30D Hex Tarp review

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02-04-2011, 06:45
trekkingnut

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30D Hex Tarp review

I bit the bullet and finally went for a non stock HH tarp. I know i know i always bang on about how the HH design is ideal for me and there is nothing that i would change about it. BUT, my friend was going to the states and agreed to pick one up for me and bring it back, so i saved myself the $60usd shipping fee to the uk.... sigh... always comes down to money eh...

anyways, thoughts so far....

the stock diamond shaped or asym tarp comes to 434gms/1lbs. This is one of the main reasons that i didnt want to buy a 70d hex tarp as its 800gms/1.8lbs. Yeah the idea of having a larger canopy was great but adding nearly double the weight wasnt in the spirit of my uber lightness.

The 30d version is 500gms/1.1lbs..... so yes it is a tad expensive but in terms of adding weight it is minimal!

I have only just got it and unfortunately we have near hurricane conditions hear at the moment, i tried my best to peg it out in the garden and that resulted in me getting blown over and the thing almost getting shredded. hehe a sensible man would have made himself a cup of tea and waited till tomorrow...

In every corner of the hex tarp, is a tiny sil nylon pocket where the guy lines can be rolled into, this is quite a nice feature as when i want to use it as a freestanding tarp i wont have to watch out for lines all over the floor. Unlike the normal HH tarp, it also has this feature across the apex as well, which means that you can set the tarp up independent of the hammock and the chord is already there to tie it to the trees, for those of you who love the tarp and hammock together or tarp lower argument (dont start!!! For the love of god!) this allows you to do it whichever way you fancy!

I am going to try my best to set all of this up tomorrow and film a new hennessy hammock video, a follow up of my hennessy hammock 101 on youtube. Theres some more tit bits about internal storage potential and ways of making life easier for yourself that i feel need to be shared with the world.

for now, heres a couple of photos to show size for those of you that are contemplating buying one.

btw, as everyone knows, everything outdoors is measured in SIGG, it is the international unit of measurement for ALL outdoors people. So a SIGG it is....
02-04-2011, 07:15
Joey

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I used my HH Hex to great advantage. Temps were 7F in the am, and the view was phenomenal.
02-04-2011, 07:51
GGT

You need a us coversion, everything seems to be measured in nalgenes over here...everything is different across the pond :)
02-04-2011, 08:54
BillyBob58

Have they changed the tarp specs? It seems to me the weight on my Explorer UL diamond was ~ 11 oz( 312 gm ?) though I can't find specs at HH site. But I'm fairly sure that is right, as I remember my 13 oz MacCat DLX was a couple of oz heavier than my stock HH diamond. ( but I think the newer ones are 3" longer, so I they would be a bit heavier also, but I an surprised at ~ 5 oz increase) They list the 30D Hex as 19 oz/530 gm, which is about what mine actually is.

Anyway, I have found that do be a nice tarp, for about 8 oz more weight than the my stock tarp. WAY more coverage. Which can be nice for hanging around on a rainy day, even with friends coming to visit! Look forward to your evaluation.
02-04-2011, 11:55
trekkingnut

billy bob!!! the ul tarps are of course lighter! i have the explorer delux asym so its not ul silnylon, just normal 70d.

there is a comparison chart on the hh website that lists all the weights of all the tarps and all the weights of all the hammocks.

we are currently more or less in the middle of a hurricane so will try and wait till tomorrow and then give it a bash!
02-06-2011, 08:12
trekkingnut

ok, first thing ive found out which interests me a LOT is that it does fit in the snake skins with the hammock as well!!!!

one of the only reasons i didnt but the hex tarp ages ago was because everyone kept telling me that it wouldnt fit in the snake skins!!!!

guess that proves you should try things for yourself eh!!!

AND the whole lot also fits into the original explorer stuff sack as well!!!

tried filming but the wind today was ridiculous. will post soon enough....
02-06-2011, 08:39
BillyBob58

Quote:

Originally Posted by trekkingnut

billy bob!!! the ul tarps are of course lighter! i have the explorer delux asym so its not ul silnylon, just normal 70d.

there is a comparison chart on the hh website that lists all the weights of all the tarps and all the weights of all the hammocks......

Hello TN! OK, for some reason I was sure you had the diamond UL sil-nylon! I did not even realize they had a diamond shaped(in use) tarp that was 70D! Live and learn!

I see these pages at the web site:
http://www.hennessyhammock.com/catalogue.html#cat
http://www.hennessyhammock.com/specs_asym_30d__xl.html
http://www.hennessyhammock.com/specs-explorerUL.html

But I still can not see a tarp weight listed for the UL diamond tarps. Anyway, I weighed mine: ~ 11 oz. But here was the surprise: I would have bet good money that it was 137" long on the "RL". But I measured it and got 148"!

Quote:

Originally Posted by trekkingnut

ok, first thing ive found out which interests me a LOT is that it does fit in the snake skins with the hammock as well!!!!

one of the only reasons i didnt but the hex tarp ages ago was because everyone kept telling me that it wouldnt fit in the snake skins!!!!

guess that proves you should try things for yourself eh!!!

AND the whole lot also fits into the original explorer stuff sack as well!!!

