How long does it take before you put your hammock up correctly the first time?

[MikekiM]

Repeatable and system, yes those are the words I should have thrown in... I'm sure a lot of other people do something similar. I can't be the only one who grew tired very quickly of floundering around every time I went to hang the hammock!

And we'll get some more chances to hike-n-hang at Harriman when the weather mellows out a bit. Gotta field test those new trekking poles, no?

I'm 5-9 by the way, which makes me think the whole body dimension approach might dovetail neatly with taller and shorter people.

I do pretty much the same with the height of the straps.,, head height for the head end and as far as I can reach for the foot. After that.. who knows.mm you've got me thinking about it though. Good first step

The Thru Hiker bubble is leading our way. Harriman is a zoo for the next few weeks.


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[MikekiM]

I've gotten much better over time, but nearly always have to fiddle with it some more.

Early on, my mistake was nearly always hanging it too low, so I got into the habit of using my own body dimensions to assist. With trees about 5 steps apart, I attach the head end strap just a little higher than the top of my head. For the foot end, I reach up pretty high, arms stretched over my head, to get it really high. Hooking up the hammock head-end CL to tree strap, I stand with a shoulder against tree and stick my arm straight out and use the distance between elbow and wrist for the CL-strap attachment point. At the foot end, I pull the CL toward me and connect to the strap (I use J-Bends) such that the hammock SRL is right under my chin.

It always looks a little high, but when I sit on it to fully tension it, it usually comes out pretty close with perhaps a minor tweak needed... easy enough to yank out the J-Bend and move it a couple of inches closer to the tree.

I use Prusiks on the tarp RL which makes it very easy to center over the hammock before staking it out.

Tried this process yesterday. I am a few inches taller, and pretty sure my hammock is a wee bit longer, but conceptually, it works great. I set up a few times using my body parts as setup markers and it works well.

If you use the trekking pole method when selecting trees, you'll have a good idea as how much adjustment you need along the body parts.. Pretty cool..

Thanks for this.

@ cmoulder... the poles are being delivered Monday.. going to pick up the JB Weld today.

[wa4chq]

I've been following this. There have been a few times when I just can't get it like I think it should be. I still sleep in it and am ok but I know if it was closer to being "right" I'd feel better about it. I haven't tried the "head-end, head height and foot-end, a lot higher" method. I'm going to....just gotta wait till tick season is over....hate me some ticks!

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[Beckerbrain]

I really wouldn’t sweat it. The only time I get my setup perfect with no adjustment to the strap height is when I’m hanging in my backyard on trees that I’ve hung from a thousand times. You’ll get better and better at it every time you hang, there’s little things you pick up on that aren’t easy to describe via text. You’ll start to notice things like tree diameter, distance between points, etc.

One thing I do that might help, I try to always wrap my straps higher than I think they need to be. Ive found it to be easier to loosen my Whoopie slings than to move the tree huggers higher up on the trees, while still maintaining close to a 30° lay. Not always, but at least 80% of the time or so I would estimate.

[morgan1840]

I've gotten much better over time, but nearly always have to fiddle with it some more.

Early on, my mistake was nearly always hanging it too low, so I got into the habit of using my own body dimensions to assist. With trees about 5 steps apart, I attach the head end strap just a little higher than the top of my head. For the foot end, I reach up pretty high, arms stretched over my head, to get it really high. Hooking up the hammock head-end CL to tree strap, I stand with a shoulder against tree and stick my arm straight out and use the distance between elbow and wrist for the CL-strap attachment point. At the foot end, I pull the CL toward me and connect to the strap (I use J-Bends) such that the hammock SRL is right under my chin.

It always looks a little high, but when I sit on it to fully tension it, it usually comes out pretty close with perhaps a minor tweak needed... easy enough to yank out the J-Bend and move it a couple of inches closer to the tree.

I use Prusiks on the tarp RL which makes it very easy to center over the hammock before staking it out.

I always use a hit or miss approach and them tweak as needed. I really like the cmoulder associative approach and will try it my next setup opportunity. Thanks for the post

[JTaylor]

10-15 minutes or so - way too much fiddle factor when I set up for the night. The wife just eye balls her set-up and is done in a few minutes - she then harasses me while Im being slow. I love my wife.

JT

[cougarmeat]

I'm still learning but basically I eyeball the hang angle between the trees and when that is about right, I sit in it to test the height above ground (changes from just visual to loaded with weight [me]). Then I raise or lower the suspension on both trees to adjust the height - leaving the angle alone. But it is all approximate - even if I use the app on my iPad to check the angle.

[Wildchild 1]

Cool ideas ,hiking poles and such, sometimes it takes me 5 minutes , some times 2, some times move and works right off.

[Jimswms]

I guess I'm lucky with my 90 degree. Make sure the ridgeline is level and you're good to go. Takes longer to hang the 2 straps than to hang the hammock.

[Thrawn]

I used to have unending issues getting a good hang. One end higher, too tight, or way too low to the ground once I got in (2-5 inches).

Once I put a structural ridgeline (amsteel) on my hammock the only issue is finding trees. The ridgeline will become taught during set up giving a visible guide of strap angle, height, and level. It also makes the hammock "fixed" and is the exact same every time. If it is not perfect just adjust one end of the ridgeline a little at a time until it is correct.

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