r/hammockcamping • u/MiockWasTaken • 2d ago
Is my hammock setup suitable for possible 20F weather?
I'm going on a trip to NC in Late October-early November and I'm planning on bringing my current hammock setup. I have a one wind setup with an under quilt, rain tarp, and National Park Foundation insulated blanket to use as a top quilt. My problem is the under quilt is only rated 35F-50F and it may drop down to the 20s around that time in the mountains, so my question is whether or not I can fill the gap with a decent R4 rated sleeping pad in the hammock, or would I regret that? I'm new to hammock camping so I don't really know much. Also is the NPF blanket enough for the top quilt?
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u/not_just_the_IT_guy 2d ago
You will not be as comfortable as you could be. 20s that's gonling to be cold. Hopefully you will have warmer weather. Site selection will matter, wind and humidity will be a big variable on comfort.
Hopefully you get an oddly warm couple of days.
Where are you camping at?
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u/kullulu 2d ago edited 2d ago
I would want my winter top and underquilt. You can stack quilts as well to achieve the same result. Don’t neglect your head insulation as well, I like a winter hood with down or synthetic insulation.
I generally find with most decent cottage quilt brands like katabatic, warbonnet, nunatak, or hammock gear, I'm warm at the quilts rated temperature with no wind. Add in wind and I might want a winter tarp and/or an underquilt protector.
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u/MiockWasTaken 2d ago
Would you have any recommendations for a suitable under quilt/top quilt that's on the more affordable side?
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u/kullulu 2d ago edited 2d ago
Give me an idea about your budget.
If you're car camping, you can get 20 degree synthetic quilts from simply light designs and arrowhead. They both sell top quilts and underquilts that will keep you warm at the rated temperature. If you have a sewing machine, you can buy quilt kits from ripstop by the roll. If you choose this, let me know and I can walk you through which fabrics make sense to use. For my warm weather (50 degree F) quilt set I use simply light designs, and it's great.
Hammock gear makes the best mid-range budget quilts when they are on sale. The burrow and incubator are two classic choices for cold weather camping. The burrow top quilt does not have differential baffles, a nice feature in winter, but they make up for it by stuffing a ton of down into the quilt.
Otherwise, check out r/geartrade and r/ulgeartrade at least for underquilt deals.
And again, you can stack quilts as long as you don't compress the insulation too much.
u/Windhawker has some good suggestions on staying warm as well. Here are a few other winter camping tricks.
- Digestion creates heat - eat food, preferably some foods with fat. I'm a fan of norwegian chocolate.
- Put near boiling water in a nalgene or hot water bottle, put a sock over it, and put it between your legs on the femoral artery. Warms you up for most of the night, keeps those toes warm.
- Wear loose clothing, especially loose socks to bed. A lot of winter socks will make your feet cold if they cut off your circulation. I've been wearing down/synthetic socks over my loose socks, it helps to keep them super warm.
- Make sure heat isn't escaping your head.
- Don't hold in your pee/poop. Your body has to keep that heated. Get out of your hammock, do your business, and then pop in again.
If you do all of these tricks plus the ones that u/Windhawker suggests, you'll be able to push the temperatures that you can sleep in comfortably quite a bit. You're best off with some winter quilts, but these are options too.
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u/supernettipot 2d ago
You're asking for a very uncomfortable night. You'll live but why suffer? Buy gear appropriate for the conditions if you want to have a good time.
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u/Windhawker 2d ago
Wear thermals to bed inside your sleep system. And keep some of the big hot hands ready for your torso if needed.
Also consider adding a winter knit cap to pull down over your ears when you sleep and a neck gator you can pull up over your chin.
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u/Pretty-Care-7811 2d ago
Emergency foil blanket attached to the outside of the hammock but inside the under quilt. You can use those binder clip thingies. It can get noisy but it works. I've done it in near freezing but not quite that cold.
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u/kaelsnail 2d ago
Good to see another emergency blanket user, used like this they add a surprising amount of warmth. I've made one last through a couple months nightly use.
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u/MiockWasTaken 2d ago
what's the coldest you went with it?
