Please help

[BillyBob58]

Yeah, my wife was getting the "I'm so frustrated, I'm about to cry" look on her face again, so any adjustments from now on are going to have to be me solo. It should work. It's a proven product, with no apparent quality defects whatsoever, I just can't figure out how to stop there being an air pocket on that left side. The sweater under the hip trick got me thru a 28* night, but I've got to believe there's a fix here. It's gotta be easier to get a 3/4 length quilt to seal.

I'm seriously considering the Superior hammock, but by the time it would get here, I'd be out of the temperature range I'm concerned about to really test it here in GA, so I'd be looking at taking it blind into my planned August trip to either sawtooth or wind river range. That leaves me with conceding to sleeping on the ground (and probably another rotator cuff surgery as a result) or going with an untested system, hence the sense of urgency to get this sorted over the next few weeks.

Hey, that's my favorite country right there, both of those ranges! And I have taken hammocks to both of them, in addition to many times on the ground. In fact, my hammock days began in the Winds in first week of Sept 06. Started with a trial by fire(or ice) with 22F 1st night. Slept way cold in my HHSS that 1st night, but fortunately got it worked out for the following nights and never looked back. How to stay warm in a hammock all seemed very mysterious to me that first night, but figured it out.

[Countrybois]

Once again.. let's start with the hammock hang.

Your suspension is too loose. While this may not be the biggest issue, it causes a deeper sag and can lead to more trouble getting a proper UQ fit.

The hammock ridgeline should be tight. Not guitar string tight, but almost. There should be no sag in it when you lay in the hammock. In all of the pictures with you in it, I see a sag in the ridgeline. That tells me it is not tight enough.

Next...as others have said, a full length quilt should cover your feet. Start with having the foot end just covering your feet.

Finally, although you should be able to lay in a figure 4 and be cozy, I wouldn't use that body position to adjust the UQ. It's really designed to fit the body laying with both legs straight. So again, start there and then once you get it fit properly, you can see what other body positions you can successfully lay in.

My $0.02

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[Grisnakh]

There are so many fantastic suggestions in this thread, I'd hate to add to any confusion. We are definitely here if you feel you've exhausted everything. A huge thank you to all in the community helping our customer out over the weekend! Please keep us posted Our goal is to make sure you're comfortably warm with the gear you spent a lot of money on.

[Tpatter]

I know that you are likely tired of more advice at this point, but here goes.

Are you using decent top insulation? I found a huge difference when I switched from a sleeping bag to a top quilt. The main thing is that you can easily position yourself in the hammock with TQ but it is also designed to go around your neck and insulate your shoulders as well. It does nothing for your head however, so you need a decent hat of some sort.

If I don't match my UQ with a TQ I get cold in the back as you describe. I prefer to be super toasty, so I have the TQ snapped around my neck in all but the warmest weather.

Good luck.

[TominMN]

... I found a huge difference when I switched from a sleeping bag to a top quilt. The main thing is that you can easily position yourself in the hammock with TQ but it is also designed to go around your neck and insulate your shoulders as well. It does nothing for your head however, so you need a decent hat of some sort.

...

Unless you have a really nice long TQ!

[Hang Williams]

I know that you are likely tired of more advice at this point, but here goes.

Are you using decent top insulation? I found a huge difference when I switched from a sleeping bag to a top quilt. The main thing is that you can easily position yourself in the hammock with TQ but it is also designed to go around your neck and insulate your shoulders as well. It does nothing for your head however, so you need a decent hat of some sort.

If I don't match my UQ with a TQ I get cold in the back as you describe. I prefer to be super toasty, so I have the TQ snapped around my neck in all but the warmest weather.

Good luck.

Yeah, the TQ that came with the kit (econ burrow iirc) is great. It's a weird sensation being so warm on top that I'm venting the TQ at times to keep from sweating while debating whether I'm about to get frost bite on my butt cheeks. Lol. The kit is great, this is absolutely about me just not understanding how to get this UQ working the way I know it's supposed to.

[Hang Williams]

Once again.. let's start with the hammock hang.

Your suspension is too loose. While this may not be the biggest issue, it causes a deeper sag and can lead to more trouble getting a proper UQ fit.

The hammock ridgeline should be tight. Not guitar string tight, but almost. There should be no sag in it when you lay in the hammock. In all of the pictures with you in it, I see a sag in the ridgeline. That tells me it is not tight enough.

Next...as others have said, a full length quilt should cover your feet. Start with having the foot end just covering your feet.

Finally, although you should be able to lay in a figure 4 and be cozy, I wouldn't use that body position to adjust the UQ. It's really designed to fit the body laying with both legs straight. So again, start there and then once you get it fit properly, you can see what other body positions you can successfully lay in.

My $0.02

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Had to break out the step ladder, but now it's tight enough where that's the furthest I can bend it with one hand. The circled area is the area that I haven't figured out how to get the hammock in contact with the UQ. Should I even be trying to get contact there or is that not the point? I can get the ends and side to seal up.

[Shug]

To try a test to seal the end gaps try putting a jacket over the end of hammock like I do in the video below at 8:57 in.
Shug

[rweb82]

Had to break out the step ladder, but now it's tight enough where that's the furthest I can bend it with one hand. The circled area is the area that I haven't figured out how to get the hammock in contact with the UQ. Should I even be trying to get contact there or is that not the point? I can get the ends and side to seal up.

Based off that picture, my next question would be "are your legs ever going to lay right down the middle where you've circled?" The idea of UQ insulation is that it should make contact with your body, and that's where you'll feel the warmth. If your body isn't touching there, then that spot will be cold until your body covers it. If this is what you've been referencing, then all UQs have "cold spots" until there is a heat source placed on top of them. When I shift around in my hammock, I feel cold spots too until my body has been there long enough to for the UQ to trap my body heat in that area.

Are you feeling the cold spots when lying diagonally with your legs straight (apologies if you've answered this already)? Also, is the other side of the UQ pulled up over your left shoulder?

[Hang Williams]

Based off that picture, my next question would be "are your legs ever going to lay right down the middle where you've circled?" The idea of UQ insulation is that it should make contact with your body, and that's where you'll feel the warmth. If your body isn't touching there, then that spot will be cold until your body covers it. If this is what you've been referencing, then all UQs have "cold spots" until there is a heat source placed on top of them. When I shift around in my hammock, I feel cold spots too until my body has been there long enough to for the UQ to trap my body heat in that area.

Are you feeling the cold spots when lying diagonally with your legs straight (apologies if you've answered this already)? Also, is the other side of the UQ pulled up over your left shoulder?

So where that circled area becomes a problem is two part:
1) it continues to my left knee and calf if I'm lying in figure 4. Goes straight to my left hip otherwise.
2) if I don't get it perfectly right under my butt or back, then the cold air can get from the left into those spots when I shift around.

Other areas of the hammock I can touch and feel the UQ pushing back, but down there I cannot.