February 2003 I began a series of cold weather experiments with hammocks.  One of the problems with a hammock is getting enough insulation under the hammock.  These experiments involve using a "Garlington Insulator" with both a Hennessy Hammock and a Speer Hammock.  

Cold Weather Report 1

I had the privilege of spending about 4 hours hanging in my HH last night out in the front yard. During that time it snowed about 2 inches. Temp about 28-30F, very little wind. I read about half of Ed Speer's new book and did a little napping. Trying to explain to my kids and wife that I had not gone around the bend was the hardest part of it!

I had added a layer of air insulation to the bottom of the hammock by constructing a Garlington Insulator (GI) as previously posted. For details you may want to check out the link to the Garlington Insulator on the Ultralight page. 

The hammock was comfortable... no aches, no pains, able to stretch out flat across the center line, able to sleep on my side... all the stuff people claim.  I was wearing the same outfit I had hiked in before supper. Nylon shorts, nylon (home-made, uncoated) wind pants, cool max socks. Cool
max undershirt, fleece top, wind jacket. Homemade fleece baklava.

I was using a home-made quilt of two layers of Polarguard which loft only about an inch, but it is big enough that there was a lot more real loft in the hammock than the thickness would indicate.

The Garlington Insulator with a single partly inflated plastic garbage bag was warm enough for only about 2 hours at this temperature. The bottom of the hammock was much warmer than the outside, but much cooler than I was comfortable with for an overnight sleep... Maybe something like 50-60 degrees??

I added a Wal-Mart egg shell closed cell pad and was in seventh heaven. Nice and warm... but man that thing stick to every surface and refuses to move around. I have not been able to even unroll it in my ruck sack because it sticks to everything... so I think I am going back to Wal-Mart to buy the cheap $6 mat and try that.  

With the mat I was comfortable until I decided to go inside and snuggle for the night. I think I would have been comfortable all night.... Now tonight, it is to go to 10 degrees.... I wonder...

Cold Weather Report 2

Synopsis: It works! I was warm.

Weather in Dayton: 2 inches of fresh snow. 11 degrees F at 1030 PM when I went to bed... 10-15 mph winds... ("wind chill" of -2) 0530 when I got up, 5 degrees, "wind chill" of -10. It did not rain.

Hammock set up: HH (ultralite asm stock) with Garlington insulator "taco shell" and 3 partly inflated black garbage bags. Jardine tarp (9 x 10 feet plus peaks) instead of HH tarp.

Inside: Walmart egg crate closed cell pad, Target 3/8" closed cell pad. Both full length. Home-made quilt a la Jardine, 1-1.5 inches of Polar guard 3D. (But the quilt bunches up on top, effectively increasing the thickness.) Sleeping directly on the pads, with the quilt coming down to the pad but not under me.

Clothing: Nylon hiking shorts, Coolmax tee, Medium wt fleece top, light weight fleece pants. Light weight (home-made) fleece baclava. Coolmax socks and Sealskinz socks.

Note: I would normally have all this with me with the exception of the second (egg crate) pad... I also had in reserve my nylon wind pants and top, FroggToggs rain suit and polypro long underwear! Did not need it!

This was my first night in the hammock. It was a little too cool on my feet to stretch out across the midline for very long...(My feet compressed the quilt against the outside wall where it is not protected by either the insulator or the pad) so I spent most of the time in fetal position on one side or the other. Next time I will cut some of the corners of the pad off so I can get it further up under my head. I had no pillow, and was occasionally mindful that my hair is not long enough to insulate my head inside the light baklava. (Active duty AF sort of thing.)

In the fetal position, I occasionally had some ache of the upper knee and found relief by crossing my feet and getting the knee into a more normal anatomic position.

Middle of the night I got up for the necessaries and just wore my Sealskinz out on the snow without putting my shoes on... Felt warm, but some ice stuck to the outside of the Sealskinz and I had to scrape it off with my thumbs... next time I will slip my shoes on.

This morning, there was a tiny bit of moisture which had collected on the hammock fabric about where my face was. My breath had condensed on the fabric. Inside the GI at the same spot, there was a little frozen condensation. The quilt had no condensation on it that I could find.  So that's it..