Good to hear, I don't think I ever tried the big tarps in the skins with the hammock, only with the stock tarp. I did used to put the SS UC ( bit not the pad) inside the skins with the Explorer UL hammock. It fit with no problem, and I had separate skins for the tarp.
02-06-2011, 08:43
trekkingnut

http://hennessyhammock.com/comparisonchart.html

see if you can find what you need on that!
02-06-2011, 09:54
Dave41079

7.5oz for the backpacker and hyperlite according to that chart. The explorer UL they list as 11.5oz.
02-06-2011, 16:13
BillyBob58

Quote:

Originally Posted by trekkingnut

http://hennessyhammock.com/comparisonchart.html

see if you can find what you need on that!

Yes, that is the chart I remember from times past, but could not find the link recently for some reason. Thanks!
02-06-2011, 17:07
trekkingnut

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBob58

Yes, that is the chart I remember from times past, but could not find the link recently for some reason. Thanks!

ive never ever found a link to it on their site, just type in hennessy hammock comparison chart on google....

hope it helps anyway!
02-08-2011, 11:12
trekkingnut

3 Attachment(s)

well......

not sure so far.... i def need to put a second ridge line in as per the original asym... the sag in the middle drove me nuts just now....

it is bigger yeah.... but better? not too sure.... i actually dont like having four points to tie off..... hahaha. in this particular instance the road is underlined with rock so i found it very difficult to peg the two lines in that were too far from a tree..... with the normal asym tarp it would have been fine....

THAT SAID.... this is the first time ive EVER set the thing up so i am being ridiculously negative off the cuff.....

much more experimentation is needed and if everyone else on this forum can use a tarp of this size then **** it so can i!!! hahah.

someone once asked me what i meant about two snake skins, i hope these photos make it obvious!
02-08-2011, 11:58
BillyBob58

Are you still tying even that big tarp to the hammock? I have just always tyed the bigger tarps to the trees. Because I then still have plenty of coverage after the hammock sags on entry. I also always have plenty of head room, with still enough side coverage, without having to tie to the hammock suspension. Of course I realize you may want to attach to the prussicks for convenience and to have less tarp line to keep up with. But if the tarp sag in the middle is driving you crazy, you should be able to get both abundant head room and a really tight pitch and adequate coverage by tying to the trees.

Bet you like it a little better with some time. That said, there are advantages to the smaller tarp and just 2 points to deal with on the side.
02-08-2011, 12:02
trekkingnut

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBob58

Are you still tying even that big tarp to the hammock? I have just always tyed the bigger tarps to the trees. Because I then still have plenty of coverage after the hammock sags on entry. I also always have plenty of head room, with still enough side coverage, without having to tie to the hammock suspension. Of course I realize you may want to attach to the prussicks for convenience and to have less tarp line to keep up with. But if the tarp sag in the middle is driving you crazy, you should be able to get both abundant head room and a really tight pitch and adequate coverage by tying to the trees.

Bet you like it a little better with some time. That said, there are advantages to the smaller tarp and just 2 points to deal with on the side.

going to do a parachord ridgeline tomorrow and see what happens....
02-08-2011, 18:02
Guyon

I just got this tarp with an HH Explorer Ultralight.
Are folks saying that it will ALL (hammock and tarp) fit into one set of snakeskins?
I grabbed an extra set of snakeskins, my thinking being that it would be easier to keep separate a wet tarp on those rainy, foggy, misty occasions.
Total newbie speculation though. $20 mistake or sound logic?
02-08-2011, 21:52
BillyBob58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyon

I just got this tarp with an HH Explorer Ultralight.
Are folks saying that it will ALL (hammock and tarp) fit into one set of snakeskins?
I grabbed an extra set of snakeskins, my thinking being that it would be easier to keep separate a wet tarp on those rainy, foggy, misty occasions.
Total newbie speculation though. $20 mistake or sound logic?

Lot's of folks keep the tarp in separate skins, not wanting to chance getting the hammock wet while trying to get the tarp set up or torn down in blowing rain. But some put both hammock and tarp (stock tarp any way) into skins together. I think the 30D Hex will fit into large HH skins with the hammock no problem. TN is doing that.
02-09-2011, 04:53
trekkingnut

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyon

I just got this tarp with an HH Explorer Ultralight.
Are folks saying that it will ALL (hammock and tarp) fit into one set of snakeskins?
I grabbed an extra set of snakeskins, my thinking being that it would be easier to keep separate a wet tarp on those rainy, foggy, misty occasions.
Total newbie speculation though. $20 mistake or sound logic?

i go the extra bit of putting the hammock in a set of snake skins, then rolling the tarp up whilst still attached and sliding another set of skins over the tarp and first skins.

can kinda see what i mean in the photos.

so if you were to cut it all in half, the cross section would look like this, hammock, skins, tarp, skins.

make sense?

that means you have a lot more space underneath to do other things until you are ready to sleep..... and it keeps everything dry no matter what.
02-09-2011, 12:04
Guyon

Quote:

Originally Posted by trekkingnut

i go the extra bit of putting the hammock in a set of snake skins, then rolling the tarp up whilst still attached and sliding another set of skins over the tarp and first skins.

can kinda see what i mean in the photos.

so if you were to cut it all in half, the cross section would look like this, hammock, skins, tarp, skins.

make sense?

that means you have a lot more space underneath to do other things until you are ready to sleep..... and it keeps everything dry no matter what.

Makes sense. Sounds too like I can put the second set of skins to use no matter which way I go. I knew I knew what I was doing... :D
02-09-2011, 17:28
trekkingnut

def worth it mate!