They are bulky and eat up a lot of space, but when you’re stuck in an unheated vehicle for any length of time they will be your Best Friend. I keep a military Modular Sleep System in the Box O’ Gear but it really doesn’t end there. Rolling around in the back of the vehicle is also one of the older style GI extreme cold weather sleeping bags. Both bags are bulky but since they are pretty much not going anywhere except in the vehicle, who cares? And, broadly speaking, bulk equals warmth.
Get comfortable. You’re going to be here a while.
The MSS is nice and very handy, but for some reason I really prefer the older GI extreme cold weather bag. Don’t know why. I’ve tested both bags in 0-5 degree weather by stripping down to shorts, t-shirt, and socks, climbing inside one of the bags, and trying them out. Both function well and while you may not be comfortable in the 0-degree weather, you will be warm enough to keep your toes and not die. I keep both bags in the vehicle because I can and I like to be prepared. Plus, if you get stuck with more than one person in your vehicle it would be nice to not have to listen to them complain. The MSS has one very nice feature…since it is a bag-within-a-bag system, it lends itself to summer emergency kits as well. Using just the patrol bag will be more comfortable in the summer than using the whole system. (But, obviously, keep the whole system together in the vehicle.)
I also keep a surplus wool blanket in the vehicle as well. It’s a distant choice for when you get stuck, but for those long roadtrips where someone is cold and want’s something less involved than unrolling a sleeping bag, it’s a good choice.
Both bags get rolled up and crammed into protective stuff sacks. If your vehicle goes sliding off the road at any speed there’s a good chance you’re going to come to rest, suddenly, against an object that’ll bust out a window or two. If that happens, you’ve got all sortsa weather suddenly coming into your vehicle and it’d be nice if your critical gear was protected. (Thats why the Pelican case.) Even just stuffing the rolled sleeping bag into a couple layers of heavy duty garbage bags and wrapping them in duct tape will do the trick.
You can use whatever sleeping bag you think works best. I went with the uber-bulky military bags because they’re cheap, durable, really warm, and I’m not worried about their portability. All that matters is you want the warmest sleeping bag you can come up with. Sure, maybe you’ll get too warm…big deal, open the zipper a little. Ten below zero, the rear window on your vehicle is shattered, you’re in the barrow pit, and the road is a skating rink….at times like that there is no such thing as a ‘too warm’ sleeping bag.
Years ago me and a buddy had to drive to Helena, a couple hours drive, in the middle of January, in his vehicle that did not have a working heater. I was amazed..astounded, really…at just how cold an unheated vehicle can get when you have to sit still in it for a couple hours. I had assumed that having the engine going would provide at least some level of warmth. Nope. And that was with the windows rolled up and us bundled up. No lie, man….it gets downright cold in a vehicle when it’s the long, dark, night of winter and there’s no heat.
As I said, I go for overkill. Two sleeping bags and a good heavy wool blanket. Do not carry just a blanket. Whatever you get, wrap them in some sort of protective material or container to keep them dry and clean. (As pointed out in comments, stuffing a seeping bag into a five-gallon bucket and sealing it up makes an outstanding sleeping bag protective container.) If you have to spend two days huddled in your sleeping bag in the back of your Subaru the last thing you want is that bag soaked in old Pepsi, motor oil, and any other fluid that exploded out of the containers you keep in the back of your vehicle.
great minds…i just ordered another bag last week for just that reason. and funny that i prefer the old school army bag myself as well. i think its the texture and more substantial feel of it. that, and i have had to survive in it when a freak ice storm rolled in during an ftx in the mountains. we got soaked with rain in the lower elevations before we moved up, but that bag that i had been cursing its weight kept me toasty and slept my clothes dry inside. we almost lost a couple guys that night because they opted for lighter gear….i never considered the truck might not be on all four wheels. i’ll have to make adjustments. i keep a wolly in there more for casualty care. i’ve been first on scene several times and the first time had to take my coat off to cover the victim. never again. i’m loving this series, validates some of my thinking and new ideas too.
5-gallon bucket with lid: perhaps the best and cheapest hard sided sleeping bag container going.
And in that convenient Home Depot high-vis orange………
Yeah, that’s worthy of ‘life-hack’ status!
Just visiting family back at the old home place. It is freezing here. Well, 32 degrees. It won’t be back into the 80’s until Tuesday. I need cold weather gear for sure. NOG
I’ve had a couple Volkswagen buses, their meager heat output made them no fun to drive once the temps started to drop.
Don’t forget the woobie. That additional layer is worth much more its weight in gold.
“How to carry all this crap” has been an issue for a while. The truck has a cap, but it will weep a little in heavy rain at 60 mph. Not much of an issue with a bed liner with deep ribs, but….OK, then go with a hard plastic “truck box” inside the shell. Gasketed, so pretty water tight, big enough to hold all the bulky stuff, but a PITA if you actually have to use the bed to carry stuff or live in while waiting for rescue.
Then there’s waterproof hitch carrier bags, available in slightly different sizes. Bingo. Not only is it big enough and waterproof (proven on multiple trips strapped onto the hitch basket) but when empty it can be folded up, unlike a rigid plastic box, and comes with straps to secure it inside the bed. Pro tip: 2 smaller ones that can be positioned vertically inside the shell is a better solution than one big one that can only sit horizontally. Also easier to carry if that becomes necessary.
I’ll have to look at the 5 gallon bucket thing; I’ve been using double heavy duty vacuum cleaner-type vacuum-seal bags inside the hitch basket bag because not only does removing the air make stuff smaller, they’re flexible.
For long term storage of sleeping bags, it’s a trade off between space and keeping them compressed and potentially losing some performance. The 5 gallon bucket would at least keep my camping bags somewhat less than fully compressed which would be good.
Very timely article! Yesterday I looked inside some forgotten boxes & found 3 summer-weight sleeping bags & 1 winter-weight – with a carrying bag. Guess which one is going in the car? 🙂
Do you carry anything to fix that busted out a window or two?
The best rule for wintertime driving is never to let the tank drop below half. This allows for more than 24 hours of idling and still most likely reaching the next gas station.
I live waaay down south of you so have no need for sleeping bag for snow condtions. Just above freezing – yeah, we have those.
Best travel vehicle warmer – G.I. M65 liner. Packs down to nothing, but provides pretty nice warmth for the back seat dwellers. People fall asleep really easily in them.
Motorcycle trip, (early Oct?) in the early 70’s, from NJ to FL, (Ft Lauderdale). 32 degrees when leaving NJ, never got above freezing. Coldest part was at the GA/FL line, near zero. Was finally warm when I got to Daytona. You don’t need snow to have it be cold!
There is no recognized level of insulation, one manufacturer claiming a -10 degree bag may have the same amount of insulation as a -20 by another manufacturer. Individual preferences and body types require different levels of insulation.