... seem to have sorted my problem of keeping warm when sleeping on camp. For these past few years I've never been able to keep warm in a sleeping bag no matter what I tried (air mattress with roll mat and blanket underneath, blankets on top, wearing full clothing, wearing underclothes only, in a car, in a tent, on a camp bed etc etc). Last event was a nightmare lying there all night listening to others snoring yet not getting any sleep myself. I've been using a Highlander Echo 350 and a British Army issue arctic sleeping bag - neither doing the job.
The problem seems to be bits of me that touch the bag itself (such as elbows, knees or hips) seem to either radiate heat out or draw the cold in. Very weird. Especially as normally at home I sleep in the buff, even on the coldest winter night with no heating on and the windows open, and just have a nothing-special Ikea duvet.
I looked at the sleeping bag market - the are some eye-wateringly expensive explorer bags with duck down and massive 'loft' that were just too much to pay and some interesting fisherman's bags that are wide and square and meant to go on their chair-bed things. They look fleecy and warm but I think you are supposed to wear all your clothing so you can leap out of the bag when you get a bite on your line. So perhaps not really what I want. The trouble is there seems to be no standards or TOG thing so it's very hard to make a judgement. Hell, my Highlander bag says -20°C and my army arctic bag you would have thought would do the job - the thing is I think they mean you will survive down to -20°C outside. I don't want to just survive, I want to be toasty and warm!
Anyhoo, I bought a Snugpak Elite 5 which has quite a weight as well as a heat reflective layer (bought for £100 posted, paid for out of equipment disposal funds so no impact on the household budget!). When unpacked and fluffed up it has a good thick loft so that was promising... so I did a (fairly) controlled experiment. I slept on top of the bed in my Highlander one night and while warm enough (as expected, I was in the house and on top of a thick mattress) there were definitely the usual cold spots. The next might was in the Snugpak. Ooooh, no cold spots! Here's hoping for a good night's sleep at the March game!
Note: I fully accept I'm weird, no one I've ever asked seems to have a problem with sleeping bags and it annoys me to hell when I'm cold, tired and miserable in the mornings at events but everyone else seems to be chirpy and say how toasty they were and how well they slept 
and yes, I would have been a pathetic soldier - quite how they survived with nothing but a thin blanket I have no idea - part of this WW2 malarkey for me is appreciating what others went through. Never mind getting shot at, just sleeping fills me with awe 
P.S. My daughter with stunning logic said that if I was toasty at home in the middle of winter with the windows open and just using a duvet, why didn't I take a duvet to events. And the only answer I could come up with was that soldier didn't have duvets. Which was pathetic. 
And the only answer I could come up with was that soldier didn't have duvets
Well, a sleeping bag is just a rolled up duvet.....
It was VERY cold at the event in February, so better luck in March.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
Last event was a nightmare lying there all night listening to others snoring yet not getting any sleep myself.
Did you also solve the snoring issue? 
I am using a Dutch military M90 sleeping bag, with liner and goretex outer shell. And with my thermo underwear I was 'warm and toasty' at the Battle for Anzio game. Only had issues with the snoring. It seemed that everyone in the campsite was competing with eachother who was the best at it
Last event was a nightmare lying there all night listening to others snoring yet not getting any sleep myself.
Did you also solve the snoring issue?
I am using a Dutch military M90 sleeping bag, with liner and goretex outer shell. And with my thermo underwear I was 'warm and toasty' at the Battle for Anzio game. Only had issues with the snoring. It seemed that everyone in the campsite was competing with eachother who was the best at it
Ear plugs were given to me.... i really apreciated this .... 
Ear plugs were given to me.... i really apreciated this ....
Yeah, going to give them a try next time.
And then I will snore 
... there were definitely the usual cold spots. The next might was in the Snugpak. Ooooh, no cold spots!
All sleeping bags compress and will probably give cold spots so it's important to have a good thermal mat (or two) underneath all the contact points, even on a camp bed.
That's the annoying thing - even with a roll matt + air mattress + wool blanket underneath (with or without a camp bed) and a couple of wool blankets over the top I'm still not warm. I suspect blankets on top don't actually help as the weight compresses the loft and perhaps increase thermal transfer outwards, but I have instead tried an opened out rectangular 'summer' sleeping bag over the top as this has little weight. To no good effect.
