Hammock Pants

The Idea

The idea for hammock pants came to me while I was testing a 'bag-o-feathers' insulating pad inside the Garlington Insulator . Cold weather had settled in the weekend of 1/10/2004 in central NC, and I decided to take the opportunity to test the pad. For this test, the "bag of feathers" was a large sil-nylon bag filled with all of the feathers I could salvage from an old army mummy bag. I found out the hard way that I would need an air valve in the sil nylon bag if any air was going to go in there, so I sewed a 6" fabric circle taken from a thin pillow case into one end. Once that was done, air could get in and out during packing and unpacking. This bag had about 9" of loft.

It was 19 degrees F with a slight breeze (less than 10mph), and I was dressed in 100wt fleece with a hat and cotton athletic socks. On top was a feathered friends Winter Wren (about a 25*F bag) used as a quilt. As I lay there, with a nice warm back atop the mountain of feathers suspended below the hammock inside the GI shell, I began to ponder my current setup. Yes, it was warm. In fact, it felt like I was lying on top of a heating pad, but as time passed (I woke up after about 3 hours on this test), my feet had gradually cooled. I retreated to the house to assess the current state of all body parts. Indeed, the only problem area was the feet. Rick (aka Risk, flyfisher) had previously tested a similar configuration and reported that his feet also got cold. I suppose this problem is to be expected, because that section of the hammock is marginally insulated. The GI shell covers under the heels, but with no insulation there (my feather bag doesn't reach) that is not much help. My feet were in the sleeping bag, but with only the 25 degree bag and cotton socks, this proved to be inadequate. Rick has gone on and created the Travel Pod, based on the peapod and hammock bivy concepts, which appears to help. These ideas have stimulated my idea for "hammock pants". Probably the Nunatak half bags had a part too.

Description

Hammock pants can be quickly and easily made with 2 pieces of nylon. (Use breathable fabric!):

Cut a 76" length from a roll of nylon (~65" wide). Hem one of the 76" ends wide enough to allow a drawstring to be threaded through. Make sure the cylinder-to-be is inside out, then sew the two 65" ends together creating the large cylinder. You should now have a cylinder about 5' long and 24" inches in diameter.
Cut a 24" diameter circle of nylon and punch a hole in the center large enough to get the support rope through. With the cylinder inside out, sew the circle to the non-hemmed end of the cylinder.

This image shows a Speer-like hammock (hammock body appears nearly black in this picture) with "quick pitch" ridgeline (pink), Garlington Insulator shell (light blue), and hammock pants (dark blue) gathered at the foot of the hammock. Also pictured are snake skins gathered a each end.

Here, the pants have been pulled up and the drawstring tightened. If someone was in the hammock, the pants can be pulled up and tied above the shoulders.

Here, the hammock with Garlington Insulator shell and pants have been wrapped in snakeskins and is ready to take down & pack. With everything rigged as shown, the hammock can be setup & taken down very quickly (just a minute or two).

I don't know if hammock pants will actually solve the cold feet problem, but they are so easy to make, and light in weight, I thought I'd throw this concept out there and see if anyone can work with it. I have tried the pants on only a couple of occasions:

Once, it was sunny, 32*F and breezy. I wore cotton pants and a 100wt fleece top. With only the GI shell (no insulation) the configuration was too cold. With the GI shell (no insulation) and the pants positioned, it was quite comfortable; however, I could tell that the insulation under the hammock was inadequate for a prolonged stay. Every breeze resulted in a cool wave of air over the back.

Next, was in the evening and about 15*F. I slept for several hours and when I woke, the inside of the hammock pants had a layer of condensation. I fault the use of sil nylon for this problem. If you use a more breathable fabric, perhaps this problem will be reduced or eliminated. More experimentation is required.

2/28/2005

About a year has passed since the hammock pants were made. The bag-o-feathers insulating pad is much smaller now. Rather than the ~ 3lbs of feathers that were in there, now there are only about 10 ounces which gives about 3.5" of loft. My current plans are to shorten the hammock pants that they are "hammock boots". This will serve to stormproof the footend of the hammock and possibly keep the feet a little warmer. Stay tuned.

	This image shows a Speer-like hammock (hammock body appears nearly black in this picture) with "quick pitch" ridgeline (pink), Garlington Insulator shell (light blue), and hammock pants (dark blue) gathered at the foot of the hammock. Also pictured are snake skins gathered a each end.
	Here, the pants have been pulled up and the drawstring tightened. If someone was in the hammock, the pants can be pulled up and tied above the shoulders.
	Here, the hammock with Garlington Insulator shell and pants have been wrapped in snakeskins and is ready to take down & pack. With everything rigged as shown, the hammock can be setup & taken down very quickly (just a minute or two).