Originally Posted by
Youngblood
The tree distance, or span, doesn't directly cause more pressure on the ridgeline. It is smaller angles (ridgeline up to tree) that exerts more pressure.
When the suspension lines are pulled tight such that there is a near zero angle from the ridgeline up to the tree, the pressure on the suspension lines and the ridgeline approaches infinity when weight is initially applied to the hammock. haveThat is why it will always stretch, or in the worse case break, when you start from there. It doesn't take very much stretch to relieve that condition or to cause a lot of drop in the hammock when you start from there.
snip
For any hammock, you want to center it, level it (or put the slope YOU desire in it), and get it at the height you desire. To do that you need to know how high to attach it for the particular span you are using, how much suspension line to use, and use the same amount of suspension line on each end of the hammock. That is what you need to know whether you use a structural ridgeline or not.