Hanging weekend coming up

[gandelff99]

My birthday today and thank you for the automated birthday message bushcraft uk, i have the excitement of a winter hang to look forward to with my pals on saturday at my fave hang site.
it'll be cold but i we have the gear,the beer and man,am so looking forward to chilling(literally) next to a fire with my mates who wanna be there and enjoy the outdoors.
well be taking my crossbow and compound bow so we can have an afternoon of field ttarget shooting( its on private land with owners permission and no rights of way etc etc)but havnt been hanging since new year and just itching t to get out and try the new underquilt setup i have made and basically get out of the house for the night.
will be taking the camera so hopefully will get lots of snaps and youtube clips
very excited
anyone else got anything planned for the weekend?

 

[Bucephalas]

Sure have, there's 15 of us from here having a meet in Wales.

I spent the night hanging last night and it was my first night ever in a hammock. I'm hoping to have a new blog up and running by the end of the day to share!

Have a great weekend.

 

[gandelff99]

oooh,lastnight was a cold un,howd it go? you get the frozen butt syndrome? or you have everything,
blimey 15 of you, thats some hang impressive.

i have been experimenting with using a down sleeping bag as my underquilt, nothing new there however i made a 2nd hammock single skinned which sits underneth my main hammock ,the down sleeping bag ins in between the two,lofted and held in place with the aid opf a couple of safety pins, bit of adjustment required here and there but the overall effect is an underquilt/wind shield in one without having to resort to cutting my sleeping bag up.
the cost of making one or even buying one is too much.
when you going on the 15 er night out, itll be good to watch the blog.

 

[Bucephalas]

I've just posted about it here.

To a newbie like me your setup sounds very........... complicated. Anything more than a basic setup scares me at the moment!

You been out in it yet?

 

[gandelff99]

your trip sounded great and i cant wait to hear more,
naah the setup i have isnt that complicated, its more designed with utilising the gear i have instead of buying new stuff or commercially designed stuff and most definatley without the extra price tag
, i hope (fingers crossed ) i get a new camera/camera phone off her in doors for my birthday today and will photo the whole setup, my last attempt a couple of weeks ago was a similar setup minus the extra hammock,and with just a sleeping bag saftey pinned to the underside of the hammock,lofted great but kind of awkward getting the pins into the right place when your lay in the hammock and on your own, hopefully the piccies will make it more self explanitory.
basics good,simple and little can go wrong. but ,you know we cant resist the urge to tweak haha

 

[Bucephalas]

Yep, I'm with you on the tweaking.

I'm trying to save money where I can but I'm finding it's a trade off with weight though. For example, I bought a new 4 season sleeping bag from GoOutdoors and it cost around £34, far cheaper than a down one (which I can't afford at present) but it's quite bulky to attach to the rucksack.
I bought a cheaper camping axe but again it's far too heavy to carry so I'll put in a much smaller hand axe next time.

My missus is insisting I'm having a midlife crisis and judging by this months spending she may not be wrong. I reminded her that I quit smoking two months ago so we've already saved £600.

Looking forward to your video when you get it sorted.

Oh, and a Happy Birthday!

 

[nutz]

Congrats on giving up smoking. .

 

[gandelff99]

lool,cheers mate, i didnt get the camera or the phone i wanted.... so am away to ebay to buy one and hopefully itl;l arrive before the weekend,-4 out today,oooh soo excited about the weekend.
lol mid life crisis.haha, my missus thinks i'm barmy too,but hey it hurts no one and were happy doing it, and yeah, alot of camping gear can be utilised for the hammocking,your sleeping bag sounds just the ticket, and as for the axe, well, for winter, i have a 2lb axe/hatchet, bowlands wood saw and my knife, with these 3 i can chop felled tree,s have good sized leg thickness trunks and logs,right down to arm and wrist sized logs to finger thickness kindling and the likes,what with the little dauylight we have i dont have the time to be utilising 1 piece of kit such as a folding handsaw ,its cold outside and i want my fire wood collected and processed asap.
you got all your gear packed then? yeah well done too on giving up smoking.

 

[Bucephalas]

Cheers boys.
I've just aquired a folding saw (not the Bahco one but just as good) so I don't really see the need for an axe for just the odd night.

-4 here this morning too but I'm packed for the weekend and ready to go. I think our meet has dropped from 15 people to just a few, but when the alternative is staying home and spending the weekend with the in-laws, well, there's is no choice!

Have a good one yourself.

 

[gandelff99]

yeah a folding saw works fine,however youd be amazed at just how much fire wood you can go through in a single night,especially when its cold,obviously the warmer in the year it gets the lesser the need for a fire,i kinda cheat though as one of my hang sites is literally 500 yards from the carpark and can often afford to camp heavy or make a trip or 2 back to the car,getting to the stage of life where comfort polays a big part.
shame about the numbers dwindling,but think you'll have a great time either way