Since there has been no deluge of 'hey, that's the same with me' posts I conclude the problem lies entirely with me (I loath draughts and dampness too!) and I should man up, or take to alcohol to knock me out 'til the morning. Failing that I hope the new thick and fluffy sleeping bag will do the job!
Try using a thermal insulating wrap. Similar to those they give to people to people touse to retain heat and prevent hypothermia. It doesn't allow the cold to travel through the layer, so none of it travels up in to whatever appendage is lying against it.
Show me a man who will jump out of an airplane, and I'll show you a man who will fight!
General James M. Gavin
CRY HAVOC AND LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR
The one thing that I find dramatically changes how warm I am in a sleeping bag (going by my non-hooded cheap 2-season bag i sleep in), is whether the bag is "open" at the head end or not. I found that if I fold up the opening of the bag into a tight 'scrunch' around my neck, as to trap the air inside, it's far warmer. Also in Winter, I tend to double-bag...
...it sounds like something dirty, but I just mean, put one sleeping bag inside a (usually cheaper) other sleeping bag. 
I'm currently on the lookout for a new sleeping bag, but am drawing nearer to being tempted to make my own 'period' looking sleeping bag (no, I'm not going to try to repro' a Dension flight bag....)
A Proud Member Of 'Team Spleen!' who play mainly at Gunman Airsoft, Tuddenham, Suffolk.
'hey, that's the same with me' posts
My biggest problem tends to be my head, as I've got no hair so it gets very cold.... I used to wear one of my thermal running hats, but Yith pointed me to a headover. This fantastic as it:
i) keeps my head warm
ii) cuts out the light if I pull it down over my eyes
iii) keeps my ear plugs in place.
An all in one cold head/bright lights/eliminate other peoples snoring solution.
I didn't notice Chommers snoring at Sevastopol, but maybe that is because he was awake all night shivering.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
It's also part of your british infantry impression as well... so even better. 
Never leave home without it!
You're not completely alone in your weirdness CW. I do find myself having a similar problem alot when camping, I get cold spots where I'm in contact with my camp bed. Like you I'm fine at home and often find myself too hot but stick me in a sleeping bag and its a whole different story.
Its particularly bad on my lower back/kidneys when I lie on my back. I can be perfectly warm everywhere else but the chilly spots on my back will keep me awake. I can roll over and will feel them less on my arms/hips but then just wake up with a dead arm about 1/2hr later. There doesn't seem to be any logic to it either as I can be boiling hot in summer and still get them yet at in the cold I can be fine.
I thought it was down to cold air coming up underneath me but having tried several camp beds, air beds, numerous layers of roll mats and blankets underneath me with no consisitant results I don't know what it is. At Sevastopol I was fine despite the cold in my two sleeping bags (one of which is meant to be comfortable at -15 and the other -5 although I doubt it) on top of a low camp bed, plash to cut out the draft underneath, roll mat and blanket.
So I did exactly the same setup last weekend for cold war. If anything I should have been warmer as I was in a tent not a drafty building but I got the chills again for no apparent reason.
If it was a constant thing I wouldn't mind so much as at least I could find potentially find a solution. As it happens seemingly at random regardless of what I do I'm out of ideas of whats the cause or how to stop it. Its got to the point where I'm considering taking a hot water bottle, its either that or a full mattress from the spare bed. 
Oh and the drinking until you pass out doesn't work for me either. No matter how much I've drunk I have never passed out. 
Just for the record the Dutch M90 Military sleeping bag I am using:
Liner and goretex outershell.
Sleeping bag itself.
Created a one-piece, three-layered sleepingbag:
All closed up:
Not had it cold as of today. On the coldest night at Anzio I wore thermo underwear and a pair of socks 
Using an airmatress under it. With a tent-half as groundshield.
I find it really hard to stay warm and stay asleep too so you're not aloneon that CW
I'm such a light sleeper that at the two events before the last one I actually left the main sleeping area and set up a basha in the woods to get away from the snorers.. even with ear plug and a balaclava itwas still like being in a wood workshop while two guys had a sawing competition.
Last event evo and i took a motorhome, sod realism, i had an event to run and needed proper sleep.
