Options for stretching current insulation - FL hiker headed north!

[Karla "with a k"]

Another hack to help stay warm is to keep your wrists extra warm. Either place an extra pair of socks over your hands or wrap extra buffs around your wrists.

[Goblewarming]

Make sure that the thickness (R factor) of the Gossamer Gear CCF pad is what you want. I have some GG CCF sheets and they would be good for a foot pad in a hammock or something to sit on if the ground was not snow-covered. But, for me, it would be a little light, just by itself, for winter.

Oh, no… that would be way too light alone! I was more asking about using that one while damp because it’s the only one I have seen in the wild and it looked like it kept a little water (after 9 solid hours of rain, so I am not surprised).
My tent friend uses it like you’re describing.


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[Goblewarming]

Ok - Coming down to the wire, but I have played around with some things ( as best I can here in the land of mostly warm - we got a good few nights of 40's anyway and i got by with only a costco throw and my klymit insulated vlite on the ground. Tent only camping... *shudder*) and I think I have all the stuff I need to make a warm nest in the temps we will be dealing with. Right now, the lowest night may hit 20's. My TQ and UQ are rated to 30's and I have taken them down to 35 with no trouble and no extra layers - with a cheapo double hammock and tarp from amazon and a wrap around bugnet. Here are my possibilities, y'all let me know if there are things I should consider or if there's a good chance of it working?

I got a Hennessy UL Explorer over a year ago and was daunted by the rope lashing and the bottom entry. I put it aside to look up suspension switching and to play around with the bottom entry at home to see if I would adapt or if I needed to sew a zipper, and promptly forgot about it. The set up I had worked, I kept forgetting to order amsteel... blah blah. I pulled it out and realized that it had been a package deal with the supershelter (!) and I am starting with that. (suspension switched today, and I have had it up for over a week ahead of that climbing in and out of it with all the insulation attached. got it)
Right now I am stacking ( from the bottom):
Overcover
Supershelter open cell foam pad
30 degree full length down underquilt
(space blanket if needed)
hammock
Me in 250 smartwool, a beanie, a buff, and a hot nalgene, and my warmest wool socks
a costco TQ
my 30 degree sierra madre top quilt with a down hood
and if it gets really cold, my frogg togg poncho is just the right shape to cover the net and leave a vent hole - I have mini binder clips to keep it from blowing off.
the usual asym tarp that I can either pitch low on the same suspension as the hammock or on it's own line.

I will have a down vest, down long sleeve zip hoodie, and a couple of small closed cell foam pads to place strategically.

My only questions are whether I would be better off trying to add the klymit pad in the hammock instead of the SS open cell foam? It doesn't seem like it would - the foam molds around me better, but... ?
And whether I would be better off with my other tarp ( symmetrical diamond tarp that is 11'10" X 9'4")

Anyway - thanks for all the info!

[Goblewarming]

I know y’all have all been wondering how it went

After watching the temps in the lead up range from 20-80, what we got was two days of rain in the 50’s and 60’s and then one night in the 40’s and one in the 30’s. I packed for 20’s because that was the forecast when we hit the trail on Thursday. My Hennessy UL Explorer with the super shelter and the regular tarp stood up to the remnants of Hurricane Nicole and stacking quilts proved to be toasty overkill. I am confident that I have adequate gear to hit the 20’s. It’s not the lightest setup ever, but was definitely doable and I liked the flexibility.

The vapor barrier threads turned out to be a huge help since it was cool and 94% humidity (plus all the daywear we had with us was soaked through on day 1 - damp was a theme). The inside of my over cover and the back side of the foam pad got wet-ish every night, but the down and I stayed dry!


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[Hang Williams]

I know y’all have all been wondering how it went

After watching the temps in the lead up range from 20-80, what we got was two days of rain in the 50’s and 60’s and then one night in the 40’s and one in the 30’s. I packed for 20’s because that was the forecast when we hit the trail on Thursday. My Hennessy UL Explorer with the super shelter and the regular tarp stood up to the remnants of Hurricane Nicole and stacking quilts proved to be toasty overkill. I am confident that I have adequate gear to hit the 20’s. It’s not the lightest setup ever, but was definitely doable and I liked the flexibility.

The vapor barrier threads turned out to be a huge help since it was cool and 94% humidity (plus all the daywear we had with us was soaked through on day 1 - damp was a theme). The inside of my over cover and the back side of the foam pad got wet-ish every night, but the down and I stayed dry!


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I'm glad the weather wasn't a problem. Be glad you aren't up there next weekend. I'm seeing forecast lows of 19 and highs of 41. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound fun to me.

[Goblewarming]

I'm glad the weather wasn't a problem. Be glad you aren't up there next weekend. I'm seeing forecast lows of 19 and highs of 41. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound fun to me.

Yeah, that sounds like more than I want to sign up for at the moment.


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