Poncho Liners: In Praise of the Woobie

[Caveman Jim]

I did the final qualifying 2 mile run in Basic with a badly pulled groin muscle. Hurting like hell and limping I ran it because I did NOT want to be held back. Hell no! Completed the run hobbling the whole way. I think they just liked that I sucked it up without complaining.

Way to stick it out brother, sometimes our minds kickstarts our bodies into doing the impossible!!!!
Noooooobody ever wanted to be recycled....... Noooooobody!!!

 

[Blowgunner]

Not a true poncho liner, but the Snugpak Jungle Blanket is a fantastic alternative. Light, packs really small in its stuff sack. One side is water resistant, the other side has a soft antimicrobial fabric. Very strong and very warm. Doesnt seem to ever lose its loft. I've had mine about 3 years. Haven't touched the GI liner since. A lot cheaper than the Kifaru too. I think I paid $30 on Amazon.

Insulated Jungle Travel Blanket

 

[Mephistopheles]

Can't say enough good about the poncho liner. Being a grunt in Vietnam (101st Abn 1967), my poncho was like having a a house with insulated walls. Our job was to walk the mountains and look for NVA base camps. It got very, very cold in those mountains. Very few had the wool sweaters that were great if you could get one. Here is a color photo of me staying warm in Vietnam 1967 in what was called a pattern 3 type poncho. The pattern 1 and 2 were first issued to Special Forces. I was given a pattern 2 by a guy rotating back home. Sent it home as a robe when we were in the rear. Still have it and have used it as back ground for photos posted on NWFF (see photo). If someone had called it a woobie, I never heard it.

 

[Camelfilter]

Not a true poncho liner, but the Snugpak Jungle Blanket is a fantastic alternative. Light, packs really small in its stuff sack. One side is water resistant, the other side has a soft antimicrobial fabric. Very strong and very warm. Doesnt seem to ever lose its loft. I've had mine about 3 years. Haven't touched the GI liner since. A lot cheaper than the Kifaru too. I think I paid $30 on Amazon.

Insulated Jungle Travel Blanket

Snugpak has some great stuff. One of there Elite sleeping bags compacts down to about 1.5 -2 x the size of that jungle blanket stow size, and has an expanding baffle for those with some "girth". Perfect for a large day bag size backpack with plenty of room for gear & food etc.

Super nice bag, the temp rating of which can be bumped up quite a bit by using a non-breathable liner (also known as a vapor barrier). Use of a VB takes some practice, but I swear by them - been using them for near on 20 years. Coupled with a simple waterproof bivy bag, makes for a near perfect sleep system--you just need to find enough cover for your face if it's raining. Although heavier than down, the insulation properties of the synthetics when wet, outweigh the weight penalty particularly for us here in the PNW.

Really want to bump up the temp rating of any type of sleep system? Add in a thick sleep hat or hood. Hood is preferred, I took a hand made sleep hood (this one: The Finbar Hood) up into the Tibetan Plateu on my overland self supported trip. One night one of my nalgene water bottles froze solid AND SPLIT, I was still comfortably warm. Matter of fact, at/above freezing that particular hood was too warm & I'd shrug out of it at night. Not sure if Brother Finbar is still making them or not, but a similar hood could be fashioned from any good winter coat, you could probably buy just the hoods from outfitters like LLBEAN etc. Ended up selling that hood in Khathmandu for what I paid.

Down:

We have several down bags, but they're a holdover from the mountaineering days, when particular care could (and would) be taken to not wet them out.