Posted by: phat
Hammock vs Ground weight, considering comfort. - 05/18/09 07:07 PM
Ok, I'm a frequent poster to remind people that in reality a hammock is not "lighter" because you could just sleep under the tarp if you were hardcore. and save the entire weight of the hammock.
Having said that, I'm perfectly willing to admit I'm not. I'm soft and squishy and like to sleep comfy. I recently got a gram scale (thanks to being on weight watchers) and decided to actually weigh my own rig individually. I was actually surprised. My hammock rig is lighter! Here's why:
First, the hammock rig:
Quote:
Granite Gear Virga Pack with 27 inch wide blue closed cell foam from Wal-Mart, rolled up as a tube
818 grams
MEC Silcone Scout Tarp with guylines and stakes
616 grams
Speer 8.5C pattern Hammock with bugnet (homesewn) in stuff sack.
731 grams
MEC merlin 0C bag
650 grams
OR helium comp sack
30 grams
Big three total for hammock 2845 grams
Now, the above treeline rig:
Quote:
MEC alpinelight 30 backpack
610 grams
Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo w stakes and stuff sack
787 grams
Big Agnes insulated Aircore
1103 grams
MEC merlin 0C bag
650 grams
OR helium comp sack
30 grams
Ground Dwelling big three total 3180 grams
So basically (since everything else I take is the same), I'm about 350 grams lighter with the hammock rig - now yes, that BA weighs a lot - but I'm *comfortable* in it. So I consider these two roughly equivalent.