Blanket(s) or sleeping bag ?

[bilmo-p5]

Quote Originally Posted by bilmo-p5 View Post
Does felting a wool blanket improve its thermal qualities,

I would have thought it would ruin it from a thermal point of view, since it would trap less air, though it might make it marginally more wind proof.

But there's a bedroll on ebay, which has been commented on on these pages, which has a felt lining on the bottom, and also great big thick felt insoles are issued (well, they were 30 yrs ago) for high latitude work, so perhaps it is a better insulator than plain woollen blanket.
I wondered if anyone had any experience of sleeping under felt. I think I'll have to felt a blanket and see how it performs.

 

[bushbarbie]

blankets may be traditional, and bed roles look way cool on your pack - but sleeping bags offer much more warmth for lighter weight. Personally, I go for green so the gamekeepers don't spot me - but then I like to sleep where I shouldn't

 

[StigOfTheDump]

Quote Originally Posted by bilmo-p5 View Post
Does felting a wool blanket improve its thermal qualities,



But there's a bedroll on ebay, which has been commented on on these pages, which has a felt lining on the bottom, and also great big thick felt insoles are issued (well, they were 30 yrs ago) for high latitude work, so perhaps it is a better insulator than plain woollen blanket.
I wondered if anyone had any experience of sleeping under felt. I think I'll have to felt a blanket and see how it performs.

I wonder if the felt at the bottom of this bedroll is more for abrasion resistance allowing you to sleep in your boots, in which case mud etc would brush off easier. And if you made insoles out of ordinary wool blanket they would become felted anyway, and thus it just better to make a thick felt to begin with, sort of pre squashed wool.

I would still hold that a blanket has better thermal properties than felt, though felt would be more wind proof.

 

[whitey3192]

sleeping bag and bivvi everytime for me.
lightweight, compact waterproof, warm, comfortable, dry.. . . . . . . . need i go on?

 

[Sniper]

Sleeping bag for me everytime, when it's warm I use it like a duvet over the top but when it gets cold it's good to be able to zip up against the draughts. You might like to look at the extra wide versions available now as the cut down drastically on the restriction you get with normal bags.

 

[tiger stacker]

What happens to al lthe army blankets, 5 years ago Duvets finally got issued per coy. When I looked at all the buckshee blanklets that were unused and brand new, i wish i had aquired some. Alas storage space was tight so none taken.

Sleeping bag for me though with a poncho liner thrown in for top pouch use.

 

[andybysea]

Well off out(well just back garden) to try out my hammock in cold weather condition's its already -4 and heavy snow is due overnight,plus is quite windy, gonna try a combo of hammock and underblanket, with two wool(US) civil war repro blankets i got a few years ago.
set it up earlier today and will head out tonight around 11pm.

ignore crap quality taken on a old mobi.

Acorrding to metcheck, its gonna be -13 taking inot acount windchill should be a fun test.

 

[Ryan Woods]

good to hear you are getting out there! Have fun tonight

 

[Miyagi]

Can't wait to see how this pans out...

All the best mate,

Liam

 

[Norton]

This thread seems to have stopped just as we were expecting andybysea to give us his review, did it all do horribly wrong?

 

[andybysea]

Oops sorry guy's didnt think of giving a review,and with Christmas and all id forgotten about this thread,as for the night, i was fine went to bed (well hammock) around 11.45pm, and the weather was'nt as bad as predicted, think it dropped to around -7 and no snow came that night all in all was fine once id got settled,took a few mins to get into the hammock,and get the blankets wrapped around my feet,and up to my chin,kept a wool hat on my head and with the underblanket underneath me,was fine,was a tad breezy but that helped rock me to sleep.
Miyagi(Liam) gonna be sorting a Lumsdiane trip shortly with Minstrel,etc maybe you can make it?

 

[ex-member Raikey]

nice one Andy!!,...

i,m out this weekend to Brockwell,

using UQ and wool blankets,,,

so you were nice and toasty then??,...ithe temp has lifted since your night but i,m still wary,....
Cheers

Stu

 

[andybysea]

Stu, yep i was fine snugpak under quit and two US civil war blankets(well modern repro's) from Hainsworth very good nice heavy weight blankets, what type you using? the trick i found is to get them wrapped round your feet(took a few attempts)then tucked down either side(involves a bit of rolling) once rolled up i was fine,ps dont try this with to much of the joint loosening fluid,aka alcohol as it aint easy.

ps i was wearing jogging bottoms and a tshirt and hoody aswell + hat)
pps i forgot i did also bulldog clip using two the hammock excess closed one at waist level and one at head,kept the draft down really well,depends what hammock your using,me i used a nomads land xxl

 

[ex-member Raikey]

i,m in a dd camping ,...

and my blankets are off grannies couch from years ago!! so god knows,.....

my UQ, is from unsponsored on here,...an 800gram fill down jobby,..not got it yet tho so new ground for me,....

i,m gonna take a mummy bag too just in case,....even if i just open it up and add it as a layer,...

the bulldog clip is a cracking idea tho mate,...i,m having that one,....lol...

Cheers Andy,...

Stu

 

[andybysea]

Stu, Hope it goes well, grannies blankets eh, remember they where tougher back then than us modern dayer's although your underblanket should do nicely.

 

[leahcim]

Polarfleece hoody jacket, hat and pants, with a Columbia Breathable Rain suit, Seal Skin Socks and Gloves and forget all of that. but Sea to Summit 25degree sleeping bag liner, and a Cabela's XPG X-large Bivi Bag will keep you dry sleeping in a creek But my clothes I can sleep down to 45 before I want to crawl in something, and the rest I mention carries me town to 21 degrees F. it all weights little more than a pound.

 

[Aristotle]

I did my first blanket camping at the weekend.

My weapon was a 1960s-vintage 'guaranteed genuine wool' blanket in pinky red and the location was North Wales.

On the first night the temperature was cool for August, possibly around 10deg. I loosely wrapped the blanket around myself and wore a T shirt. At some point in the night I woke up feeling a bit cold. I'd slid off my Decathlon Thermarest-esque mat and was feeling the cold through the ground. My bare legs felt a bit cool. Elsewhere, where the blanket was double thickness I felt warm, but where there was only a single layer I felt a bit cool.

On the second night the temperature felt lower and I used the blanket as a wrap when sitting outside. For sleeping, as I didn't have any suitable trousers, I wrapped one of my daughter's (spare!)crocheted cot blankets around my legs, still wore just a T shirt and then wrapped myself like chap on this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx38go8-Ig8, which worked really well and was very comfortable.

I'm going camping again next weekend so I'll be using the blanket again. For winter, I'm going to try using two blankets.

 

[Aristotle]

For the second outing I seemed to have improved my wrapping technique and managed to have at least 2 layers of wool over my whole body with one layer over my head. The temperature was quite low again, it was wet and it was quite windy.

Again, it was very comfortable and I really enjoyed using such a simple, low-tech sleeping arrangement.

I wore a pair of jog pants under the blanket which solved the cold legs problem.

I'm looking forward to trying the dual-blanket sleeping system in colder weather.