Hammock cocoon - Why?

[Mountain Goat]

Just wondering- whats the point in hammock cocoons? Can you not just zip up a sleeping bag around the hammock- most have zip openings at bottom as well as the top.

[Martin]

A sleeping bag won't be large enough, although if you can find one that is, then it will be just fine.

Martin

[Silverback]

a sleeping bag won't be large enough, although if you can find one that is, then it will be just fine.

martin

+1

[skids]

I use an old sleeping bag as a cocoon, works great, saved me spending £80 on a underblanket.

[Kernowek Scouser]

If you lack the skills to make your own hammock cocoon, whether there is any point to one is somewhat moot, as you are very unlikely to see one for sale.

But for the sake of argument, as Martin has said, most sleeping bags are simply too small to fully envelope a hammock with you in it, certainly none of the bags I own are big enough. And while you can quite easily and satisfactorily adapt most sleeping bags into a hammock under quilt, which will take the sting out of the wind on your back. In cooler months, you would still need some kind of top sheet or an additional sleeping bag to keep the rest of you warm in the hammock.

So unless like Skids, you have a suitably large sleeping bag to mimic the performance of a cocoon, you will need to carry at least two items in your pack to keep you warm, as opposed to just the one with a cocoon. This may not sound like any great hardship (and to be fair it isn't really) but if you are out for more than one night and / or you are walking a fair distance, the additional weight of multiple items of sleeping kit and space they take up in you pack, may well leave you thinking "I wish I had a cocoon" as you rub your aching back.

I don't have a cocoon myself, but I have spent the night in one a friend very kindly let me borrow. I found it to be a tad claustrophobic, especially when I woke up and was momentarily disorientated, but it did keep me very warm and I had a very good nights kip in it.

If I had the skills, I would make one or if one became available to buy, I would bite the sellers hand off at the shoulder, but as mentioned above, they are as rare as a bushcrafter who does not enjoy a laugh around the camp fire, so the worth of them is somewhat moot.

Someone, vastly more experienced than me, told me while there are some thing you just should not do (like having a go at carving a spoon, in the dark, after a skinfull) there is rarely a single right way to do most things, so find what works best for you and go with it.

And if what works does not cost an arm or a leg, even better

Atb.

Colin

[John_McC]

Just a thought could you not zip two small sleeping bags together (like we used to do to make a double) and rig up some sort of draw string at the open end to close it once you were in. Please note that my choice of sleeping is defiantly on the ground so have no experience with swinging from trees

[Martin]

...So unless like Skids, you have a suitably large sleeping bag to mimic the performance of a cocoon, you will need to carry at least two items in your pack to keep you warm, as opposed to just the one with a cocoon. This may not sound like any great hardship (and to be fair it isn't really) but if you are out for more than one night and / or you are walking a fair distance, the additional weight of multiple items of sleeping kit and space they take up in you pack, may well leave you thinking "I wish I had a cocoon" as you rub your aching back....

In fairness, if I was walking any distance, I wouldn't be carrying a hammock anyway. It's a heavy weight sleep option in my opinion.

Martin

[suggy]

Think the Pea-pods are still available, made from down and cost a packet

http://www.speerhammocks.com/Products/PeaPod.htm

[Kernowek Scouser]

Just a thought could you not zip two small sleeping bags together (like we used to do to make a double) and rig up some sort of draw string at the open end to close it once you were in.

It could be bulky and I imagine you would have a fair bit of superfluous bag at the ends, but you might be on to something here.

I've got a couple of matching bags up in the loft (they were part of a job lot of gear I picked ages ago. They are way too narrow for me, so I've never used them) next time I am up there and if I think on, I'll get them down and put your idea to the test.

In fairness, if I was walking any distance, I wouldn't be carrying a hammock anyway. It's a heavy weight sleep option in my opinion.

Martin

Are you still camping out in your Terra Nova Laser fella? I guess when you factor in the weight of webbing that comes with a hammock, any additional suspension gear you might use, and then include your tarp and rigging. on top of the weight of the hammock itself; the final number you arrive at will be somewhat greater than a lightweight technical tent. Then you have to add whatever you are taking to keep yourself warm. So I am not going to disagree that swinging is not the most lightweight option... but in my (granted limited) experience of swinging versus ground dwelling (which I am more of an old hand at) while I know I must be carrying more weight to swing comfortably, I don't feel the weight, indeed they carry seems lighter, if that makes sense.

Probably a psychological element to it, as I can fit all my swinging gear into a small compression sack and while it may in actual fact be heavier than my tent, it neither looks nor feels it. The rest of my sleep gear is then pretty much the same, for both swinging and ground dwelling, self inflating mat, sleeping bag, poncho liner (used as an underquilt when swinging, as an extra blanket when ground dwelling) and a bivi bag. So it does not feel like a heavier carry, even if it is.

I am sure you really wanted to know all that

Think the Pea-pods are still available, made from down and cost a packet

http://www.speerhammocks.com/Products/PeaPod.htm

I've not seen one of these before, it looks quite intriguing. But at a stonking $399.00 + shipping,, looking at one is all I am likely to do Cheers for the link though.

Atb.

Colin

[Martin]

Colin, still using the Terra Nova Laser. Brilliant bit of kit and still light as a feather. Coupled with a Rab down filled bag and a Thermarest Prolite mat, I sleep like a baby and still have miles in my legs at the end of the day.

Martin