Hot Summer Sleep System

I've been wrestling with this issue this summer as well. I'm tempted to go out with a silk liner and keep a down vest handy for the middle of the night cool down. Does anyone have any experience trying to make the summer work with silk and the right clothing combinations?

not to hijack this thread, but i picked up the 20oz synthetic lafuma extreme 600 and love it. will keep you warm down to about 55 without layering and packs down super small (about the size of a nalgene). best part, i got it at rei outlet for $29. full feature bag and it even has glow in the dark pulls which i love and have never seen before.

edit: just checked, rei still sells it, but now back up to 44 bucks?? you could use a 20% off i guess, but i liked the option a lot better at $29 bucks.

I just bought a cuben down quilt for summer, 1" loft for the warmer temps, and only 7.5 oz. Hope to use it soon and report back on how well it works.

Doug, who made your cuben down quilt?

Tim did

“Doug, who made your cuben down quilt?”

Tim Marshall at enLIGHTened Equipment has made all three of my cuben down quilts!

Michael beat me to it!

Can't swing that price point. Other than making my own, are there any cheaper options? Preferably 20oz and below?

Like you Doug, I keep one eye here when at work.

One thing I always ask people: what do you sleep under in your house? The thing is, a lot of people sleep under a down comforter in a 65* house… and expect to go out on a trip and sleep under something thinner than what they use at home. Just saying to exercise some caution; I doubt a (silk) sheet would do the trick.

You might check out the MityLite instead of your Alder; it's a 40* bag and would save a little weight. If that's still too hot for you, easiest thing to do might be to just sew a square blanket out of Climashield. It'd be as easy as making a few long straight stitches. Shouldn't be too expensive.

"Does anyone have any experience trying to make the summer work with silk and the right clothing combinations?"

I sewed a silk sleeping bag liner to use with a down bag, but it was mostly to help keep the down bag inside clean for a couple of weeks. 2 oz.

–B.G.–

I'll let you guys know. I'll be doing a 40 mile trek on July 4th in Virginia and will use only the silk liner with my Superlight bivy (and tarp) for a couple sultry nights in a row. I'll have an Icebreaker microweight baselayer and down vest handy should I need to ensure I'm warm enough in the middle of the night. If this works, it'll be a weight appropriate mid-summer part of my sleep system.

Here's what I do:

1. Wet Wipes — I like to wipe myself down with antibacterial wet wipes. Cuts way down on stench and makes you feel cool, smooth and comfy. I hate crawling into my bag when feeling grimy, sweaty, sticky and hot.

2. Silk long underwear — When it's hot, it's hot — but silk seems to be the best option. I prefer long underwear over tee / shorts because I sleep on my side and dislike the sweaty "skin on skin" feel.

3. Light weight bag that opens up flat like a quilt — for max. venting options from very partial coverage to full "engulfment".

Off topic: I remember one rather sultry night in Sudan. We had jumped in and marched to our bivouc area for the evening: a series of cement structures without doors or windows. Not much of a breeze that evening. Very hot and humid. I laid naked on an Army air mattress with only an Army poncho liner covering me. Discarded the poncho liner and just laid on the mattress sweating all night. Not fun! But, ah, those were the days!

Just picked up a WM Alder and a WM Mitylite. Since they can be zipped together it will make for a toasty setup into the low 20s I imagine. Plus on really warm nights (like you mentioned) my wife and I will be able to share the mitylite. When temps are dipping down to 40 or so we can share the Alder. Plus we'll have to stand alone bags. The weight penalty of the mitylite vs. the no insulation summer coupler is only 6 oz and it gives you a real bag. All this sounds good in theory, but will be putting it into practice here shortly.

Maybe something like a Jacks R Better Stealth? I used a Shenandoah(same as the Stealth but no head-hole) last year in the Sierra’s and found it good down to 40 degrees. Didn’t use it outdoors in 60-65 degree temps, but did test in in my apartment, which, as Brad pointed out, was probably in the mid to low 60s at night. Any time I got warm(and I did) I vented.

It would also save you having to bring along any insulated jacket.

@Doug:

Methinks wearing a thin layer (undies) to help absorb some of the sweat is actually preferable to lying naked.

You were lucky that hot and humid place didn't also have tons of skeeters.

I ran into this last summer myself, and picked up one of Thermarest's Tech Blankets…might be too heavy for some of you, but it worked out well for me.

http://cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/sleep-systems/trek-and-travel-sleep-systems/tech-blanket/product

Added the sheet so as to not feel stuck to my pad with the humidity.

http://cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/sleep-systems/trek-and-travel-sleep-systems/fitted-sheet/product

( I don't know how some of you embed links within the text…)

@Ben

Agreed! But I was young and foolish! I'm much wiser now that I'm old and foolish! ;-)

Sea to Summit makes several liners that might make good hot weather bags.

http://www.seatosummit.com/products/cat/1

Ah – that reminded me…I bought a silk liner as well, but from this small company in New Zealand. Was actually cheaper than anything in the US, and wasn't just a white or grey bag…lots of choices, and customer service and delivery were fantastic.

http://www.jagbags.co.nz/products.htm

Scott

I travelled around the tropics for a couple of years including some mountain spells, and the best sleep system I found was:
Silk bag liner- 100g
Pashmina blanket- 300g
mosquito net.
I just wore my clothes if it was cold.

If you can't get a pashmina then try a merino blanket- see here:
http://www.extremtextil.de/catalog/Textiles/uncoated/Merino-wool-single-jersey-200g-qm::885.html?XTCsid=a5ca480bd8c2c0797f6b6eaa4875b8d2
I reckon a merino blanket, 2m long by 100cm wide would come in at +/-350g. Wool packs up very small, doesn't need washing so much.

I hope this helps.
fred

Use what I used while in the Army. Just google Army Poncho Liner. It's a quilted mylon blanket. I still have one to this day.

That looks like a good option. If I could just find out how much the ones I am finding on google weigh…