If socks make a line or indentation on your leg, then they are too tight, reducing circulation to your feet
Ok to wear one pair of Loose wool socks or down booties
Plus plus plus. Eat good for easily available fuel to keep warm
Sometimes underquilts get an air gap if not set up perfectly
When it’s really cold out, I stack two underquilts
Highly skilled hammock campers get full loft with both quilts and have zero air gap——not me
I ain’t that good
First quilt put under hammock could be a 20* quilt
It should lift the empty hammock 6 inches to a foot along entire length of quilt
Second quilt on outside could be a zero underquilt or your best 20* underquilt. It can smash the first underquilt. That sandwiched underquilt will have much less loft, but it will still insulate some—and it will expand to fill in and close most air gaps.
Wear a toboggan a goose down beanie, or both.
Top quilt should be rated at least 10* lower than low forecasted for that night
Rather than wearing a coat or fleece hoodie over all your other layers, ok to lay coat or hoodie over your torso. It’s easier to push off, when and if you get too hot. If you sweat enough to soak your clothes, then you might be cold until you change into dry clothes.
Apply Hot Hands body size patches to outside of your second layer shirt.
Ok to nest two top quilts, but probably not needed and can cause enough sweating to keep you cold all night
Last Phantom lie, I promise
Get a small dog to sleep on your stomach
Good luck
lelavoia, perhaps the drink aids more in keeping hydrated. If it contains electrolytes, so much the better.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
as soon as I read your post my first thoughts were, like everyone else that maybe you had too much on, but also is your underquilt properly fitted.
only a couple of people mentioned that though.
to add to what phantom grappler says, it doesn't matter what order you stack quilts in, it's the total thickness of the insulation that matters (and again, be careful of air gaps)
When stacking top quilts, an overly confined foot box can have a similar effect as too many layers of socks, so be careful of overly compressing the insulation in the foot box. for this reason I put my 20 degree quilt that as the drawstring on the outside of my zero degree with the sewn foot box. this allows me to open up the drawstring to make sure the interior stays roomy and the down stays lofty.
I find that my feet sweat a lot more with wool socks, even the high price fancy ones that they sell at EMS so I try not to wear socks in bed anyway, I hate having anything on my feet.
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Keep your toe nails trimmed.
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WOW! Rated minus 20F and cold at +26F? That is about as extreme of a miss as I have seen. However, you are not all that different. This is probably like thread # 1000 over the years where people (not me, I have had pretty good luck) are cold in their quilts at temps way above what they had hoped to get to. Quilts can be tricky buggers. However, the good news is that sooner or later, most folks get things figured out.
That was also what I was wondering.
Well, DO NOT forget head warmth/insulation that will be equal to the hood and/or collar on a mummy bag! It is unrealistic to expect a minus 20F quilt, even if you have a perfect gap and draft free fit and never lift up an edge while moving in your sleep, to match a minus 20F sleeping bag which included the insulation of the brain by way of it's thick hood and neck collar as an important part of the minus 20F rating. You must keep your head equally warm as a hooded mummy bag if you are going to sleep as warm in an equally thick quilt.
Well, you see all the other good advice from knowledgeable folks, who often times think too many clothes are the problem(I normally layer up myself, but I did have 1 night toasty at 25F with 25F rated JRB quilts on a JRB bridge hammock, wearing only cotton PJs and a separate JRB hood.) Also eating before bed, and jumping Jacks, hot water bottles, all the normal tricks of the trade. And make certain that your UQs are snug but not tight enough to flatten loft. And obviously NO gaps or drafts, if you can figure out how to do that.
But now I will go to my personal tricks that most don't use and some even hate:
1: Vapor Barrier space blankets or better yet VB clothing. You will have to study up on it, because if you do it wrong, it will make matters worse. Done just right, it can add another 23º of warmth while keeping all body vapor out of your insulation where it can then condense in the outer down layer of your quilts. And this condensation can be followed quickly by being cold, or cold later as it adds up night after night. Then if this condensed liquid can later be evaporated by body heat and make you even colder ( it is known as "evaporative cooling", the means that ACs and swamp coolers work)
2: see this thread that I just started re: noobies who are still cold despite buying nice quilts. At least, look at it if you are serious about staying warm.
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...and-tested-Pod
EDIT: and of course, if you are unable to get your minus 20F quilts to even keep you warm enough at +26F, you can always combine the above techniques, as well as adding a CCF pad. So, pods + VBs + pads(which are already VBs) ought to get you to toasty, I would think. I have actually added CCF pads between my hammock and pod just for fun, and it worked pretty well. For sure stayed in place.
Good luck!
Last edited by BillyBob58; 11-05-2021 at 19:50.
As long as suggestions are being tossed in, an Under Quilt Protector (UQP) makes the UQ fit less critical. You still have to pay attention - it’s not a “Hands off the wheel” device - but it will cover the quilt ends. I use one because I switch hammocks and quilts and I can’t be in the hammock, and outside the hammock to check the fit, at the same time. Because of the additional wind blockage, it also adds a few degrees to the warmth rating - or rather, keeps the warmth that YOU make.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
I agree with the rest of the bodies you’re over insulated just good enough to not be freezing when you climb in insulate your extremities your feet and your hands cover your head
Being an old, cold sleeper living in Montana and sleeping outside year round, I've found a few things that help keep me warm.
1 - down booties worn over thin wool socks. It's also easy to make Climashield booties if you're a DIYer
2 - a light fleece hat
3 - thin capalene gloves
A lot of other modifications have gone into my sleeping systems and there has been much helpful info posted already that should warm you up.
Love is blind. Marriage is an eye opener.
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