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u/kaelsnail 2d ago
Using the open cell foam "underquilt" from Hennessy, a regular mylar emergency blanket, half a generic folding closed cell foam mat, and a thermarest neo air, plus a bit of mylar coated bubble wrap, and a down quilt suggesting -15f on top. Wearing warm clothes I was comfortable -30f in a polar vortex in Vermont ski bumming.
I suspect your 35-50f rated underquilt and camping mat in the hammock will be fine down to 20f. A mylar blanket in between the uq and hammock might add and other 10° comfort. I'm not sure if anyone else mentioned it but sleeping on a mat in a hammock tends to leave one shoulder cold, an additional piece of foam like a sit pad can really elevate the experience.
It's a little fussy to get the emergency blanket spread out over the underquilt but I just keep it on there once the weather trends cool enough. I have a friend who folds his up every time and puts all the pieces in their own little stuff sacks for organization, I just roll and stuff my hammock, some top quilt, and underquilt with mylar blanket all together.
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u/Tom_Cruise 2d ago edited 2d ago
I was car camping (hunting, really, short notice) in north Georgia in the winter so I clipped an emergency foil blanket between a cheap onetigris underquilt and this one time.. It was mind blowingly warm in 36f. IDK about 20f though. That's cold-cold.
Might work, but I wouldn't pack it in as the only plan. ESPECIALLY, if my googling is correct and his national parks topquilt blanket is basically a rumpl.
OP if you are going and money is a serious issue, ask everyone you can and borrow the best sleeping bag you can. You can unzip it halfway and use it as a quilt with my idea and probably not even be uncomfortable. If your national parks blanket is a rumple like my googling suggests, you can use that with the emergency space blanket instead of the one I linked.
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u/robertsthepirate 2d ago
Ideally, you'd have a 0°, to minimum 20° under quilt, and a top quilt to match. Not sure about your NPF blanket, but in addition to the rating, the ability to make a foot box is quite helpful with the top blanket.
As others mentioned, an emergency blanket between your under quilt and hammock will help. Another potentially cheap(ish) way to add some warmth is with your tarp. If you don't want to drop money on a name brand winter hammock tarp, you can make an enclosed shelter with a larger simple tarp staked out the right way to go down to the ground with doors at the head and foot. Won't be as warm as the proper quilts setup, but keeps wind off you and holds in some warmth if you pitch it close.
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u/RichInBunlyGoodness 2d ago
You should test your gear close to home or car BEFORE you go out with it. People vary significantly with how cold they sleep. Only you can tell you if you are comfortable or not. My comfort rating isn’t helpful to determine if you will be comfortable.
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u/MiockWasTaken 2d ago
Unfortunately I live down in Florida so there's really nowhere I can test it without it being like 50 degrees higher lol
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u/FireWatchWife 2d ago
I would want a quilt comfort rated to at least 5C/10F below the lowest temperature you expect. Remember that your expectation may turn out to be optimistic.
Hammocks work very well at low temperatures, but don't skimp on the insulation.
I use 20F quilts, a puffy, a balaclava, and down booties, and that combo is comfortable in the upper 20s F.
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u/DreamOperator- 2d ago
I am also a Floridian and several years ago before I knew better, I tried hammock camping at ~3040 ft elevation in NC, about an hour outside of Asheville. I was so glad my car was nearby to warm up in because I woke up absolutely freezing and shivering even though it was July. The mountains are cold and humid and you can catch hypothermia if you aren’t prepared. Have fun trying out your setup but be prepared with a backup plan for safety.
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u/Buzzbait_PocketKnife 2d ago
I have the OneWind 35-50° underquilt. I will go down to 35° comfortably. If setup correctly, it’s pretty darned warm. I’d definitely use the mattress pad as well, and also use an underquilt protector.
No clue as to whether the NPF blanket will be warm enough, but draping another blanket over the top of a zipper bugnet can make the hammock a whole lot warmer inside.
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u/derch1981 2d ago
I would make sure your insulation is good down to 0. I don't know what the pad is rated for and your Onewind is probably survival not comfort rated. Seems like you might be a bit shy of where you need to be. Also I don't know if a pad and quilt stack insulation as good as 2 quilts do