Drying clothes in winter

[TomEske]

Walt, I can see that you are clearly a man who is dedicated to the advancement of sleeping technology as it applies to the backcountry. I for one, will be exteremely interested in your research, and thank you for your dedication (sacrifice) on behalf of the rest of us lazy, cold, wet sleepers.
Tom

 

[whcobbs]

drying clothes-- Walt's nite out

Sherpakid, Hampshire, TomEske--

Well I did it. In brief, I put my middle layer of clothing through the washer, took the damp spun-down clothes, weighed everything, put them on over my vapor barrier suit with only my pertex wind layer under it, donned a 36 oz Primaloft parka and 13.5 oz insulated pants, crawled into a 34 oz Polarguard 3 D sleeping bag on my snowy back patio with just a pertex/silnylon sleeping bag cover, and eventually slept. Temps ranged from 13 d F at 10:40 PM, 9 d F and midnight, then gradually rising to 18 d F at 6 AM when I waked. The night was windy throughout with minor spindrift.

The big picture: my damp 200 wt Powerstretch bodysuit, fleece mittens, polypro glove liners, neoprene socks, nylon socks, and polypro balaclava initially contained alltogether 16 oz wt moisture.
At 6 AM, these items contained only 1 oz moisture. Of the 15 oz to be accounted for, ca 6 oz were retained in outer layers (bag 2.0 oz, parka 2.5 oz, pants 0.3, bivy 0.8 ). Presumably, 9 oz evaporated. The "sweat soup", moisture adhering to the vb suit and in the pertex wind suit, amounted to 0.5 oz, all in the windpants (damp draw cord). For any one who wants it there is a detailed weight break down. The mittens were the dampest items, but everything was quite wearable in the AM.

Walt

 

[Mongoose]

Ditto what sardog said. The key is to prevent your clothes from getting damp during the day. Sometimes when your clothes get wet to a certain point, there is no way to dry them out except with a fire or some other source of heat other than your body. With good prevention, any amount of wetness in your clothing at the end of the day will be very light and easily dryable while wearing inside your bag.

Vapor Barrier clothing is great for this. I wear VB socks instead of liners next to my skin. This way my socks and boot liners stay perfectly dry. Next I'm going to get a VB vest to keep moisture from building up between my back and the pack. Now I only carry one set of clothes and a down suit. The clothes always stay dry with proper prevention, but if something were ever to go wrong, I can change into the down suit.

A note on sleeping bags. A bag with a waterproof/breathable shell will *hold in* moisture more than a regular nylon shell and thus prevent things from drying as easily.

 

[whcobbs]

drying clothes--vb suit & hypothermia

Mongoose--

Another use for vb clothing is to forestall hypothermia when chills set in. Along the N-P trail S of Moose Pond shelter I slipped off a log bridge and fell into a beaver brook up to my neck, pack and all.
Conditions were about 50 d F, windy and wet. My skin was soaked although most items in the pack were sealed up and stayed dry. I put on the vb/rain suit at skin layer, wet hiking clothes over it, and marched uphill. In about half an hour I was warmed up and able to unpack and deal with the situation at the shelter.

Walt

 

[sherpakid]

it works!

I had a great trip this weekend!

Sardog 1 - I kept the shell off and I noticed that I was significantly drier and stayed quite warm and toasty during the hike.

As far as drying out the clothes in the bag, I really think it's about the kind of bag you have. In the previous years, I was using a 25F rated, EMS down bag with no type of weather-resistant/weather proof shell. I'd wake up wet and cold. This year I used a -20F EMS down bag that was weather proof and not only did the bag stay dry, my clothes dried out. I didn't even use my 2nd set of base layers. My fleece was dry and warm when I woke up!

I don't know if it was because I had a better bag, or because I wasn't as wet as before, but I know that my clothes were really dry and I was stoked!

sherpakid