Link <-Great thread about it.
Link <-Great thread about it.
“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy
Thanks! Another excuse to think about hammocks, haha!
In a pinch, I tried the whole emergency blanket as tarp thing this summer and not only was it noisy (loud and crinkly) in breeze the speed of a gnat, but I ended up thinking I was sleeping under some sort of Jetson-esque alien wilderness disco because it reflected every tiny bit of light from my own campfire and others all over me and all over my campsite. The binder clips I was using couldn't keep a good grip and sometime during the night, parts of the emergency blanket started flapping about noisier and sparklier than ever .
So maybe some sort of ripstop that has that silver SPF coating or somehow sewing and spray-gluing the emerg blanket to an existing tarp, but not an emerg blanket by itself unless it's a real emerg. The weirdo factor is too high.
I would love to be able to design/make a motorcycle cover that could be used also as an extra tarp, or make it big enough that if necessary it would cover the hammock and put the bike underneath as well. The idea would be to have one less tarp/cover to carry.I love thinking about hypothetical gear that could be made
I want a water proof sock to cover my hammock that has side entry on both sides with wings just large enough to pitch in porch mode for non-side blown rain.
Very minimalist and lightweight too.
*Heaven best have trees, because I plan to lounge for eternity.
Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement. - Mark Twain
Trail name: Radar
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That's not hypothetical... I made one of those using breathable Epic material on the bottom and silnylon on top.
It generated so much condensation that I put it on the shelf, and that's where it sits.
- MacEntyre
- MacEntyre
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
www.MollyMacGear.com
Great minds, as they say. Seriously though, there are some damned innovative concepts on this site. Sorta' mind-blowing! It's addictive!
This process of continual group think product improvement is at least 1/2 of the fun of the hobby. I am very glad to have found y'all.
I probably have 100 nights ground camping (just bought 1st hammock) wearing a Stephenson VB hooded jacket(about $80). The Jacket is like fleece on the inside and wakes you up when you are just starting to get too warm before you sweat any more than to make the air between you and the VB jacket highly humid (which goes away in just a couple of minutes of venting.) Since I can sweat to the point of almost drowning before I wake up WITHOUT this VB jacket, I even wear it as high as 60 F. Read Stephenson's warmlite catalog and and some great google posts concerning VB.
I liked Stephenson's jacket so much I bought one of their basically new $800 sleep systems for $400 on eBay.
I have made sleeping bags out of insul-bright and do not believe it is 50% breathable. There was a sleeping bag called "Arctic Shield" that was insul-bright based. Very heavy and since the width was huge you either froze or got soaked if you filled up the empty space with gear.I talked to the insul-bright manufacturer about sewing without thread more needle punched air holes and they said it would not work since the polyester would fill the holes right back up.
I even tried putting needle punches every 1/4" in a new mylar blanket (fairly easy to do if you hardly unfold the NEW blanket width-wise before 'sewing') Still not enough breathability.
I did find a prototype mylar coated polyester that was designed for the military that has thousands of holes per square inch. I might have (cough/cough) been able to test a bivy sized sample. After about two years of maybe 100 day usage, the reflectivity degraded noticeably.
I am contemplating making a real space blanket under-ceiling for my winter tarp and then making a material and flesh friendly candle heater. Playing around with a UCO candle holder inside a 32 ounce beer can UCO safety cover (fire box insulation on the underside of the beer can lid) with sufficient holes punch in the can for air flow. Tarp will of course have pitch and oversized air holes at eves.
I built a deer blind years ago using a coleman infrared heater with ample cross lower to upper ventilation and it worked great. Slept in it many, many nights
I forgot Columbia Omni Heat. On the outside of the Stephenson VB full zip hooded jacket I wear a Columbia Omni heat full zip hooded almost elastic jacket (about $30). The Omni heat has the reflective dots to radiate the thermal heat back like a space blanket. Outside of that I wear a hooded Mont bell(?) polyester full zip sweater or a military 300 polar fleece depending on conditions.. All three are full zip so I can vent quickly when the VB tells me I need to and can get them on and off easy. I also have Omni heat mid weight base layer bottoms and an Omni Heat sleeping bag liner although since it does not have a zip I am not sure anyone could get in it in a hammock. You do not really need VB for the bottoms, particularly if you have Omni heat base layer. People at Stephenson Warmlite say they hardly ever sell the VP pants since the legs do not sweat near as much as the trunk.
Years ago, I attempted to use mylar space blankets to make a small 3-season tent warmer for 4-season camping by layering them to the overhead bug netting and roof panels. The entire inside of the tent was, of course, completely covered in condensation in the morning. Granted, a tarp would have a lot more ventilation, but I just thought I'd add this as an illustration of what can happen if you do seal away the ventilation.
I've since learned that warmth in a sleep system should come from your clothing (including vapor barriers in really cold conditions) and sleeping bag/quilt. A shelter's job is to keep out the wind and precip - and bugs, etc. in warmer months.
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