Tent vs Hammock Camping

[Ranc0r]

I'm guessing your hammock sheet is a near perfect rectangle and has a tight sleeve sewn in each end, through which the support rope passes in a loop, causing the sleeve to gather tightly around the rope, causing the sleeve to be spread around the rope loop, causing the hammock to be more taut at the edges taut than the middle, causing the stiff edge you mentioned. Am I right?

If so, the solution is to stop using the rope loop itself as the hanging mechanism. Instead, remove the support rope, pass a different much shorter rope (just a few inches long) through the sleeve and tie it off in a tight loop, so that the sleeve (with short rope inside and tied off) makes a knob. Then tie your support loop AROUND the hammock near the end but just below the knob, tight enough that the knob cannot pass through and escape. All this will allow the hammock sheet to to hang evenly taut across its width, so the edges will not be any tighter than the middle. This may solve your problem.

Yes! Whipping your own hammock means that you can play with how it is gathered, and you can make those edges as tight or a soft as you like.

I've been messing with the "W" folds in my gather, and my kids comment how the fabric now resembles Elfish armor or a Dwarf's beard braid. Hammock and Tolkein, I feel like I'm doing something right!

[JmBoh]

comfort and lighter weight. my hammock stuff also takes up much less pack volume.

[DeLaWhErE85]

You guys are probably going to flip but I still sleep better on the ground then I do in hammock. When my wife and I backpack, we sleep on the ground and I will sleep through the night no problem, no pain. If I am going out with friends, I hang, I am up on and off throughout the night and I always have to pee like 5 times. Been going back and forth for about 2 years and I still prefer the peace of mind and firmness of being on the ground as opposed to a hammock. That being said, I like the hammock more for sitting around camp. Being able to lean back and lounge after walking all day is the hammocks saving grace for me. It beats sitting on rocks and stumps all slouched over and what not. I swing in hennessey expedition asym zip w/ a HG Incubator short 20 and admittedly its comfortable to sit and lay in but for whatever reason its tough to stay asleep. Setup is nice, being able to hang just about anywhere is nice too. However I guess I am not old enough to really "hurt" from sleeping on the ground. Until such a day comes, I will continue to do both as they are both enjoyable and have benefits and negatives to them...

[nathwill]

as a noob to hammocking, i actually recently made a pros/cons list to help me decide...

for hammocks there was:

• comfort: hammocks are synonymous with relaxation for a reason
• ease of site-selection: trees are far more numerous in my home turf than the 'right' patch of ground
• less vulnerable to washout (several bad tent experiences in the wet PNW make this super appealing)
• improved LNT ability: contingent on using straps, but the combination of wider site dispersal and reduced surface contact is kinder to our wilds
• modularity
  
  • adapts to environment (summer vs winter kit) for maximum enjoyment (e.g. view vs shelter) and weight:comfort optimization (i.e. how much insulation & shelter to bring)
  • customizable to individual needs/tastes (suspension strength/complexity, aesthetics, etc)
  • easier on the wallet to upgrade piecemeal
  • the geek-out/fiddle-factor is also not unimportant

for tents:

• camping without trees (desert or high-altitude)
• simplicity

the ones tents have going for them are big in terms of hurdles, but i figured i'd address the first with either cowboy-camping or a ground tarp and poles to convert the hammock to a bivvy, and the second with experience. i may eventually pick up another backpacking tent, but the pros on the hammock and the rarity with which i've a need for camping without trees made hammocking very attractive.

[Afterparty]

I want to AT thru and dedicated myself to my neo air xlite and after 2-3 months my back was sore when I'd wake up. Been in my hammock most nights and will be again soon if I had a incubator 0 I'd be in the hammock nightly

[dakotaross]

Agreed that there's either age or something like that at work with regard to sleep. I really think for me it was after we had our child - at which point I've never had a problem falling asleep. But I haven't always slept well, and because sleep is more important to me now, I'm not willing to settle for rolling around on a mat. I'd camped in tents a lot as a weekend warrior and realized pretty quick that I very much appreciated getting out for two nights because I didn't sleep well the first. And that was pre-child, so it was always an issue. I just reached a point where getting good sleep was a priority, and knew the hammock was the thing the first night out in one.

