Winter hammocking pack weight

[Cranky Bear]

In my opinion, there's no way to get a winter hammock set up even close in weight to sleeping on the ground, but some other people may have better winter gear than me.

All depends on what "Ground Gear" your referring too? Even if it was a tarp tent set-up there are some on here that have come "REALLY" close in terms of weight, if not the same!?

[Just Jeff]

Make a netless hammock with down isulation sewn directly to the hammock for the torso, and a torso-sized CCF pad under the legs, and it's about the same.

Unless you consider sleeping on a 1/4" CCF pad on the ground in the winter to be an acceptable level of comfort. I don't.

[bigwig]

All depends on what "Ground Gear" your referring too? Even if it was a tarp tent set-up there are some on here that have come "REALLY" close in terms of weight, if not the same!?

You're probably right, especially if you've sunk a lot of money into a nice UQ. For my own use, though, I figure it about like this:

Backpacking without the hammock in the winter I dig a trench about 30" by 7' and pull at small, 8x5 silnylon tarp over the top of it and bury 3 edges to form a type of snow cave. I usually line the bottom of the trench with a space blanket. I've slept in Northern Wisconsin winters where it has gotten down to -20F (not including windchill which, since I'm below the snow level, I don't have to worry about but someone in a hammock would). Since I use the same sleeping bag both whether or not I'm in a hammock, and assuming that my under-insulation weighs about the same, the difference in weight is that of the hammock and a bigger tarp that a hammock user will need to cut the wind. I figure that's about 20 ounces different.

I understand that some people will have much lighter under-insulation and that they may be able to make up that weight; I spoke too soon in my post before. I would love to be able to sleep in a hammock in the winter but to even come close in weight I'd have to spent a ton of money. Anyway, I'm just getting in to hammock backpacking and I've been so cold even sleeping in a hammock in the spring and fall that I'm not going to try the winter yet.

[Just Jeff]

Fabric for DIY insulated hammock - $10 from Walmart
Three layers of Climashield for torso-insulation - $30 from thru-hiker.com
1/2" CCF pad for legs - $12

So now you're good to around 20F for just over $50. Plus you get a sit pad out of it, and backup in case you need to go to ground.

And a sil tarp with doors isn't much more expensive than a normal ground-dweller's sil tarp, and probably only a few ounces heavier if you have an 8x10 for the ground.

Not trying to be argumentative...just showing that there are some pretty simple and cheap options to hang in the winter, and not much heavier than sleeping on the ground.

And by the time you have your 30"x7' trench dug, I'll be watching you from my toasty hammock drinking hot chocolate. That's a lot of effort to go thru each night.

[bigwig]

Fabric for DIY insulated hammock - $10 from Walmart
Three layers of Climashield for torso-insulation - $30 from thru-hiker.com
1/2" CCF pad for legs - $12

So now you're good to around 20F for just over $50. Plus you get a sit pad out of it, and backup in case you need to go to ground.

And a sil tarp with doors isn't much more expensive than a normal ground-dweller's sil tarp, and probably only a few ounces heavier if you have an 8x10 for the ground.

Not trying to be argumentative...just showing that there are some pretty simple and cheap options to hang in the winter, and not much heavier than sleeping on the ground.

And by the time you have your 30"x7' trench dug, I'll be watching you from my toasty hammock drinking hot chocolate. That's a lot of effort to go thru each night.

You forgot to add:

Your talent with a sewing machine - priceless

Seriously, I've been to your website and love it. I'm building hammocks based on your descriptions. However, I looked at the instructions for the insulated hammocks and know that there's just no way I could ever build those. Plus, it seems to me that you were fairly negative about your own synthetic insulated hammocks. Didn't you really say that in order for the insulation to be snugged against your body (and thus actually insulating you) you needed to go with down?

lol. as for the trench, this is snow we're talking about, not frozen ground. It takes about 60 seconds with a snowshoe.

[bigwig]

Jeff, by the way, since you're here, have you ever tried just tying the quilt right through the hammock? I've made Jardine style quilts before (just lightweight tie quilts) but just can't figure out how to make them work as an underquilt, when the hammock is stretching with my body weight. It compressed the quilt under my butt and leaves it loose around my head, parts of my back, and legs, which seems to be what you've described on your website as some of the difficulties with synthetic insulation. Would just tying through the hammock weaken it?

[Just Jeff]

The synthetic insulation worked pretty well under my back, but wouldn't stay snugged underneath my legs...that's where the gaps kept occurring. I think I have a way to fix that, but I switched to down anyway so I never prototyped it.

But I think making a torso-insulated synthetic hammock would work very well. I'm actually thinking of making one with a single layer of synthetic insulation for summer temps...that probably wouldn't weigh any more than a down one b/c it would need no baffling.

If by "tying to the hammock" you mean putting the quilting loops thru the quilt and into the hammock body, I think that would work well. You just need to lay in the hammock while you quilt it, to account for the hammock stretch.

But if you're gonna do that, you don't really need the inner shell...just sew the outer shell directly to the hammock. (That's all the complicated picture is on that page...how to make the outer shell bigger than the inner one to accomodate the stretch.)

I actually wrote an article one time questioning the value of winter hammocking. Many of the advantages of a hammock can be negated in winter (no roots and rocks, you can stamp out a level spot, etc), and dealing with the windchill means you need significantly more insulation once you get into the teens. But still...I've never been as comfortable on the ground as I am in the hammock, and that good night's sleep is worth an extra pound to me. (Although I don't think there's a pound difference in my setup and a comparable ground setup.)