years.
    Its the new synthetic fill that I need to bone up on. I just got a synthetic TQ for kayak camping and still need to learn what it wants.

    And how do people clean their hammocks?
    In past all my hammocks have been good quality, cotton, Yucatan hammocks.

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