Hi folks ,It's feedback time.
I used mycocoon on this months Welsh Meet at cowbridge for two nights,the weather was wet,very wet,in fact it hammered down both nights.It wasn't too cold,but more of that later.
First the pros, It was very easy to set up with the hammock.I wanted to do things the most difficult way to see how it performed from taking out of the rucksack to me getting into it.
So, I erected the tarp(DD 3X3m) and then put up the hammock (a DD travel hammock,latest version),The hammock was put up upside down so the mossie net was underneath as there werent any mossies about and by dark all the flies had gone to bed.
Pulling the cocoon from the stuffsack and threading it onto one arm so it didn't touch the ground I then opened one carabiner (the hammock was left slack to allow this) and fed the cocoon onto the hammock.
After re-attaching the carabiner and tensioning the hammock I fixed one end of the cocoon to the carabiner holding the hammock and pulled the cocoon to the other end and fixed the end into the other carabiner.The first thing I noticed was how much of the cocoon sagged under the hammock,it seemed an awful lot and later in the night proved to be a problem.Also the ends of the cocoon were very close to being outside the tarp,this was easily cured by tying a loop of paracord to the cocoon loops and then adjusting the length of the loop to allow the cocoon to drop back under the tarp,unfortunately this caused more sagging in the centre of the cocoon.The cocoon is 10 feet long and the tarp is 3m long this is why the cocoon is so close to the ends of the tarp.
All these set backs are easily cured,which I'll get to later
Getting into and out of the cocoon is the same as getting in and out of an empty hammock(no sleeping bag) once inside I pulled up the zip and lay back and pulled down the other half of the two way zip so that I had a gap above my face,the gap can be positioned anywhere by moving the zips.The topside of the cocoon was just above me down as far as my knees where it was resting but by no means tight and resting on my forehead ,again not tightly.The under side of the cocoon was hanging about 8-10 inches below the hammock,This is where I found a problem,When sleeping the hammock is very warm (I was wearing lightweight trousers a "T" shirt and thick socks) and comfortable,Until I turned over.This is when all the cold air sitting in the sagging part of the hammock rushes up over the top of you.This is quite a shock in a half asleep state.
I think the way to cure this is to elasticate the inside of the lower part of the cocoon so that it is lifted up to contact the hammock without compressing the filling thereby removing the air gap beneath the hammock.Alternatively velcro fixed to the hammock and the cocoon will also cure this (but this is a home mod as all hammocks are different).
I read the reveiw where In Wood said a ridge line in the cocoon would lift the top and give more room inside and consisered this but decided thay by lifting the cocoon above myself it would also lift the lower part and move the cold spot to above me.
So in conclusion another winner.I will be modifiying mine as follows:
1, make shrouds to fit over the ends of the cocoon an hammock tstop wind blown rain wetting the cocoon.
2,fit elastic to the inside of the lower part of the hammock to prevent sagging and cold spots.
3, get another stuffsack so that hammock and cocoon can remain assembled all the time.
Thank You Ian for another excellent product.
It's extremely well made and easy to use.The modifications I have described are just my personal opinion and may (probably) not be suitable or neccessary for others.
It is also possible that I have not set it up correctly so please treat this feedback as one mans opinion and not as any form of criticism.