SHELTER / SLEEP SYSTEM FOR GHB

TESTING THE LIGHTEST SETUP FOR RAIN & COLD

Various Setups I'm Playing With

This post is to record the process of developing a system that will work for me in rainy weather down to the low 30s without resorting to emergency heat and still be as comfortable as possible to allow good sleep at the lightest weight possible.

Allowing good sleep is the mission, partially good sleep is the low bar, while being conscious of overall ruck weight.

If you have to get out of your setup and do calisthenics to warm up every 2 hours, you are surviving, not getting restorative sleep and might as well pack much lighter and use the OLD SCHOOL E-BIVY to stay warm and snooze in and out all night.

If you are woken every hour by the cold, you will not be recharged like a solid four-six hour sleep would have done for you.

Knowing what will work in what conditions can only be gained by actual testing, don’t assume your gear will work as advertised and realize that ratings are exaggerated by manufacturer’s and YouTube Influencers alike, most of whom sped one night out in optimal conditions just to get their review money from the gear maker.

Also temps and humidity go hand in hand to change “feels like” temps and 32F in 99% humidity can “feel” the same as -17F in 50% humidity. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples when looking at ratings.

Even then, how warm you sleep makes a huge difference on comfort. I’m a very cold sleeper, I need all the warmth from my system I can get, unfortunately.

Bottom Line: You just won’t know until you test for yourself!

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SYSTEM REVIEW CRITERIA

1. Rain Protection

   1. Completely dry throughout the night = 5, soaked gear = 0

2. Warmth

   1. Completely

   2. warm = 5, Shivering = 0

3. Comfort

   1. Little toss and turning, refreshed in morning = 5, Toss & turning every hour, aching bones in morning = 0

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FIELD TEST REPORTS

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