Sleeping bag recommendation

[packsaddle]

I think I am detecting a bias here. I think those of you who live near glacial moraines or at high altitudes need to come for a visit in August and camp out with us for a few days and nights in south Georgia, in a tent, on a blackwater stream. It'll be an enriching experience, possibly religious.

[AK-Eagle]

Packsaddle

 

I'll come down in August if you come up in March.

A couple of nights in a snowcave will get your attention like nothing else.

 

 

AK-Eagle

aka

Phillip Martin

Scoutmaster

Troop 21

Juneau Alaska

[le Voyageur]

I think I am detecting a bias here. I think those of you who live near glacial moraines or at high altitudes need to come for a visit in August and camp out with us for a few days and nights in south Georgia, in a tent, on a blackwater stream. It'll be an enriching experience, possibly religious. Packsaddle

 

hehehehehehehehehehe..lol. What a hoot....dat be the reason I head to cooler places in the summer....like Arizona

 

[KoreaScouter]

Oren;

 

I've PM'd you...

 

KS

[packsaddle]

AK-Eagle, I just might take you up on that, except March just left us. Perhaps July? I just read Juneau's climate summary. Not too bad, at least by Charleston, SC standards - you both have the same annual average temperature (55 F).

http://www.juneau.org/visitors/junfacts.php

I may call if I'm in the area. Do you still have to fly or ferry in?

[Its Me]

I live in Florida and my kids and I use 15F mummy's. In the late fall, early spring when we do most of our camping the bags are fine. Varying the zipper does wonders to regulate the temperature. I have a very light 40F bag that I have used on May campouts. It still got too hot. When it takes untill 4:30 Am for the temperature to drop below 70F there just won't be enough relief.

 

And I agree with the other poster, too warm is just a fact of sleeping on top of what ever bag you brought. Too cold and its misserable on the cold muscles.

[AK-Eagle]

Packsaddle you still have to fly or boat into Juneau. Makes it expen$ive to do out of town traveling

 

Phil

aka

AK-Eagle

[ljnrsu]

To warm is better than to cold. As been said if to warm you sleep on top,unzipped like a quilt.

 

I would recommend a +15 bag but I live in northern NJ very close to the Campmor store.

Campmor has a great selection of bags that are $150.00 or less. I like mummy bags,and I am partial to Slumberjack which I bought for my boys.

 

I was recently at the Campmor store talking with their camping mananger who I know thru Scouting about recommendations for bags. He told me thing that I never heard in 40 years of camping.

 

Temp. ratings vary by up to +3 degrees before being moved to the next rating bracket. Some manufactures are strict with the ratings and some aren't,but he wouldn't tell me which ones. He also said that over time bags loose their warmth. He said that bags can lose up to 7 degrees every 10 years. That might explain why my 30 year old 0 degree bag wasn't that warm this winter.

 

I would like to know if anyone else has heard this.

 

[Lynda J]

I have three Ozark Trail bags called Footwarmer.

They have extra batting at the foot level. They are rated to 35. I then put a fleece liner inside in the winter wit a sheet. Have camped in 20 weather and had no problem. Of course I don't get very cold. I haven't even turned on my heater at home this winter. Of course we haven't had a very hard winter.

[packsaddle]

Here's a pretty good deal, I think. I just saw 25-degree bags on sale at Bass Pro Shops for $30 each. AND there was a bin full of lightweights for $10 each. At those prices both can be had for a very reasonable sum.

[anarchist]

Of course bags can 'loose' temperature 'ratings'...what they are actually loosing is isullation ablity. Even down bags can (and do) wear out. The ablity of a sleeping bag to retain your body warmth is related to the material it uses for insulation (synthetics, goose down, feathers or a combination of materials), and to the material and bag constuction ability to maintain 'loft'. Loft being that property which allows the material to establish a matrix of macro/micro air pockets. These macro/micro-air pockets delay the transport of 'cold' to the body and heat away from it. Hopefully the ablity of the body to produce heat and the bags ability to delay the loss of heat reach an acceptable balance and you get a good noghts sleep.

 

constant compression of the down or synthetic fibres as in some storage methods, improper care and the break down of the material (feathers and down do decay over time or can be degraded by mechanical means or even insects.)

Proper care (storing in a very loose bag or box or hangin in a closet can streatch a bags 'life' but eventually there comes a time....Most good bags can do 15 years with proper care but even the best bag can die a horrible death be mistreatment in just a few years...

 

as to the seven degrees every ten years....One would think that when you start with inprecise numbers to start with,(bag ratings are rather subjective- based on 'hale and hearty' young subjects, clean and rested, dry and dressed for the sleeping experiment) getting so precise when estimating the 'death' of a bag is reaching a bit...

 

If you were cold this year...after thirty years...a new bag may be in order...'course us old folks do have circulation problems and staying warm in our advanced age is more difficult year to year...(try out some of the newer synthetics...they are getting better and better...)and if there is a chance of getting wet...better and safer.

[ljnrsu]

Anarchist thanks you your insight. As to getting a new bag that was done right there and then. They were having a great sale,picked up a -20 Slumberjack for 40% off. It was a no brainer. Yes us old folks do have a harder time keeping warm. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

[DugNevius]

Ljnrsu- im actually heading to that campmor store this afternoon to take the new scout families on a shopping spree for their evolution into scouting.

 

You must all realize though, that the temp ratings for the bags are for when you are in just your knickers and outside. Wearing a pair of thermol underwear adds a lot more warmth and in essence drops the temp rating down 5-10 degrees, the body warmth of tent-mates and a sleeping pad isulation all also allow lower temperatures then the rating of the bag. Therefore, in NJ a 30 degree bag is more then enough for camping all year long unless you are sleeping IN the snow on some winter wilderness survival. When buying a sleeping bag weight should also be a major factor as well as temp rating and cost, and you will find that most bags that are low temp rating are very heavy and those that are not heavy are very expensive. There are many 30-40 F bags that are perfect for backpacking Philmont new mexico and under $100 to buy.

[anarchist]

 

ljnrsu,

 

One more point...one nice trick we have found for storing our bags with out compressing them... is to find large plastic boxes (trunks really)...The bags go in with their compression sack on the bottom of the trunk and sometimes one of my wifes 'little fabric bags of smelly flower petals' to keep them from getting 'musty'. The plastic is better at keeping creepy crawlers from nesting in the sleeping bag, than if you just store it in its fabric storage (not compression) sack.

[ljnrsu]

Thanks for the suggestions. The old bag was a Morsan mummy I bought in 1971 for my trip to Philmont. I guess I just gave my age away. It was just over 5 pounds. What I bought is a Slumberjack Glacier on sale for $79.99 it is under 4 pounds. Our Troop has yet to go camping in Jan/Feb that we have snow or it has been coldest weekend that winter.

I will have to try the box idea, normally I put the bag on a hanger in the closet.