I've had a quick scout but haven't found a thread of collective ideas on what makes a comfortable night's sleep in a hammock. (Feel free to drop links in here if you find any)
I very recently bought myself a ticket to the moon parachute silk hammock. First night of using it I didn't have the worst night's sleep but I found my legs to get quite uncomfortable due to knees feeling locked all the time. I since read a very good article which gives tips on hanging the hammock nice and loose and sleeping across the hammock to an extent to help straighten you're sleeping position a little more. I've not slept in it again since but I did take it out for a little test again last weekend and followed the guidance I read and it certainly felt as though I was lying a little flatter so I think next time I go it will be an improved experience.
However the other thing I found was that even in 10 degrees C you can loose a surprising amount of body heat. I slept in clothes on a thermarest sleep mat in a summer sleeping bag in my T shirt and although I was far from cold what I did find was that if I moved around to the point where some of my back wasn't on the sleep mat that it felt a little cool. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to sleep in much colder temperatures mind you the comfort rating of my bag was only 10C so perhaps that had more to do with it? It's only a cheap Tesco mummy bag but packs nice and small so its why I opted for it, making a nice change to my usual heavy kit.
So a bit of a long intro sorry but my main question is, what do people tend to use in conjunction with their hammock lets say down as cold as 5 degrees?
I've read that underquilts are a popular choice but what sort of space do these things take in your pack? Is there such a thing as an effective hammock lining that doesn't take a lot of room? I'm also wondering about a wool blanket. How effective would something like that be?
Final question. I've noticed that in some pictures people have wrapped things like the US poncho liner around the hammock so that it actually runs underneath the bottom of the hammock. What is the advantage of this over putting the double layer on the inside? Is it because the bottom layer will go uncompressed?
Any tips and advice on what works well for people without packing too heavy would be fantastic.
Thanks everybody
I very recently bought myself a ticket to the moon parachute silk hammock. First night of using it I didn't have the worst night's sleep but I found my legs to get quite uncomfortable due to knees feeling locked all the time. I since read a very good article which gives tips on hanging the hammock nice and loose and sleeping across the hammock to an extent to help straighten you're sleeping position a little more. I've not slept in it again since but I did take it out for a little test again last weekend and followed the guidance I read and it certainly felt as though I was lying a little flatter so I think next time I go it will be an improved experience.
However the other thing I found was that even in 10 degrees C you can loose a surprising amount of body heat. I slept in clothes on a thermarest sleep mat in a summer sleeping bag in my T shirt and although I was far from cold what I did find was that if I moved around to the point where some of my back wasn't on the sleep mat that it felt a little cool. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to sleep in much colder temperatures mind you the comfort rating of my bag was only 10C so perhaps that had more to do with it? It's only a cheap Tesco mummy bag but packs nice and small so its why I opted for it, making a nice change to my usual heavy kit.
So a bit of a long intro sorry but my main question is, what do people tend to use in conjunction with their hammock lets say down as cold as 5 degrees?
I've read that underquilts are a popular choice but what sort of space do these things take in your pack? Is there such a thing as an effective hammock lining that doesn't take a lot of room? I'm also wondering about a wool blanket. How effective would something like that be?
Final question. I've noticed that in some pictures people have wrapped things like the US poncho liner around the hammock so that it actually runs underneath the bottom of the hammock. What is the advantage of this over putting the double layer on the inside? Is it because the bottom layer will go uncompressed?
Any tips and advice on what works well for people without packing too heavy would be fantastic.
Thanks everybody