I’ve always been a hammock camper. Downside is a cold back side and not many sleeping positions. This year I waited and waited and my new hammock came just before the trip. The Opeongo A1 with the underblanket was amazing. The other guys called it my condo.

This underquilt is impressive. Probably overkill. The thermalite large air pad also fits in it and I’m going to try that to cut down on the bulk of the underquilt. It has a gear hammock that hangs underneath. It has a rain fly, but I did put up a rain tarp over the whole thing just to be safe and for shade.

Check it out. The engineering of this thing is amazing. More like a cot than hammock.

Interesting setup. I can't find the specs on their website. How much does that thing weigh? I know with my Dutchware Chameleon hammock with straps, Warbonnet Superfly, Enlightened Equipment 30 degree top quilt and Hammock Gear Incubator 20 degree bottom quilt I come in at 6.25 pounds. I'd be curious to see a comparison of weights.

Looks like just the aerial tent/hammock without the quilt weighs 5.4 lbs. Much heavier than my Tarptent I use on solos, but this is the first hammock type setup I would even consider getting. I love that it can be set up in the trees or on the ground. Thanks for sharing.

It’s definitely not the lightest setup I have. We mostly do a full day paddle in an base camp, then we do terrible soul killing bushwhacks with nothing but fishing gear.

Last year, it was base camp on ogishkemucie and beat to holt lake and others. This year base camped on lynx and thrashed our way to yodeler, and failed to make it to rangline. We made it there with no canoe but the amount of blowdown was impressive. It was all we could do to make it without gear. No iron skillets and tree condo for that one for sure!

Thinking of sleeping comfort in the BW or elsewhere, I think back on the evolution of sleeping pads. In 1970 just out of the navy I remember buying an ensolite foam pad about 1/4” thick to sleep on. I used this thru the 1970’s and got my new wife one to use on our honeymoon backpacking trip on Isle Royale NP in 1974. Around 1980 AirLift mattresses came out - individual vinyl tubes were inflated and inserted into a nylon cover - definitely a step up in comfort over Ensolite pads, at least until individual tubes deflated, which a few always did. Next came Thermrest pads which were quite comfortable and very reliable - I still have a 3/4 length pad which is functional. Now I use inflatable insulated pads - Neo Air and Big Agnes which are very comfortable. I can see that hammocks may be the ultimate in sleeping comfort, but at age nearly 75 I am not going to make that investment. In fact, I am a bit surprised that I am still tripping and with a buddy who is just 6 months younger than I am.

deerfoot: "Thinking of sleeping comfort in the BW or elsewhere, I think back on the evolution of sleeping pads. In 1970 just out of the navy I remember buying an ensolite foam pad about 1/4” thick to sleep on. I used this thru the 1970’s and got my new wife one to use on our honeymoon backpacking trip on Isle Royale NP in 1974. Around 1980 AirLift mattresses came out - individual vinyl tubes were inflated and inserted into a nylon cover - definitely a step up in comfort over Ensolite pads, at least until individual tubes deflated, which a few always did. Next came Thermrest pads which were quite comfortable and very reliable - I still have a 3/4 length pad which is functional. Now I use inflatable insulated pads - Neo Air and Big Agnes which are very comfortable. I can see that hammocks may be the ultimate in sleeping comfort, but at age nearly 75 I am not going to make that investment. In fact, I am a bit surprised that I am still tripping and with a buddy who is just 6 months younger than I am."

We have some older guys 66&70 that go with us. They don’t miss a lick. Haha they actually out work us because they refuse to look at the gps and always end up doing an extra portage or two!

For that price you can get a traditional, or bridge hammock, down underquilt, and come in at 2 -3 lbs. And have a couple of hundred dollars to spare.

Yes it is pricey for sure. I’m a bit of a gear guy and the concept was too cool for me to pass up, and it turned out to be a winner. Even stayed warm the last night when we finished off the camp bourbon (to lighten our pack weights for the trip out) and forgot to zip the rain fly.
I also think a light weight air mattress would be as effective as the under quilt and save some weight.

A quality 20 degree down underquilt weighs very little. The one I have from Hammock Gear weighs only 15 ounces. By contrast, the insulated sleeping pad I have from Klymit weighs 32 ounces. I have used the down underquilt on my Henessy gathered end hammock as well as my Chrysalis bridge hammock. In both cases it is far warmer then the pad as it wraps around and comes up the sides of the hammock keeping your shoulders warm.

For absolute warmth, a down underquilt, a down top quilt. Both together will weigh less then the full length sleeping pad.