Notes from the Field: SuperUltraLight Hammocking on the Black Forest Trail in Pennsylvania

the following thread contains some ideas for adding a sternum strap to a G6. i find them very workable.

G6 sternum strap

also, i’ve added a “poor-man’s” pad pocket to the G6. using a NightLight Toros pad (or Z-rest pad), the pad can be very easily held in place by some 1/8″ bungee threaded through either 4 or 6 of the webbing loops and crossed in a simple, obvious pattern. the friction of the pad and the fact that it’s “sandwiched” b/t the pack and your back, when wearing it, results in the pad “staying put”. it simply doesn’t slide down. i use very little tension on the bungee. it doesn’t pull very hard on the webbing loops.

storing the pad this way frees up volume in the G6. it also carries very comfortable. yes, it does move the pack a bit further away from the back, but no further than with a G5 or Mariposa, plus the pack (and its contents) are generally lighter, so it’s less of an issue with the G6. no, it doesn’t function as a frame – since there is no waist belt there is no way to transfer load from the shoulders to the hips anyways.

wish my G6 had a mesh front ocket; G5 does, and i miss it. i know. mesh weighs more, but, IMHO, it’s worth it.

Bill,

FanaticFringe makes some really excellent UL packs. The smaller lighter of the two models, the AlpineTrail (a G6 competitor, though slightly heavier, but a tad more robust), comes in both 7oz and 6oz models. the 6oz version uses silnylon for the top closure, and no-see-mesh instead of a more typical mesh for the pockets.

in case you’re curious, here’s a link to their “home page”, and a link to their packs:

FanaticFringe-home

FanaticFringe-packs

I was just thinking that myself Bill. I bought a few yards of the oxford that GVP uses specifically to make a thru-hike worthy pack. I also got my samples package from cuben a few weeks back and have decided to go witht the same fabric you use. I already have a pattern cut out for making more packs quite easily. I made my last one really small just big enough to put a single layer 3D quilt in, but i made the pockets way to small and all i can fit in them is a pair of driducks on each side and a 2L platy on the front.

On my next pack Made of cuben and oxford I was going to use a nano-see-um from thru-hiker. It comes up to .7oz which isn’t too bad but if you know where to get lighter I would like to know. So I can get some myself. I think pockets on the outside of UL packs are absolut necessities. I was even thinking of making a removable cover for my pack that is a big pocket. for the time when I need the extra space but dont want a larger pack.

on another note I never got to find out the supplier for the really light silk for use on a quilt. It would be nice to know that since I could probably make a sub 1lb 40-45F bag with that kind of fabric.

Jacob: The Mesh stuff is from Hancock Fabric. It is Bridal Netting or something like that. It is really light but I think it might be strong enough for mesh pockets. I will try it in both single and double thickness. If you have a Hancock Fabrics near where you live ask them about Bar Code number 000836635 or 000836684 and if they have it they should have it in 5 or 6 colors. Mine was $.69 a yard for stuff 72″ wide.

My silk come from ThiaSilks
Thai Silk Link

You may want something called Habotai – China Silk. #21H or 26L should work for a quilt cover.
The 21H is about 0.57oz a sq yard and the 26L is about 1.02 oz a sq yard.

Bill,
The fabric you describe is ‘voile’. You might want to test it before you commit to using it. I tried it for mosquito net and it became progressively more religious (holey) over 2 nights. I lost confidence in it. Tear strength is about 3#. By the way, it stops mosquitoes but not noseeums.

Thanks Richard and Kristin! I added a note to the photo.

Vick,
Mesh Pockets:
For mine, as in for me, I use a mesh that looks a lot like onion bag material. It work very well but is a little heavy. The material for the 2 full side pockets and full front pocket on my first Cuben pack weighed 1.28oz. I have to laugh when I tell people that something that weighs 1.28oz is to heavy. But most members who read this will know what I mean. My onion bag mesh looking stuff isn’t easy for me to get. You know how long it takes one person to eat a 50 pound bag of onions. So I am always looking for something light that might work that is easy to get Light is the trick. I get stuff from Thru-Hiker once in awhile and on my next order I will get some of his lighter no-see-em stuff. I tried his other no-see-em but it weighed 1oz per sq yard.

Sam:
Hammock in cold weather:
I have a Silk Hammock made by Ed Speer. I use it all year round. When it is very cold I have a special home made sleep system that I use down to 0 degrees. Inside on the bottom of the Hammock goes my home made DAM or my Warmlite DAM. I have a home made Down 4″ loft Top Cover that attaches to the DAM also inside the Hammock. I get inside this and botton up the entry side and hope I don’t get to warm. I have bottons on both side and can open one or a few if I start to get to warm. I made a Down hood to wear if it is that cold. This is very easy to set-up and pack up. Everything is in the Hammock. It almost looks like a Bivy inside a Hammock.

The silk in the picture Jacob posted the link to is what I used for the baffles that I put my Down into for my DAM and Down Top Cover of my “0” degree sleeping system. there should be more pictures of what look like stuffed tubes. Those are the filled Down baffles. The silk for the baffles and what you are looking at was 5mm or 0.64oz per sq yard.

Here are a couple of pictures of My Ed Speer custom made Silk Hammock. This is one of a kind. I sent the silk to Ed and he made the Hammock for me. The silk used for this Hammock is the 8mm or 1.02oz per sq yard silk. The bug net which is folded over to the far side of the Hammock and held in place with cloths pins is 3.5mm silk guaze and weighs 0.45oz per sq yard.

You also will see my Warmlite DAM in the Hammock, it is the yellow thing.

The Hammock complete as it is hanging but without me and the DAM weighs just over 16oz. That is everything, Hammock, Bug net, ridge line and webbing to tie the Hammock to a tree.

Isn’t 9.1 oz too heavy for functioning as second wind proof/water proof layer on bottom? It seems silnyon would serve the same function at half the weight especially since no insulation is being added between the two layers.

Carol, et al,

The moisture you found is because the closed cell pad does not breath ( even open cell pads have more limited air flows). It was in all probability limited to between you and the pad area. It does not readily evapoate during the night because of your body on top and the non-porous pad on the bottom. Microporous poly itself is highly breathable, it is very good at passing evapoative sweat from a resting body, either directly or in combination with breathable insulation. To date, no users of the Weather Shield with quilts have reported condensation in the morning.

For comparision, silnyl is definately lighter. There have been, however, posted reports on Whiteblaze and Hammock Camping at yahoo of condensation when using silnyl shells/tacos. In all fairness they cite this condensation as minor.

To be clear, as owner/designer I’m biased.