View Poll Results: How do you sleep on your side in a hammock

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  • I try but cannot sleep on my side in a hammock

    4 9.76%
  • I gave up trying and don't sleep as well as on my side

    4 9.76%
  • I found an answer and will share it in the thread

    19 46.34%
  • I don't need to sleep on my side, duh...

    16 39.02%
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  1. #1
    Senior Member Mule's Avatar
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    Question Hammocks and Sleeping Bags????

    I may have to go back to using a sleeping bag!
    Anyone else having trouble sleeping on your side in a hammock?
    When I started camping in hammocks I uses a Big Agnus sleeping bag and pad. I did OK.
    Then I began investing in better gear and ended up with two top quilts and two under quilts of the finest quality.
    Then, as the story unfolds, I realized why I snore in a hammock and do not on the ground or at home...it's sleeping on my back.
    Now I can get comfortable on my side in a wide hammock, but I cannot get the over quilts to behave in cold weather. I barely get them to keep out drafts while laying like a mummy in my Blackbird.
    I was just out two nights ago with some friends and they said I snored loudly all night and I wake myself up while trying to doze off because I use a CPAP machine at home and cannot get that to work in the woods, so I am either going to have to go back to a tent and pad, or perhaps a very wide hammock like my stretch side and use the under quilts but sleep in a sleeping bag so I can get on my side.
    Predictions are risky, especially when it comes to the future.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Stumblefoot's Avatar
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    I have a WBBB and I am able to sleep on my side. I use a UQ and my sleeping bag acts as my TQ. I have the sleeping bag unzipped almost all the way and stick my feet in the bottom of the bag. My feet go in the BB's foot box and I roll on my side. Most of the night I may be on my back but I can roll to the side whenever I want to change positions. I find it is more comfortable sleeping on my left side but have also been able to find the proper position for the right side. Sleeping on my stomach doesn't work for me. I use a small pillow to round out my sleeping equipment.

    Don't argue with the alligator until after you cross the river.

  3. #3
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    Behold!

    DB72 + Exped 9 DLX or LW fully inflated -> Excellent Side Sleeping

  4. #4
    Senior Member Shotgunred's Avatar
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    A custom wide TQ could also help fight cold air entry while changing positions or on your side. Do you have trouble sleeping on your side in the Backbird?

  5. #5
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    I was unable to check any of the options. Needed to have a choice of:
    No problem sleeping on my side. I have a Clark NA and have slept many wonderful on my side.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Roadrunnr72's Avatar
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    I use a DIY double stretch side hammock, 11' long. I use a HG 20 deg burrow. Close the snap around my neck, and when I turn to my side, I adjust the TQ around so it still covers my back......RR
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  7. #7
    Senior Member Mule's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shotgunred View Post
    A custom wide TQ could also help fight cold air entry while changing positions or on your side. Do you have trouble sleeping on your side in the Backbird?
    SGR, Yes, I have trouble STAYING on my side in the BB. I always feel like I am bent, doubled up sideways
    Predictions are risky, especially when it comes to the future.

  8. #8
    Senior Member gargoyle's Avatar
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    Mule,
    What about modding your present quilt with an extra baffle/draft tube? or two?
    It'd make the quilt wider and possibly solve your cold/fit issues...

  9. #9
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    I did not pick anything in your poll either. I have several DIY hammocks.I think I can sleep on my side in all of them. I'm not real sure about the first one I made cause I seldom use it anymore. 1st was 10' x 60" before hems. I could sleep ok on back or side. not good just ok. I made a new one 11' x 60" also dbl layer and gathered end. It was so much roomier and nicer. I can sleep on my back or side. The more I sleep in it the more comfy I am. I then decided to make a tablecloth hammock with whipped ends. It is 11' x 90" and is also very comfy. The footbox on your hammock may restrict how you can lay. My feet are way right almost out of the hammock and my head is way left. I move my butt further left to roll right to sleep on my side. I use a sleeping bag, as a top quilt, when it gets cold. I have some DIY top quilts for warmer temps. Good luck with finding a sweet spot. The tablecloth hammock is pretty cheap.

