winter hammocking question

[letsc4mp]

I'm going to go on a camping trip next week, we're assuming the lowest there's gonna be around 32F
we're planning on hammocking. My setup is grand trunk skeeter beeter, thermarest z lite SOL pad, and coleman 0 degree mummy sleeping bag

will this setup be enough for this weather?

 

[cougarmeat]

What is the R rating of your Z-lite pad? Would you be comfortable with it, at that temperature, if you had to use it on the ground?

Note that though your mummy bag is rated at 0°, the insulation is determined by loft. The part of the bag underneath you is compressed to the thickness of about two sheets of nylon. So your "underneath" insulation is important.

 

[des ardennes]

I once woke up shivering on a frosty night because I underestimated how much heat I’d lose underneath. Do you think adding a reflective layer under the Z-lite makes a noticeable difference, or is loft the bigger factor?

 

[cougarmeat]

First - for the "under" insulation, loft doesn't count when you are using a sleeping bag in a hammock. If you are using it as a "sleeping bag" - not open like a top quilt or down blanket - you are lying on the down at the bottom of the bag, compressing it, so there is no loft. You have to rely on your Z-lite and/or other inserts like ReflexIt. I seldom use pads, especially not in the winter.

It might help to imagine you are living in two worlds. You have the Winter World, and you have the World of the other three seasons. Winter is different. Different gear, different concerns, different behavior.

The best thing you can do is see if you can setup at home - assuming the nighttime temperatures will be close to what you expect to experience on your adventure. That way you can see how well your gear works for you. And if it doesn't work so well, you can bail out and go back inside the house. There is no shame. You are conducting an experiment.

If your gear isn't up to the task, it's not the gear's fault. That same gear might serve you well during the summer and some shoulder months.

The nighttime temps here are in the 30's. I'm using a bridge hammock with a 0° fitted underquilt (Warbonnet Lynx for the Warbonnet RidgeRunner). Currently, I have a 20°, wide (option) HG top quilt. I wear a balaclava or "sleep beanie" and the whole shebang is inside the Warbonnet SpinDrift sock. So I'm what would appear to be a suspended single-wall tent.

That setup evolved as I tried different things - at home - until I was comfortable. It's a journey.

 

[LowTech]

Similar setup here, nighttime lows in the 30°s, have a 20° UQ stack w/ a 40° outside that, using a 20° TQ and a wool beanie. No cover for me other than an old Onewind tarp that I'm using as a wind break in lean-to configuration, . . . actually more like a Baker tent.