Hey there i'm Shug and today we're going to unlock the mysteries of the underquilt protector. Is
it necessary?... it is for some it's not for others. Is it for me? I use it here and there
it doesn't always go in my pack but there's a purpose for it with me underquilt protector
I actually wanted it there))))
Do you need an underquilt protector? not really uh that question comes up a good bit on hammock
forums and i get asked that on youtube sometime do i need one you don't necessarily need one if you
carry a larger tarp like a Warbonnet Superfly even bigger chances are you'll have enough protection
from the wind and the wind is mainly why i carry one if i'm looking at the weather like
say i'm going to the Linvile Gorge with Hickery or something i know it's going to be really windy
it's going to be cool fall weather but i want to carry a little bit of a smaller tarp yet
still have some protection from the wind on those nights but i want to wake up in the morning and
get that view and i want to see out there then i will toss in my underquilt protector but i'd say
probably 80 percent of my trips or more i don't even carry it so it's weather dependent for me
we're looking at a smaller tarp here this is the warbonnet minifly
is my under quilt think of that as the bottom half of a sleeping bag that hangs underneath
my hammock to keep me warm from beneath and this one just happens to be a partial
because it partially covers the hammock a full length will come on down this far
i've actually had this under quilt protector for probably 10 or 11 years i got it from 2q
zq and it's really a durable water resistant a dwr rip stop material
uh it's breathable and what it is is just it's just a piece of fabric
cut in the shape of a hammock basically and it just hangs underneath now one reason i like using
them is because i prefer a tarp with a smaller footprint why because when i got into hammocks
i i just i really like seeing the woods so even on a stormy night if i pitch this one down which
i'll do in a minute you'll see that i'm probably going to be hanging a little bit below the bottom
edge of the tarp so that wind can still get me and particularly in a tarp like this the
orbonne minifly it does not have doors it just has a couple little beaks at the end
and my diy black row tarp i can close off the end but because it's got a footprint like this tarp
the wind can get to me now some people say suge why would you want to do that my personal choice i
just i like i like seeing the woods other people like their tarps really big coming down to the
ground they feel a lot more secure they feel a lot more private and having all that coverage now i'll
do that in certain weather i'll bring like my or bonnet superfly or a larger tarp but for the most
part even in winter i go oftentimes with a smaller tarp and the underquilt protector is great in the
winter as well because when you're cold camping it just it adds just a few degrees it holds in just
a little more heat and one other thing it'll do is let's say like this is a 20 degree under quilt
let's say i was going to go it's going to be 15 maybe 10 degrees and this is all i got
well an under quilt protector hung around there will kind of hold in a little bit more heat for
you it will certainly help and keep the wind from taking that heat away there it is just
hanging to the side of my hammock and you can see it almost just looks like a hammock
but if you come a little closer one thing you'll see right here it has right here these little
cinch locks so i can undo these and tighten these to sort of bring it up on myself a little bit
they're very handy i would never have one without these now
so let's go ahead and just hook it on around the hammock so there we go with it hanging on
there they are meant to hang fairly loosely it's okay if it's sagging down a little bit
under your under quilt because that just actually catches a little bit more warm air the thing
is different conditions are going to call for different things with this the last trip i was
on i used it up in the boundary waters this past summer i think it was my actually my last trip
i really pulled those cinches in to bring it up really high and it was so windy that it was
wanting to blow it out from underneath me so i had it really cinched up i might even had it tied over
my ridge line just to keep it in place weather's never the same but in general just let it hang
beneath you like that and you're going to be good to go you can see it's just kind of hanging there
just kind of hanging underneath me and you can cinch it pretty hard
and so let's say the wind you're sleeping
and the wind is coming from where you are i can kind of pull that thing up a little bit
give me that little bit of protection the other nice thing it does is if you're having
trouble fitting your underquilt you feel like you have a gap somewhere having an
underquilt protector will help in sealing that gap now i'm not giving you any guarantees here
but if you felt like somewhere you're always getting a little wind in put one of these on
that's going to help it now a lot of people get these because they they think ahead of time that
it's going to help them with rain splash water splashing up and getting your under quilt wet
i'm going to tell you in all my years of backpacking i think there's only been one trip
when i got a little bit of splash on my underquilt and it was because of where i
was pitched it was really hard ground and i had my tarp pitch down really steep very steep think
about an umbrella and you don't have it popped all the way open you have it kind of pulled in
you know you're closer to the water i like when it rains a little bit the half actually have my
tarp a little bit wider because i've got a have a wider cover over me so the rain would be hitting
out here but you know if that's a concern of yours an underquilt protector will certainly help with
thoughts of you know rain splashing up on it now i got the tarp pitched down a bit lower
which with this particular hang still having a little bit of room on the inside
how do i look
all right i'm gonna go ahead and crawl on in there i may not return i may get so comfortable that
i'm just gonna let this camera run and you can just look at me dangle you can look at me dangle
so i feel like i'm hanging down a little bit and just if you're if it's a really windy night that
wind whipping under here depending on how you set your tarp now my pitch in windy or bad weather
with my under quilt protector would be a little bit more like what you're looking at here
i got my i can pull there to kind of secure it which almost acts like you know it helps
to keep the wind from blowing that in against me i still have all my view i'm protected from the rain
more importantly when i open my eyes in the morning i get a little bit more of a view
and that's what i want so i'll crawl in again and we'll look at the dangle ding dangle it do pardner
now it's easy to see that i am dangling down well below my tarp here and this is what i do most of
the time but that's just me since i've got my four bonnet el dorado here in a really windy night i
can zip my bug net closed and that helps keep some of the wind off of me that's just the way i do it
and also if it's raining my tarp is a little bit more out so even if the rain is coming down pretty
pretty sideways i feel a bit protected this would certainly help
but sideways rain and the tarp life well you're you're just gonna have to learn to tolerate
it's a different thing when you're under a tarp than the tents
you have come to see me so i'll put the link for this particular one in the description box below
this video there's a couple of people that sell the underquilt protector also it's a really nice
first project if you're going to do a sewing project there's not a lot to it
even putting this shock cord along the edges not a real big deal you could even make one
without that but i'm going to put a link to a video below that shows you how to make one
Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Buddy)))) All secure in sector seven.
(spooky laugh) hahahahahahahaaahahahahahahahahahah