Hammock underblanket --- Group Buy

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wanderinstar

On a new journey
Jun 14, 2005
1,346
9
71
Yorkshire/Lancs Border
One last comment. Magikelly will be doing a review next weekend and then Graham S has agreed to take it down to the Moot.
I will be away for a week from tomorrow morning, so if you dont hear from me thats why.
Will check on here first thing in the morning.
Ian.
 
D

Deleted 70

Guest
Nice to see the support for this new product, its great to see somebody getting there idea made and support from the people that are going to use it.

If you need anything nudged along in the factory let me know ^^

Stewart
Snugpak

(Some of us do keep an eye on the www hehe)
 

CLEM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 10, 2004
2,433
439
Stourbridge
wanderinstar said:
One last comment. Magikelly will be doing a review next weekend and then Graham S has agreed to take it down to the Moot.
I will be away for a week from tomorrow morning, so if you dont hear from me thats why.
Will check on here first thing in the morning.
Ian.
Excellent I look forward to the review befre I get my order in. :)
 

MagiKelly

Making memories since '67
Got the sample today. I have had a quick play and here are my initial thoughts. Some good some not so good.

The first thing I noticed is the blanket is about a foot shorter than the Kick *** Quilt. I think it will need to be longer than it currently is. I am tall at 6 foot 3 but I suspect this will be too short for most people. Let me clarify that a bit. It will be long enough to keep most of you warm but your feet or head or maybe both will not be warmed. Ian's photos show this to an extent. The blanket is also about 6 inches narrower but this does not seem to so much of an issue but I would still be tempted to increase the width as well.

After some experimenting I have found a way of fitting it to the group buy hammocks that keeps it close to the hammock and aligned with your angled position. As you can see from the picture below, there are four elastic cords coming from the ends of the blanket. The middle two of these are tied in some way to the clips, hooks or carabiners at the ends of the hammock. The outside two are looped over the ridge line ant tied.

gbub1.jpg


Eleanor, my daughter, is not really big enough to show this but it allows the undeblanket to twist slightly so it follows your angled position in the hammock, rather than being in a straight line. This attachment process can be made simpler by the use of clips, cord adjusters etc to make setting up quicker but I assume most of us are capable of doing that ourselves.

The quality of the blanket is generally good but the stitching at one of the cords is starting to come undone already.

gbub2.jpg


I assume that this is just a glitch and that the workmanship of the finished blankets would be fine. Also on the subject of the cords. These are meant to be sewn into the top layer of the blanket so that the insulation effectively hangs from the surface under tension. The plan being that regardless of how much tension the blanket is under the insulation will not be compressed. This does not seem to be the case. The cords seem to be sewn into the insulation but to be honest it does not seem to be effecting the efficiency of the blanket.

So I will be giving the blanket a full test next weekend but for the moment I would say it is a pretty good result. I would ask for the blanket to be lengthened and widened and an eye to be kept on the stitching but the hanging method , materials and general construction all seem to be good.

More after I have actually slept out in it.
 

wentworth

Settler
Aug 16, 2004
573
2
40
Australia
Hi Magikelly,
I'm suprised that this underquilt is quite a bit heavier than the kickass quilt, even though it is shorter. Do you think this is due to the insulation? Do they have similar thickness of loft?
Also, does the quilt seal at each end of the hammock without an air gap?
 

MagiKelly

Making memories since '67
wentworth said:
Hi Magikelly,
I'm suprised that this underquilt is quite a bit heavier than the kickass quilt, even though it is shorter. Do you think this is due to the insulation?

I did not think it was much heavier. I will check but if there is a difference it is not really noticeable.

wentworth said:
Do they have similar thickness of loft?

Pretty much.

wentworth said:
Also, does the quilt seal at each end of the hammock without an air gap?

It is of course not airtight but it does seal as well as others as long as you fir it correctly. you can see in this picture it is fairly close. An adult in the hammock would have made it closer.

gbub1.jpg
 

lardbloke

Nomad
Jul 1, 2005
322
2
52
Torphichen, Scotland
Pants......I hope I havent missed this???