Only one cheat (second pad) and this is considerably colder than I would normally think of hammock camping. For the spring when it might occasionally get down to 15 as a surprise, I believe I would not only survive, I could be pretty comfortable. I did not need to resort to putting the hammock down on the ground. The GI seemed to really do its job to the extent that the pad never seemed cold at all.

Cold Weather Report 3

Diane in Hammock for Cold Weather Report 3

This was a continuing investigation of the boundaries of the envelope.

My clothing and quilt as previously reported, except I used coolmax socks and no Sealskinz.

Hammock: single layer Speer type hammock, 3/8 x 27 x 72 inch Target
Pad. No bug net. No GI. Jardine type tarp.

Weather 30 degrees, 10 mph wind, light falling snow.

Result:

Slept for 4 hours comfortably. By that time, I was noticing some coolness of the pad - cool enough that I knew I needed to do something about it. If I were out in the woods, I would have put my rain suit (frogg togs) and my pack (gust) under the pad and gone back to sleep, maybe after a quick cup of hot soup and some m2&P. Instead I wimped out and went inside. I had verified (as previously reported by everyone) that the thin pad alone is not enough to keep me warm at freezing temps.

Cold Weather Report 4

Feb 12, Ahem...

Well, we had an Alberta Clipper come through last night. The evening began at about 25 degrees. Because of winds about 20 mph where I had done the previous experiments, I moved the hammock to an area protected by a wall and a couple of cars.

Wind began really roaring through the trees as the cold front approached. I would get caught by gusts in the eddy every few minutes. (Winds were recorded averaging about 30 mph and gusts to 51 mph and temps dropped to about 15 during this cold front passage.) I stayed outside during most of it... from 1030 to 1230. I really was pretty warm during the whole thing.

Snow was blowing off the field in straight lines and little bits of broken snow flakes filtered in through the bug net.. but not enough to cause any problem. My back was alternating between toasty warm and cool, as the wind occasionally blew open the Garlington Insulator and robbed me of all the calories I had spent warming the space.

I began to understand that using Velcro to hold the sides of the insulator has considerable benefit in the wind. Putting the pad inside the insulator worked quite well, it was not bothering me inside the hammock and its wrinkles acted as spaces in the insulator.

In the end, I decided that it was just too noisy to get much sleep if I stayed outside. Because of work constraints, I packed up the hammock and came back inside - not cold, but relieved to be out of the noise.

So my next plan is to add a second strip of Velcro to the outside of the Speer hammock (soft loops) and strip of hook Velcro to the edge of the insulator. This begins to look more and more like a pocket than a Garlington Insulator. Especially as I am now pretty sure the better insulation is the pad instead of bags.

Fortunately, cold weather here is not scheduled to end anytime soon. I have lots of opportunity to continue these experiments.

Cold Weather Report 5:  13 Feb 2003

Synopsis: Success, blissful success!

What me Worry??

Brown Wind Shell outside White Hammock

Clothing and quilt same as in previous tests.

Weather: Clear, Temp began at 17 and fell to 13 F. NWS calling the wind chill -2 F. Situated on a rather unprotected open hillside.

I modified the Speer hammock by sewing a second line of loop Velcro along the outside of the hammock edge, on the opposite side from the bug net line of Velcro and just below it.

I modified the insulator, hereafter termed the shell, by removing the strings from the long edges and sewing hook Velcro to the long sides. I further modified the short edges by converting both hems to have simple drawstrings.

The shell is applied by tying the drawn up draw strings to each end of the hammock (on the outside) and applying the velcro, making a not quite sealed compartment with the shell.

Slept without a tarp.  Effect on radiant cooling by doing this was unclear.  The moon shining in my face did wake me several times...  or was it the cold??

I began the night with a 3/8" (Target) pad in the shell. While this added considerable warmth when compared with the bare hammock, it was not enough to stay comfortable. After 90 minutes I took the pad out of the shell and put it in the hammock. Now the shell was empty, but supplied an air pocket about 3 inches thick. With this set-up I was able to sleep reasonably comfortably all night. Not the best night's sleep I ever had, but I did not chill and my toes stayed warm.

V/R
F2 <><

17 February 2003 12 inches of snow on the ground

Some pictures of the Cold Lab:

Hammock in tubing

Open the tubes and sit down

Lay down for a winter's nap

And remember to wake up for dinner!

Hammock Camping Messages

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