Creating a micro climate inside a hammock tent

[@AllEndsWellAB]

I kept thinking no way ima watch this dude in his hammock just reading an entire poem... But i did...

[@HelsdonOutdoors2]

That suggests that either you don't fully trust me, a complete stranger, or that you have good taste in poetry. In either case, it proves your good judgement 🙂

[@fatmanfaffing4116]

Good segue between the poem and the hammock and using it for continuity of evidence. If we use 12C increase as a guide, does that mean a 0C night could be survived in a bag rated for warmer than 0C? I have the Snugpak Jungle Bag and Snugpak Jungle Blanket, both rated at 7C comfortable and 2C extreme. If I used both, or say a sleeping bag liner with one then I should be alright. I would be keen to see how that all works if you use a closed cell foam mattress pad, and also a mylar emergency blanket as insulation. Will the interior temp warm as much? Will you feel the cold from below? I will be doing hot weather testing over Christmas/New Year (expecting up to 40C) so we can compare videos and notes!

[@HelsdonOutdoors2]

A sleeping bag only insulates from the top and sides. Your body weight compacts the sleeping bag under you so there is no insulating air at all to keep you warm from underneath. Only a sleeping pad or under quilt will keep you warm from underneath. I have never tried a space blanket, but I can't see how it will do any good under you. It can reflect and trap heat radiating up from your body, creating a tiny little micro climate in the layer of air in between it and your body. But underneath you there will be no air to heat and your body heat will conduct right though it. If the air inside the hammock tent is 5 C and you are well insulated under you from a mat or quilt, then that is what the sleeping bag need insulate you from. You can't have too much insulation under you, but a sleeping bag that insulates too much will make you sweat. I prefer to have a liner, a summer bag and a fall/spring bag. In the winter I use all three at the same time. If I get to warm, I just open up the outer fall/winter bag down to my waist. If it gets to cold after some time, I zip it up again.

[@fatmanfaffing4116]

@@HelsdonOutdoors2 Thanks Anders, I thought that would be the case with the micro climate (5C) etc but appreciate the confirmation. I understand the science but my thinking with the space blanket idea is that it doesn't allow convection; it reflects your heat back to you so how could heat be conducted through it and away below the hammock? I could be very wrong but I am prepared to let you test my theory in a decent Swedish winter environment... for the sake of science and hammocking, of course. Mind you, were it to fail and you had to whip in the R4 pad, how long would it take for you to warm up and stave off hypothermia? You are spot on about the top covering; I switched to a down top quilt in place of a sleeping bag as for years now I have always slept with the sleeping bag unzipped open and thrown over like a quilt.

[@Roman-nu1om]

this guy haha. I'm still not convinced that the Helston Hammock is any better than the Haven Tent but I'm still binging his videos.

[@HelsdonOutdoors2]

What is better is a matter of personal taste. All three hammocks are really good. They all have pros and cons.