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  1. #11
    Herder of Cats OutandBack's Avatar
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    Dec 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by mattmunee View Post
    I'm curious about everyone's experience with topcovers/socks.


    • How often do you use yours?
    • Do you use them for wind, cold, both?
    • How cold do you use them, and what are your experiences with condensation?
    • Have you found a fool-proof vent configuration to minimize condensation?
    • Is a solid winter tarp with doors closed just as effective in the cold while having less of a condensation issue?
    The worst thing our hammock vendors did was call these breathable top cover a ((( winter ))) cover.
    You never want to use these without proper venting once you can see your breath.

    They work great in spring and fall when there is wind.
    Also if you are like me and you are retired and like sleeping in they do a great job of blocking the sun so you can sleep in.

    8389784823_3e235ae300_c.jpg

  2. #12
    cougarmeat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Bend, OR
    Hammock
    WBBB, WBRR, WL LiteOwl
    Tarp
    OES, WL BullFro
    Insulation
    HG UQ, TQ, WB UQ
    Suspension
    Python Straps
    Posts
    3,758
    Because the tarp and hammock (w/UQP) are sufficient for me in the summer, I don’t use a sock then. In the winter, I’d consider a full sock - either for a GE or RR - if I felt the weather suggest it. But I like to play in the snow - make walls (forts) and maybe an igloo. The socks definitely work, but the expected temperatures have to justify their bringing.

    I agree - a difference between cold and wet. I don’t like wet either. One of my “thought” nightmares is remembering when this mist floated in on the northern side of Vargas Island and EVERYTHING outside the tent (unenlightened days) was saturated. Had I just been in a tarp/hammock - all that would have been wet too.

    Barring that circumstance, the tarp keeps me dry. I can’t remember the last time I was “cold to the bone”. I have a good internal heater. I did work in Valdez, AK one fall/winter and I recall standing in the shower will pretty much full Hot until I could sort of feel the heat reaching my bones. So I guess that was pretty cold. But down here, in the 44th parallel, sure, we might have a few days during the winter in single digits - but nothing like those vikings have to put up with in the northern/middle states.

    Though there is no question that the sock adds warmth, it probably earns its keep more by added wind protection. But it does block the view.

    I don’t know if it is standard now, but when I got the RR SpinDrift, I asked for zippers on both sides. That give a lot of visibility when opened and lots of configuration options for zipper/venting management.
    Last edited by cougarmeat; 06-03-2021 at 12:54.
    In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.

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