I've always wondered about the few folks on HF who say they've never experienced condensation. If you exhale, there's moisture that will freeze: that is the human condition.
So one time I was camping with a "never experienced condensation" friend. I woke up and there was frozen condensation on my tarp. So I went over to my friend's tarp (it was morning coffee time) and slapped his tarp a couple of times to wake him up. He was pretty angry at me for causing all this "snow" to fall on his quilts. "But wait," I said. "I thought you had never experienced condensation!" He replied, "It's not condensation - it's frost."
So now I know that people who say they've "never experienced condensation" are probably lying or just generally oblivious to condensation. If you breathe, you will experience condensation.
And, all due respect to our cottage vendors, these top covers with net vents are just humorous to me - they vent squat. Every cold morning I wake up and there is frozen condensation (i.e., frost or snow) on the supposed vent.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
^ I agree with all of this.
Just thinking about the problem as I am mostly a ‘fair’ weather camper. Rain is OK. Snow I have never tried.
That aside, do you think it would be better if the cover was made out of something more open cell? My first thought was that if one had something like a flannel cotton blanket (OK, heavy) the ice would still form but it would have enough surface area to hold on to it might not sheet off. The same effect might happen with a nylon type sheet with synthetic fuzz on the inside.
I have always been a hot sleeper. I adjust my hammock so I have a small hole (Not Zipped) in front of my face. It helps greatly.
I also always use a tarp in cold weather. Cold weather is relative, in Alabama where I live we have mild winters.
Maybe I've got old and soft, but I no longer camp in extreme weather, I have nothing to prove. I like to camp March-November.
Frost happens. Best when it remains very cold so the frost stays dry and can be shaken or whisked away.
Bad is when it starts to build up in TQ, reducing the effectiveness of insulation. If out for more than 2 or 3 nights, VB clothing is in order.
Worst is freezing rain, which can collapse even the sturdiest mountaineering tent and bring down trees.
Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton
> Worst is freezing rain, which can collapse even the sturdiest mountaineering tent …
But maybe not an igloo
The challenge is, building an igloo large enough so the hammock is suspended inside. I can see creating a “wall” around the hammock, but you’d still have a tarp roof. And the hammock would still be suspended by those freezing rain assaulted trees.
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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