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Dutchware Winter Sock Review

The-Dutchware-Winter Sock ReviewThe Dutchware Argon Vented Winter Sock is a large sleeve that wraps around your hammock and underquilt and blocks the wind. If you plan to hammock in cool weather, say 40 degrees or less, it really pays to add a overcover and a quilt undercover to your hammock system.

Dutchware Vented Hammock Sock

Compatibility
Protection
Ease of Setup
Durability
Weight

Simple

The Dutchware vented winter sock is an essential piece of gear for the cold weather backpacking. It's manufacturer independent and can be used with many different hammocks, combining the functions of a hammock overcover and underquilt cover in one piece of gear.

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A overcover is a lightweight fabric shield that drapes over your ridgeline. It blocks wind that creeps around your tarp while trapping body heat and warming the interior of your hammock. It can make a huge comfort difference in cold weather, raising the inside temperature in your hammock by as much as 10-15 degrees.

A quilt undercover prevents cold wind from robbing the heat trapped by your underquilt. I learned this the hard way on the Appalachian Trail when I froze without one last March, but now I’m wiser.

You feed your webbing or whoppies through the ends of the vented sock so it wraps around your hammock and underquilt
You feed your webbing or whooppies through the ends of the vented sock so it wraps around your hammock and underquilt.

The Dutchware Argon Vented Winter Sock is a 10-ounce sleeve, kind of like a tube tent, that wraps around your hammock setup. One end has a large mesh window that you position over your face in order to prevent internal condensation from forming inside your hammock from the moist air that you exhale. The other end is tapered to a small hole, large enough to feed your suspension (webbing or whoopies) through, with a mitten hook at the end to clip to the end of your hammock like a underquilt.

The Ducthware Vented Sock is a large tube of fabric that you pull around your hammock and underquilt.
The Dutchware Vented Sock is a large tube of fabric that you pull around your hammock and underquilt.

The mesh end has a huge opening so it can slide around your hammock and underquilt, and pulls shut with a cord lock. This is easy to reach when you’re lying back in your hammock, even if it has its own zipper.

What? Another 10 ounces for a winter sock? Yes. Cold weather and shoulder season hammocking isn’t terribly ultralight or inexpensive, so it’s important to remember why you prefer a hammock to sleeping on the ground. Another 10 ounces is a small price to pay for a fantastic night’s sleep and the flexibility that comes from being to camp wherever they are two trees.

Although it's black, the Argon 90 nylon still transmits a lot of light to the interior of your hammock
Although it’s black, the Argon 90 nylon still transmits a lot of light to the interior of your hammock.

While it’s only available in black Argon 90, the Dutchware sock fabric transmits a fair amount of daylight, so it’s not as claustrophobic as it looks. Argon 90 is a tightly woven, calendared nylon fabric that’s wind and water-resistant, yet breathable, used as a shell material for making ultralight quilts. While the Argon 90 used in the vented sock has a DWR coating, you still need a tarp overhead for rain and snow protection.

Closeup of the mesh head end of the vented hammock sock
Closeup of the mesh head end of the vented hammock sock.

Dutch sells two different versions of the vented hammock sock, one for winter reviewed here, and one for summer which has netting along the entire top. Both are sized for hammocks 58″ inch and available in a 10′ or 11′ size.

The Dutchware vented winter sock is an essential piece of gear for the cold weather backpacking. It’s manufacturer-independent and can be used with many different hammocks, combining the functions of a hammock overcover and underquilt cover in one piece of gear.

My only suggestion would be to make it easier to set up by running some simple fasteners down the length, so you could wrap it around your hammock instead of pulling the suspension through it. That would be a nice modification.

Disclosure: The author bought this product with his own funds. 

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15 comments

  1. How do you get in and out of the hammock when using the Dutchware sock? Is there a zippered entry?

  2. I had something like this but much smaller, lighter, simpler, and cheaper.

    I made it from a piece of synthetic, non-woven fabric-like material that a printer came wrapped in. It was roughly halfway in breathability between no-see-um netting and 1.1-ounce fabric, and extended from the head end of my hammock southward to about mid-thigh

    I simply pinned it outside, over the ridgeline, and it hung over me, A-frame style. It kept any chilly night air off my head, face, and torso. The 2 – 3 foot gap over my legs provided enough fresh air and controlled humidity. It was great for summer use, but I haven’t been able to find any really similar fabric.

    I also try to sleep with the hammock perpendicular to nighttime airflow. I hang the upslope part of my fly straight down, close to the hammock body, to block drafts, and leave the downslope side of the fly up, for ventilation and a view.

    For me it’s extremely smart to block drafts as much as possible. I can’t see buying a heavy-weight sleeping bag to stay warm when simply defeating drafts does the same job.

    Most flat tarps, shaped tarps, and single-wall tents allow air to flow in, around, and through, especially at the bottom, where a person sleeps. Bad.

    Check out the design of exactly every pyramidal tent made – a drafty gap at the bottom, still air up high – just the opposite of what you really need.

  3. Even with the sock, a dutch hammock and sock with suspension weigh less than the lightest Dream Hammock with bug net and over cover, and less than a Hennessy or a Warbonnet:

    Dutch 11 Foot Hammock in Hexon 1.0 – 8 oz
    5 foot Kevlar tree huggers, whoopie slings & clips – 72.2 grams (2.5ish oz)
    Dutch 11′ argon winter sock – 10 oz

    That’s about 20.5 oz all in. Pretty amazing for a hammock setup!!

    I just tried this setup for the first time recently and I ended up pulling the trigger on all that stuff I just listed above. Can’t wait to get out and use it.

  4. Is it possible to slip a quilt between it and the bottom of the hammock for an undercover and have it stay in place?

    • That’s actually the point. You want to prevent the wind from blowing the heat out of the under quilt. There’s a ton of space underneath so it won’t compress the undequilt

      • What kind of temps do you think this would take a hammock down to without an underquilt? I sleep warm but find anything into the ’40s Fº gives me acute cold backside syndrome, even when I’m in a good down bag. I don’t have an underquilt and haven’t done enough experimenting on various forms of rigging yet to figure the best and most affordable setup for me.

        I might be taking a hike in Arkansas this fall in temps that might drop into the ’30s Fº at night. On previous hikes there, we’ve tent camped but hammocking opens up so many more opportunities in that area.

        • It’s not really additive…there’s no insulation in it. It just protects your underquilt from the wind. Without it…remember what happened to me on the AT this year. This would have fixed it.

          That said it does trap some warmth in the hammock itself, but not on your underside.

  5. I use a Grand Trunk Skeeter Beater hammock with a JRB underquilt and an Enlightened Equipment Revelation top quilt, and ThermaRest pad. Would I be able to use the hammock sock while using the integral bug net on the hammock?

  6. Does the hammock sock interfere with sleeping at an angle? Do you think it would be possible to eliminate (or simplify, depending on how you do it) underquilt suspension by attaching it to the bottom of the sock?

    • No. An underquilt needs to be up flush against the bottom of your hammock. The sock doesn’t. It’s just a wind guard and you don’t need it in all seasons. No sure its worth integrating the two.

  7. Darrell Barrett

    Hammock Gear has a ultralight waterproof under quilt protector that envelopes your entire hammock. you can use it with or without an underquilt and it cuts the the wind and protects your underquilt and ie hammock from blowing rain. It gives you flexible options.

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