Need suggestions for alternative sleeping system

[Mortblanc]

The eternal problem, the never answered question, the endless search.

There is no answer because no two people feel the same in matching systems.

I can not sleep when cold and I get cold easily. I have had several bouts of hypothermia and they have made me cold sensitive. I chill quickly.

I am also mildly claustrophobic and can not sleep in a "mummy bag".

I also do historic reenactments where sleeping bags are not welcome.

I was also combat infantry, when comfort was secondary to being able to roll out instantly.

There is an answer to all these problems, except for my reenactment issues, and it is money.

If you are willing to pay there are sleeping bags available that will allow you comfort, warmth and a zipper that flies open unhindered in a split second. You will find them at the top end of the price scale, not at the bottom or in the surplus market.

As for blankets, the only one that I have found that will keep one warm in temps anywhere close to the freezing mark is the old Whitney "horse rug". Their regular blanket will not do the trick. not for me anyway.

A blanket that is thick enough to keep out drafts and hold in heat at moderately cold temps will weigh 8 pounds. I have one and that is what it weighs. A Whitney horse rug big enough to wrap around me twice. At around 40f I require a second blanket of equal weight and when it reaches freezing I am going to be sitting up, wrapped up hugging the campfire.

My answer to the problems has been a combination of compromises. After years of dealing with one or another problem I decided to spend enough money to get part of my needs covered using two full sized high quality rectangular sleeping bags.

One is a lightweight unit. It has room in the foot, is warm down to freezing and only weighs 3 pounds. Also fits in a little bitty stuff sack. I did compromise on the zipper. That is not ideal but I can live with it. Using a rectangular bag one can shoot out of the top without touching the zipper if necessary.

The second is a heavy "jumbo bag' rated for 0 f degrees. It is heavy, near 8 pounds, and only used when transported by auto. Even with that bag I have been forced to use an additional blanket on occasion.

I lived through combat situations as an officer and I do not remember many times when I really laid down and slept while on a mission. Most of my rest was grabbed leaning against the back wall of a fighting hole wrapped in a blanket, hugging my weapon in a semiconscious state.

At my historic sites I wrap which ever bag I am using in a canvas cover or wrap it in my Whitney blanket in extreme cold. Sometimes when I read the journals and accounts of the past I think that the people of that day did not consider comfort what we do. Sometimes I do not think they considered "sleep" the same thing we do.

The "great Kilt" mentioned above was made from 9 yards of fabric 50 inches wide. That is a lot of fabric! One of the reasons they were "outlawed" was that they made the highlanders a uniquely efficient mobile force.

I have come to realize that there is no cheap sleep system that solves all the problems. Especially when EVERY person has a different comfort level, different preferences and different size needs. What works for me might be a total failure, or impossible, for the next fellow.

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I remember something about your troops in the Falklands abandoning their "sleep systems" so they could carry more ammo.

We often made the same decision. Eight pounds of sleeping bag or eight pounds of ammo was not a decision we even dwelt on. The ammo got priority.

Often we just carried a canvas sleeping bag cover or, most of the time, the quilted nylon poncho liner which we code named the "Woogy".

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In crisis you may have to make the same decision, or one like it.