  10. #10
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mule View Post
    I may have to go back to using a sleeping bag!
    Anyone else having trouble sleeping on your side in a hammock?
    When I started camping in hammocks I uses a Big Agnus sleeping bag and pad. I did OK.
    Then I began investing in better gear and ended up with two top quilts and two under quilts of the finest quality.
    Then, as the story unfolds, I realized why I snore in a hammock and do not on the ground or at home...it's sleeping on my back.
    Now I can get comfortable on my side in a wide hammock, but I cannot get the over quilts to behave in cold weather. I barely get them to keep out drafts while laying like a mummy in my Blackbird.
    I was just out two nights ago with some friends and they said I snored loudly all night and I wake myself up while trying to doze off because I use a CPAP machine at home and cannot get that to work in the woods, so I am either going to have to go back to a tent and pad, or perhaps a very wide hammock like my stretch side and use the under quilts but sleep in a sleeping bag so I can get on my side.
    No doubt this can be a problem for some folks, especially the non-dainty. Let's face it, drafts are the bane of UQs. Most of us figure out how to make it work for the sake of the lighter weight, less bulk and better comfort in a hammock.

    I'm not sure how a very wide hammock is going to help with this draft problem? It might even make it worse.

    First things that come to mind:
    1: like you said, go back to sleeping bags. It may be worth the effort of getting zipped up in one, even if you have to get in standing up before you get in the hammock, because once you are it is pretty much draft proof. Or one of those "walk around in" bags with arm holes would solve all problems like this.

    But actually, you may not even need to get zipped up in the bag. After a lot of experimentation, I have found that I can more or less get the best of both worlds using my mummy bags. But you might have to play around with it. I leave the bag snapped or Velcroed closed at the neck, with the zipper unzipped down to the foot box. I slip my head through the side opening and up into the hood, and then put my feet into the foot box. I'm still using it ~ quilt style, with the side opening under me. But the bag is so wide that I can easily tuck it under me, which combined with my head being in the hood and neck collar just seems to vastly decrease drafts. But it still has the comfort and most of the convenience factor of a quilt. More weight than a quilt for sure, but by gosh you are warm! And if worse comes to worse, just zip up in that rascal!

    2: forget a wider hammock, get a skinnier one: the old JRB BMBH. I have found that the steep, narrow sides just seem to keep a quilt in place, side or back, better than a diagonal lay in a gathered end hammock. (Just as it also works better with an UQ) Maybe my imagination, but that is how it seems to me.

    3: blow all of this business off and break down and get a Pea Pod or Polar Pod, end of draft problems, top drafts or bottom drafts, and every bit as comfy as a separate TQ/UQ! Period! ( or if you don't want to buy anything, mod a bag into a pod) You are essentially inside a great big old mummy bag which is surrounding your hammock, except unlike a mummy bag in a hammock, you are free to twirl around in there as much as you wish. Back, side to side, whatever! If it will fit comfortably around your hammock, then you should be able to position yourself in most anyway you could without the pod around the hammock, except possibly for some extreme lateral positions where you are almost 90* across the hammocks center line. And again, instead of getting a wider hammock, more narrow hammocks work the best, though the Polar is so wide it probably doesn't matter much about hammock width. And it won't weigh much more than a full length size long TQ + UQ of similar temp ratings. But even if it does, I guarantee that if you have that Velcro closed down to a tiny breathing hole next to your face, or better yet on your side with pod rotated so that the vent hole is to your side or even below your face in a Claytor No Net hammock, there will be NO draft! Depending on hammock width, you may need to fill gaps or make a neck collar with puffy clothing or a light TQ. Then again, start putting even light TQs in that baby and you will quickly be past the rated temps for way cold camping.

    I have never understood why pods have not caught on more at HF! It has with Shug and several of the other serious cold campers! But overall numbers using remain low.

    PS: the poll seems to be asking about ability to side sleep, but isn't the question actually about ability to keep a quilt tucked while on your side?

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