I am just coming back from my hols in the western Isles so could the payment details please be sent to my PM and I will get payment (cheque) out by the end of the week or sooner.

Thanks for all your hard work obn this....
 

Graham_S

Squirrely!
Feb 27, 2005
4,041
65
50
Saudi Arabia
this is just the prototype remember. it may be possible to make it longer.
it'll be with me at the moot in a couple of weeks time. i'll be the one with his arm in a cast.
if anyone wants a closer look, just ask. :D

John, i bet it took longer to get your daughter out of the hammock than it did to get her in :lmao:
 

MagiKelly

Making memories since '67
Took some more pictures of the underbalnket today with JamesOConnor in it. Tool longer to get him out of the hammock that is for sure.

As Graham says this is a prototype so I would hope that it could be made longer, and after seeing James in it today I think the extra width would not go a miss either. If course others will be seeing and reviewing the underblanket and may have different opinions. Also I will be sleeping out in it this coming weekend so that may change my opinions in some way but it looks as if it will not be cold enough to make it a real test of the blanket.
 

beamdune

Full Member
Oct 14, 2005
362
0
51
Manchester
A synthetic quilt isn't going to be a particularly lightweight option.

The most important factor here would seem to be warmth and for that it needs to be big enough.

If it's too short the net result will be cold feet and a cold head which kind of defeats the point of getting something made to spec.

From the pictures alone it does look a little small (and considerably smaller than the potomac or the jack's r better quilts.)

I'm still up for one and my overdue cheque will be on it's way pending arrival of a new chequebook :eek:
 

weekender

Full Member
Feb 26, 2006
1,814
19
54
Cambridge
Hi i have been sort of following this thread and could be interested if the longer version is available (6'4") and could someone post/pm the cost and details where to send the cheque and also am i too late????

Weekender :D
 

wanderinstar

On a new journey
Jun 14, 2005
1,346
9
71
Yorkshire/Lancs Border
John, Have read your initial report with great interest. Will contact Snugpak tomorrow re lenghening and widening. It seems like I may have jumped the gun a bit taking money before reviews done. Was just trying to get ball rolling for Autumn, Hopefully it wont be too much extra, for the aforesaid modifications doing.
If when I find out re new cost anyone wants too cancel, please let me know and I will refund money. Sorry about this.
Ian.
 

MagiKelly

Making memories since '67
Just back from my overnight with the underblanket and I was toasty warm. Still pretty warm in the hammock too ;)

So the weather kind of stopped me from assessing the insulation for the Underblanket but from what I can tell it looks as if the level of insulation is higher than Patrick's one. Per m2 that is not overall (see below)

I slept the night using the sample and it was fine but as already been posted, too small for me. I had brought my Kick @ss Quilt as well and set it up in the morning as a comparison and it seemed huge.

So what alterations would I make?

1) A a foot longer possibly more

2) 6 inches wider, again passable more. If anyone has plans to make a pod with another blanket then the extra width will be important.

3) At the corners have tabs sewn into the blanket. This will allow all four bungees at the ends to be attached to the carabiner / rings of the hammock and a separate line, attached to these tabs, taken over the ridge line.

Of course these are just my personal opinions and others may have different ideas. The underblanket will be sent to Graham S tomorrow and I understand he will be taking it to the Moot for more people to have a look at.

I did not take any more pictures as I was on my own overnight and pictures of the underblanket on an empty hammock do not really help illustrate much.
 

weekender

Full Member
Feb 26, 2006
1,814
19
54
Cambridge
Hi
Is there any update news on the underblanket?.
Also a question for magikelly in your photos it looks like you have some of the cord from the blanket going over your ridgeline, but in the other photos posted the attatchment lines are all going towards the hammock tie off point is this just an idea you tried and did it work and do you think it would wear the bug net on an HH hammock. sorry if that seems like a long winded question. :thanks:

Weekender :D
 

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