Hanging with a Strapped on Pad?

[TurtleTracker]

So there's the classic debate about using a pad when hanging (so you can go to ground when you want) vs. underquilt. I really want to be able to go to ground, but using a closed cell pad in a double layer blackbird has given me enough cold butt that I can tell it's not really a reasonable option.

Something I've thought about...what if you simply attached a quilt (assuming it has some loops for paracord) around an air pad like the neoair xlite? Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts at all?

In case I've done a bad job explaining, this video on the Palisade quilt explains what I'm thinking about. Though I don't think I want this exact quilt, this is the kind of set up I'm thinking of...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=179&v=y_AWhvATSvo

[kayak karl]

This is why they have double layer hammocks. I think your way will cause air pockets, but try it an tell us how it works.

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[Red Cinema]

Big Alice offers systems like this, too--instead of an overquilt with straps to attach to a pad, a sleeping bag with a sleeve for a pad. Either way, I think the main issues are two: One, most who use an air pad in hammock report having to under-inflate it to some degree for comfort/usability. That may reduce the R value too much--YMMV, others can report, or just use a pad with a hefty R value and not suffer from any reduction. Two, relatively few people report finding using a sleeping bag or equivalent inside a hammock convenient--takes a lot of squirming. That might be less with an overquilt and pad than a regular zippered bag, no idea.

I'm curious why you're getting CBS using a pad; is it literally your behind that's cold, or shoulders? See SPE for a solution to cold shoulders when using a pad. Maybe you need a higher R factor closed cell pad? (Myself, I found my twitchy sleep habit made the pad uncomfortable--warm enough except when one thrashes around and sticks a leg off the pad, or a foot, etc.)

As someone looking closely at hammocking full time on long hikes, the question of going to ground is worrying, as I do like my underquilt and don't also carry a pad (a few square feet of reflectix does not equal a pad ). But I have read accounts of AT through hikers having to go to ground only rarely. Other hikes may not be so tree'd up.

FWIW,

RC

So there's the classic debate about using a pad when hanging (so you can go to ground when you want) vs. underquilt. I really want to be able to go to ground, but using a closed cell pad in a double layer blackbird has given me enough cold butt that I can tell it's not really a reasonable option.

Something I've thought about...what if you simply attached a quilt (assuming it has some loops for paracord) around an air pad like the neoair xlite? Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts at all?

In case I've done a bad job explaining, this video on the Palisade quilt explains what I'm thinking about. Though I don't think I want this exact quilt, this is the kind of set up I'm thinking of...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=179&v=y_AWhvATSvo

[rjjones]

Seems to me if you think you may want to go to ground you may have to carry both.Cant add that much weight,can it?Go 3/4 under quilt and a lite pad.

[Pie Guy]

I've been experimenting with going to ground with my WB Blackbird. The extra things to carry start up. Need a pad, a groundcloth, more guy lines, a few more stakes....

[Traveler]

AMOK has a hammock that uses an inflatable pad as opposed to a bottom quilt. It may be the answer to having to be on the ground without having to carry extra gear.

[tagg]

I've been experimenting with going to ground with my WB Blackbird. The extra things to carry start up. Need a pad, a groundcloth, more guy lines, a few more stakes....

I've learned how to go to the ground in my WBB without carrying too many extras, just a cut down zlite that weighs 7.1 ounces. It's worth the penalty to me to have the versatility, which I've needed on occasion. I use my rain jacket for a makeshift ground cloth, the hammock ridgeline and side pull outs instead of more guy lines, and my poles and tarp stakes that I'm already carrying. This is how it looked on Chestnut Knob:

6.074 chestnut ridge 2.jpg

[tagg]

^^^ I also use the zlite as a sit pad in camp and on breaks, and use it under my feet when I'm sleeping in my hammock so that I only have to carry a 3/4 underquilt.