So, getting to the weight of setup thing, I think these types of priorities play a role in the gear we see for a typical setup. UQs instead of pads, big tarps, other little stuff that adds up... its all because the "lightest" is mostly not the priority. Its the sleep/comfort stupid. Not for everyone, of course, but I think the typical setup reflects that. The fact is that if you want to be ultralightweight, there is no reason the hammock setup can't compete if that's your priority.

I think some ultra's out there are also hammock noobs who have a hard time with the modularity of the hammock setup, what is a necessity and what isn't, as well as some of the decision making that goes into a camp. For instance, a tent or bivy user has to be pretty careful with the ground that they set upon. Aside from two trees anywhere, hangers need to consider site selection for the purpose of determining the risk of wind. Just like I can hump a 2.5lb 3" pad to ensure comfort almost no matter where I lay it on the ground, I can also have a tent with doors, UQP or sock, overcover, etc. to combat the effects of wind on a hang. Or, if I'm ultralightweight, I can just make a better site selection.

These sorts of things are too often lost in the discussion between tent and hammock setup weights.

[ibillwilson]

I've tried many different camping setups in the past 6 months.

DSC_1194.jpg
Shelter constructed during an overnight survival course, shared with two other people. Took so long to set up we didn't even get to cover it properly, had to resort to the tarps we brought as backup. Slept horribly.

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Little one-person tent. Pretty light, pretty quick setup and takedown. Claustrophobic. Slept horribly.

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One-pole tarp shelter (10'x10' square tarp, asymmetric pitch). Very light, pretty quick setup, very quick takedown. Roomy. Slept horribly.

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Two-person tent and 2-pole tarp shelter (tried sleeping in both). Tent was moderately heavy, tarp was very light. Both setup pretty quickly, very quick takedown for tarp, pretty quick takedown for tent. Both felt slightly claustrophobic to me. Slept horribly (both).

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Eureka Chrysalis hammock with camper sleeve, afternoon test. Moderately heavy (same as 2-person tent above), extremely fast setup, extremely fast takedown (maybe 3 minutes each). For some reason, no claustrophobia even though interior room is actually comparable to the 1-person tent. Only took a quick nap, but that was amazing. (Subsequent test at home: 4 hours in hammock = 4 hours of amazing sleep.)

I know that there are lighter hammock sets than the Chrysalis, but the ease-of-use, comfort, built-in storage, extremely fast setup and takedown, all-in-one configuration, and on top of all that, amazing sleep... that just seems like a winner to me. I can't wait to use it for real.

[KiwiMark]

tent. Slept horribly.

hammock amazing sleep

That's the basics of it for many of us!

I have found tent camping much better supported in campgrounds. Tents are common and cheap and they are easy for anyone to put up and use. I'd use tents if they were conducive to good sleep, but alas they are not. I've tried thick inflatable matresses with insulation - nice and warm but not comfortable enough. In a tent I'll wake after 4 or 5 hours of restless sleep feeling achy and tired, too sore to go back to sleep so I get up and spend the day feeling sleep deprived.

In a hammock I'll sleep 8 - 11 hours and wake up feeling great! I love the sleep I get so much that I've set up a hammock at home in my bedroom and sleep in it every night. It has now been over 500 nights since I last slept in a bed/sofa/non-hammock. Being the weekend I slept in - got over 10 hours last night!

[WalksIn2Trees]

Every time I have to sleep in a bed (visiting someone overnight, hotels for work, no difference), I wake up with a stiff back and can't wait to get back in the hammock to recover.

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[Red Haired Booper]

Sleeping pads just aren't really comfortable for me. I'm new to backpacking and have found that the comfort level is immensely better in a hammock. I still think I'll stick with my tent and twin sized air mattress for car camping though, but then weight really doesn't matter because I'm not carrying it. I also liked the fact that I could buy gear as I could afford it or needed it, where a tent is a large up front investment for a good one