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  1. #1
    Senior Member tandrewmalan's Avatar
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    Cold weather gear advice

    Hi everyone,

    I've been hammock camping off and on for about 4 years now. My wife just converted a couple weeks ago after she slept in a bridge hammock and realized her hips didn't hurt.

    Our friends invited us to Durango on October 11th and want to take us camping. I'd like to use our hammocks if we can. The only issue is we are desert campers and don't really have cold weather gear. So I'd like your feedback on what you would do if you were in my shoes to make sure you were nice and toasty at night. It says the low is 35 in October but I think we are going to be at higher elevation so I suspect it might even be in the low 30's or high 20's.

    We are also hiking in to the campground. It is not far so weight isn't a huge issue but we need to put our sleep system on our backs for the night.

    Me
    - EE 20F quilt.
    - Jarbidge 25 underquilt
    - Warbonet RR
    - Superfly

    Wife
    - -20F sleeping bag she is borrowing from her friend.
    - Jarbidge 25 underquilt
    - REI quarter dome hammock and tarp

    I think I'm most worried about me and the jarbidges since they are rated to 25 but they also aren't made for bridge hammocks. I tied prussik's to the dogbones but I haven't tested it to weather this cold. I think I might be cold in my EE quilt and the Jarbidge.

    Also I'm worried about her tarp. I would hate for us to get caught in a storm and to have her hammock get wet because of inadequate coverage. Also, how ineffective will the bottom of the bag be compressed in a hammock? Any guesses?

    Any advice from cold weather hangers is much appreciated!!!!!!!! Thanks!

  2. #2
    Member kanazky's Avatar
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    I hammock in the low temps, my UQ and TQ are rated to -10C so I am around 20F there. I honestly use a Down Hood I got on amazon for $25, with a pillow and my base layers and im toasty as can be. And it fits in my 60L bag no problem. I find I am very toasty so you shouldn't have to big an issue. You can always stuff the UQ with items from your bag before you scrunch it to add extra warmth. Make sure its pulled right up until it lifts the hammock very slightly so your right up against it. The tarp if hung low might help a bit but to be honest you should be fine

  3. #3
    Senior Member sidneyhornblower's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tandrewmalan View Post
    ...I'd like your feedback on what you would do if you were in my shoes to make sure you were nice and toasty at night. It says the low is 35 in October but I think we are going to be at higher elevation so I suspect it might even be in the low 30's or high 20's.
    I have the Jarbidge, too. If it were me, I'd add something like a closed cell foam pad to the hammocks, easy to do since they're bridge hammocks. The Jarbidge is good for me to 25 and I've gone lower supplemented with a pad. I've lately been using a 1/8 inch closed cell foam pad from Mountain Laurel Designs, but I've also used the good old inexpensive blue pads sometimes available from Wallyworld. MLD offers both 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch for not a whole lot of money:

    https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/pr...-1-8-foam-pad/

    https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/product/1-4-foam-pad/
    "...the height of hammock snobbery!"

  4. #4
    ObdewlaX's Avatar
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    For overnight cold weather temps, I layer up with a next-to-skin Merino wool top/bottom base layers and an anorak style synthetic pullover top or down sweater/jacket & a down or wool beanie. Combined with my 20 deg. top quilt & under quilt, that will carry me into the low-20's. If it gets any colder, I can always put on the clothes I hike in or any additional clothes I bring along.

  5. #5
    Senior Member tandrewmalan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kanazky View Post
    I hammock in the low temps, my UQ and TQ are rated to -10C so I am around 20F there. I honestly use a Down Hood I got on amazon for $25, with a pillow and my base layers and im toasty as can be. And it fits in my 60L bag no problem. I find I am very toasty so you shouldn't have to big an issue. You can always stuff the UQ with items from your bag before you scrunch it to add extra warmth. Make sure its pulled right up until it lifts the hammock very slightly so your right up against it. The tarp if hung low might help a bit but to be honest you should be fine
    Great idea with the down hood. I'll grab one for our trip. What do you mean "stuff the UQ with items form your bag"?

  6. #6
    Senior Member tandrewmalan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sidneyhornblower View Post
    I have the Jarbidge, too. If it were me, I'd add something like a closed cell foam pad to the hammocks, easy to do since they're bridge hammocks. The Jarbidge is good for me to 25 and I've gone lower supplemented with a pad. I've lately been using a 1/8 inch closed cell foam pad from Mountain Laurel Designs, but I've also used the good old inexpensive blue pads sometimes available from Wallyworld. MLD offers both 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch for not a whole lot of money:

    https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/pr...-1-8-foam-pad/

    https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/product/1-4-foam-pad/
    I love your suggestion. Again, it means I don't have to buy a ton of gear but with a little tweak it'll work just fine. Will be getting a pad. Thank you!

  7. #7
    Senior Member tandrewmalan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ObdewlaX View Post
    For overnight cold weather temps, I layer up with a next-to-skin Merino wool top/bottom base layers and an anorak style synthetic pullover top or down sweater/jacket & a down or wool beanie. Combined with my 20 deg. top quilt & under quilt, that will carry me into the low-20's. If it gets any colder, I can always put on the clothes I hike in or any additional clothes I bring along.
    Yeah I've been looking for good merino layers for a while but they are always so expensive. I suppose it's time to pull the trigger!

  8. #8
    cougarmeat's Avatar
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    You don’t have to worry about your wife’s sleeping bag compressing under her because you will be using an UQ anyway. If she is not using the sleep bag unzipped - like a top quilt - it might be easier for her to get settled by standing next to it and stepping into the sleeping bag outside the hammock, then sitting down and entering the hammock.

