Well done Hutzelbein. I knew once you and BillyBob58 weighed in on this one, the OP would be in good hands.
Well done Hutzelbein. I knew once you and BillyBob58 weighed in on this one, the OP would be in good hands.
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If you want to get close to the benefit of a sleeping bag - wrap around coverage; no air gaps appearing if you move about - but with a TQ, use a HammockGear TQ with the Wide option. It provides more “bag/quilt” to tuck into the sides. The actual bag bottom doesn’t matter because it’s compressed by the body. I have to pay more attention to tucking in the sides of a regular TQ. With the Wide option, I feel I’m in a sea of down. If I make sure all the TQ is inside the hammock - not spilling over the sides - there are no gaps.
I would feel a little claustrophobic in a pea pod - sort of trapped. As I think about it, part of the comfort (psychological feeling) of the hammock is knowing I am not “locked in” as I would be in a tent (or pea pod). To be fair, many tent options these days are more bug net than opaque nylon shell (as they were in yesteryear). As such, they are more like a hammock with a built in bug net. But even though both the tent and hammock+net are exited with a zipper opening, I still feel less confined in the hammock.
In the winter, there’s the full sock which sort of turns the arrangement into a suspended single wall tent. But when it’s that cold, the cold abatement take priority over any “what’s out there” concern.
Last edited by cougarmeat; 11-11-2021 at 13:43.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
this is all good stuff, AND i want to say two things:
1) down is really at its best if you have less stuff between you (the heat source) and the insulation. wearing too many clothes only makes you have to warm up more clothes before you get to the down toastiness.
2) a wooki is a fine UQ, but if it gets breezy you will feel a little bit of a leak, even it you're on a WB hammock. i make some cure little loops of small gauge shock cord that us use to just spot adjust my sides
mmm, toasty.
hutzelbein: "I have had good success with adding a thin layer of insulation between the Wooki and the hammock...........
I had no luck with top quilts. A zipped up sleeping bag holds the warmth in way more effectively. I know this runs contrary to male wisdom - but I have tried top quilts again and again, and a zipped sleeping bag is warmer. Period. By the way, I use semi-rec hoodless sleeping bags, which I can use in top quilt mode when I'm getting too warm.............
The hot water bottle tip is great. I has spared me a couple of miserable nights..............
Good insulation for your head is important. I wear a hat and a balaclava at much higher temperatures without breaking a sweat...
Oh, and while too much insulation can cause problems, it doesn't sound like it is your problem. It has certainly never been a problem for me. Too much insulation causes me to overheat during the night - but not to be cold........"
Hutz, I am male, and I have never required any were near as much insulation as any of the women in my life. It is not uncommon for me to be sitting in my recliner, with a thin cotton T shirt and the legs on my cotton PJs pulled up like shorts- I do that unconsciously- and hear my wife say, from the other recliner: "Aren't you cold?" with much frustration or irritation in her voice, since she is bundled up under a thick blanket and maybe still a bit cold, maybe wanting the gas logs turned on.
But still, in a relative way, or on principle, I agree with every thing you say. Especially about the zipped up bag and head warmth. (one reason I was always so fond of my now defunct Pea Pod was- assuming any top gaps were filled- it had the same draft proof and head insulation qualities of a zipped up sleeping bag). But before I had a pod, I saved many a too cold to sleep night by simply getting inside my bag and zipping up. True, I do fine with TQs these days, I have become more skilled at using them, particularly since I added a JRB hood(or use the Sierra Madre with built in hood), but I still figure if it hit the fan, getting inside a zipped up bag would be even warmer. And I agree about adding insulation(clothing or something like "adding a thin layer of insulation between the Wooki") never making me cold. Too hot, so that I have to remove layers, yes. But making me cold? Not yet.
This may be a dumb question, but your original post didn't specifically mention this, and I haven't seen it clarified anywhere (though I could have missed it). You said that your hammock is a Blackbird XLC, but your UQ is a Scandi Wooki. Is your Wooki the XL version or regular? If it's the regular size, you won't get a good fit on your XLC, and it won't function properly.
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