Insulation for an afternoon nap in my tent

[Erica R]

Sometimes I like a short nap in the afternoon. Maybe I should post this in the “Concessions to Aging” thread. Anyway, I like setting up at least my bug screen for a really nice rest. I suppose this is quite obvious, but if the tent is too hot, it is fairly easy to insulate it by draping a sleeping bag over the outside.

Drys out the sleeping bag too.

[David Thomas]

I like afternoon naps, too.  Plus solar heating of one’s tent is an issue here at midnight north of the Arctic Circle.  Not only is the light annoying, but the solar heating makes it uncomfortable inside the tent (where you are to avoid the bugs).

I suspect, more than the R-value of the sleeping bag, you’re blocking the solar input for that area of the tent.  So while the sleeping bag works great, you already have it along, and it dries it out; a tarp could also be used or used in addition to a sleeping bag to provide more shade for the tent.

In Baja, we’d spread our ground cloth over a spindly bush to create a spot of solid shade for a siesta in the hottest part of the day.

[Franco Darioli]

A lot of these tips become obvious …once we know them.

Recently I saw, scrawled on the inside walls of a refuge, “if you roll up your down jacket it makes a wonderful pillow” .

I thought it was  obvious but the writer just liked to share the discovery and no doubt someone else will benefit from it.

(no, I don’t add my graffiti to places like that or anywhere in fact)

[Ryan Jordan]

This feels like a nap confessional. I’m in.

The sleeping bag on top of a net tent – that’s a good trick to create some insulative shade.

If you’re carrying a sheet of tyvek or a mylar ground sheet, that also works well. I often carried a mylar groundsheet when I was tarp camping, and I’d attach that to the top of my tarp while napping in the afternoon sun, and it did a great job of reflecting heat. Cuben/DCF tarp canopies are also better at reflecting solar radiation than silnylon/silpoly fabrics.

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