    In cold weather I always have a balaclava. It doesn’t seem to matter what weight - from light silk to polyester to fleece. Just something around my head that preferably I can pull up over my mouth and maybe my nose seems to be enough.

    I also use an under quilt protector or a full cover - the spindrift. Those items cost much less than a warmer, better fitting, underquilt.

    I’m pretty sure your wife’s tarp coverage will be minimal but adequate. Just set it as close as practical to the hammock. Your SuperFly can provide an “out of the rain” gathering place when not in the hammock. Or have the strongest person carry an extra tarp for picnic table or other “sit around outside, out of the rain” area.

    I’ve read that with gathered end hammocks - after initial setup - benefit from from more insulation on the bottom. Contrastingly, bridge hammocks benefit from more insulation on top. Again, this piling on AFTER a basic TQ/UQ configuration. I have no experience with that myself - just current lore.
    In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.

  9. #9
    Member
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    The following post might give you some info if you haven't seen it.
    https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...nter-questions

  10. #10
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sidneyhornblower View Post
    I have the Jarbidge, too. If it were me, I'd add something like a closed cell foam pad to the hammocks, easy to do since they're bridge hammocks. The Jarbidge is good for me to 25 and I've gone lower supplemented with a pad. I've lately been using a 1/8 inch closed cell foam pad from Mountain Laurel Designs, but I've also used the good old inexpensive blue pads sometimes available from Wallyworld. MLD offers both 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch for not a whole lot of money:

    https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/pr...-1-8-foam-pad/

    https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/product/1-4-foam-pad/
    Quote Originally Posted by tandrewmalan View Post
    Great idea with the down hood. I'll grab one for our trip. What do you mean "stuff the UQ with items form your bag"?
    Quote Originally Posted by tandrewmalan View Post
    I love your suggestion. Again, it means I don't have to buy a ton of gear but with a little tweak it'll work just fine. Will be getting a pad. Thank you!
    These good folks beat me too it. The cheapest, simplest and most bombproof way to assure warmth in bridge hammocks is to add closed cell foam either into the pad pockets(if you have those) or right into the hammock. Go ahead and use your UQs, but have those pads for emergency back up. Pads are quite usable in bridge hammocks. They don't decrease the comfort for me much if any. The thicker inflatable models do raise the center of gravity some and it will seem a bit less stable, but in my experience it is still usable. (but some folks actually prefer the inflatable pads in a bridge, feeling it widens the hammock and makes them more comfy! ) There is one fellow here that has been quite comfy using a Thermarest Neoair winter pad ( 2.5" thick fully inflated) in his single layer(no pad pocket) REI bridge hammock, with no UQ, well below zero F and been quite satisfied with the results. Now, that is a very warm pad, a lot warmer than say a WM blue pad, but also without the help of a quilt, which you will have. Other folks have used the WM blue pads(by themselves, no UQ) down to the low 40s(or maybe lower) and done fine. So using any pad to boost your UQs in a bridge hammock will probably work great. It does for me at least.

    The next thing is head insulation. I find this to be a very common error some folks make when going from a mummy bag to a top quilt, or using the bag as TQ: they forget about the huge benefit of that hood and neck collar on a mummy bag. Where the head and neck are insulated AT LEAST as well as the torso and legs. If a mummy bag is rated at 20F, and you don't use it's hood, the bag would lose a lot of warmth. So, by whatever means required, insulate that noggin at least as much as the chest. And if your head is VERY warm, it will help insure warmer feet, since when the brain is not warm enough, the body tends to cut down on circulation of warm blood to the extremities.

    Assuming all TQs and sleeping bags are also warm enough, those two things should get you thru easily. Other tricks are, especially as a last resort: Vapor barrier clothing worn close to the skin, with all or most insulation worn outside of or over the VBs. This can easily add 20ºF+ in addition to keeping your body moisture from being wicked into or condensing in your insulation, keeping it much drier and loftier. But this is a subject you would want to study up on first to make sure you understand it and do not do it wrong( with the VBs away from the skin, out where it is coldest) and make matters worse. The two simplest method of experimenting with this are
    1:bread bags(or small office trash bags) over a very thin layer of socks, and then heavier socks over the bread bags. Or, just find a way to hold the bread bags up(like long johns elastic ankles over the bags, or rubber bands) and just put your feet into bag's foot box, with or without outer socks.
    2: A cheap, light(2 or 3 oz) space blanket between your UQ and hammock.(if using pads, these will already be VBs) This will act as a VB and maybe also a radiant heat reflector. It will be kept warm by being insulated by the UQ and by your body heat, which should keep any condensation issues to a minimum, or zero. I have been doing this for over 12 years. Mostly as part of my HH Supershelter system, the space blanket goes on top of the HH pad and all insulation I might add to the pad. But I have also used it inside a Speer Pea Pod with success and no problems. Admittedly, I have never used it with any of my UQs, but there is no reason it won't work exactly the same. I can always immediately feel the warmth boost when I add one of the space blankets CLOSE TO MY BODY, RIGHT UNDER THE HAMMOCK, BETWEEN ALL INSULATION AND THE HAMMOCK. DO NOT wrap a space blanket around your UQ unless you ALSO have one inside, close to your body. Again, I estimate a minimum of 15ºF added to the warmth by this simple, cheap, light trick. At least for myself, it doesn't seem to work for every body, but that is what safe testing is for.

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