I've also found not engaging in the social helps as being 'hammered' thins your blood and makes you get colder but as far as i recall you dont drink so thats not an issue to yourself.*
The best i can get if i *have* to camp out these days is a inflatable mattress with a built in sleeping bag that i lie on top of, then i sleep in a british army 'bouncing bomb' issue bag inside a goretex bag cover... over that goes a wwii grey blanket to make it look less crap. It's ok in april to october events but i struggle in winter with it.
Those odd WWII blue/white striped pyjama we bought at Stoneleigh that year ( i know a few of us bought them, thought you did) were actually warmer than BD to sleep in... as with other i find a balaclava or headover pulled down helps lot too.
I did an *august* crich once with just a greatcoat and wool blanket and BD, as a WWII soldier and i got about 2 hours sleep it was that bloody cold. I finally gave up about 5.30 am and starte preparing brekkie for everyone. I just think chaps them were a hardier breed much more used to dealing with summer in a wool three piece suit and shirt and hat without dreaming of stripping off to shirtsleeves in public and equally suited to winter in the same clothes with the addition of a scarf and coat.
But seriously that crich was a killer, i thought *every* year we take ridiculous ammounts of baggage and we *should* be able to attend with the contents of webbing, a small pack and a large pack... however i found out that for me its just not possible.
I think its partly due to getting older. At 24 i did army exercises in wales in februray in snow in the same goretex bag and issue sleeping bag (with no camp bed or inflatable bed ) and managed fine... i remember it being bloody awful getting out the bag for the first 30 mins in the morning and trying to warm up and brew up but i cant remember not being able to sleep because of the cold. I'm not sure I could do it as easily now.
*equally not drinkng loads means you dont wake up at 4am desperatley needing the loo and have to go out into the cold *or try and ignore it and have two to three hours being freezing *and* needing the loo....
edit: have you considered a WWII airborne bag? they were actually designed for keeping pararoops warm in unpressurised transport planes at silly altitudes... they are bulky but might work and look right. Evos got one but i've never tried them myself.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
Yeah, I don't drink alcohol so that ain't the problem - but limiting liquid intake in the evening so as not to have to get up in the early hours of the morning is sound advice - this is my habit anyway at home as I like a good solid uninterrupted sleep.
Part of the problem may be 'switching off'. At home if I haven't put away the stresses of family and business life by reading a book/magazine or playing a mindless game on the tablet or indulged in marital jogging then my mind is in turmoil with maddening arguments being acted out in my head or detailed planning of managing the next crisis. At an event there is no switching off mode - and all the battle re-living and conversations from the social are still racing around my head as I'm supposed to go to sleep!
I'm not sure if the headover thing will work (I like a cool head and warm body!) but I will give it a go to see if it adds to the 'snuggly' factor.
And yes, I think it is related to age and being 'soft' these days - despite being brought up in a house with no central heating and just a coal and gas fire downstairs (as we all did in the 1950's!). And no shoes. And hard, scratchy toilet paper. And nowt but gravel for breakfast...
The airborne bags are not good as sleeping bags. They are designed to be used in the sitting position, lying down in them is odd.
I can bring mine to Arnhem if anybody wants to try it.
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
The only real solution is 24hour gaming without any sleep at all That really adds to the realism when you are attacked early in the morning, 'dying' for some sleep.
Or just dig a trench ...
... and sleep in it!
But, that won't keep you warm for sure
Yes, we dug a trench during a DDay skirm in France in 2010. I did not sleep in it though
Yep, I've got the same problem too. Nerve damage problems in my legs mean I'm a very light sleeper, even when I'm warm and comfortable, so I rarely sleep at all at events. However I rarely sleep properly at home, so Im about as used to it as I can be.
Last event evo and i took a motorhome, sod realism, i had an event to run and needed proper sleep.
^This is by far the best solution, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a spare £25k.
In a semi related issue (although a little lowbrow).... does anyone else find their stomach shuts down for the entirity of a weekender.
No matter what I eat I never seem to need to go for a 'shovel recce' while away but as soon as I'm 30 minutes away from home all of a sudden everything seems to go into overdrive
Sorry if thats grim but i was discussing it at an event recently and i thought it was just me but said individual has exactly the same thing happen to them.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
i have the same problem,
cold hips / back are the main area that suffer.
i have very little body fat on me, i had allways pot it down to this ?
are other "coldys" got little fat on them ?
team shoot and scoot, TL
