Sag

[Just Jeff]

DD's first underquilts also were not snugged against the hammock at the head end...there were big gaps between the quilt and the hammock.

One of the benefits of not being an innovator, and using a business model of running a close 2nd, is that you save R&D money by letting the innovators develop what you can produce cheaply. (Which is why a Burger King often goes up near a McDonalds a few months later.) The downfall of this strategy is that, since your engineers aren't solving the problems themselves, you also pass on the innovators' problems to your customers.

Sounds like their ridgeline advice is based on HH's early conventions rather than an understanding of the physics involved.

[drewboy]

Well, the deal with the Hennessy is that since they are a bottom entry hammock, people have a tendency to hang them higher off the ground to make it easier to get underneath and stand up through the bottom slit and sit down. Since people are constrained on how high they can reach on the tree to attach the tree huggers and also do the recommended Hennessy wrap knot, very often you need to tighten the suspension a lot more to compensate, producing a more horizontal sag angle. At least that's the way it was for me back in my early hanging days when I was using a Hennessy.

Has anyone noticed that in just about every Hennessy video out there, the hammock is strung up with the suspension line dang near horizontal and almost in-line with the ridgeline? Is that the way it should be on the Hennessy hammocks?

[MAD777]

30 degrees is when the drop of the suspension cord is half of the length of the cord.

[sir_n0thing]

Well, the deal with the Hennessy is that since they are a bottom entry hammock, people have a tendency to hang them higher off the ground to make it easier to get underneath and stand up through the bottom slit and sit down. Since people are constrained on how high they can reach on the tree to attach the tree huggers and also do the recommended Hennessy wrap knot, very often you need to tighten the suspension a lot more to compensate, producing a more horizontal sag angle. At least that's the way it was for me back in my early hanging days when I was using a Hennessy.

That makes sense.
Even the videos with Mr. Hennessy himself in them show the thing strung up almost horizontal.
In all honesty, I'm finding a comfortable hang is harder to get in my Expedition than it was in my Clark.

[Ramblinrev]

The HH is best and most comfortable, at least in my experience, when it is hung with a ridgeline that is barely taut. The tighter it is hung the more likely it is to develop the center ridge problem and knee/thigh pressure. The directions on the old stuff sack (I haven't seen the new) are just plain and simple wrong and misleading. It is my understanding they have been revised. Loosen the hang to the 30* from horizontal and try it again. Most of the complaints I have resolved for other people with HH have been from hanging too tightly.

[sir_n0thing]

Thanks Rev, I'll play with it some more. Last time I used it I thought I had it hung pretty loosely, but still had that odd center ridge issue and allot of pressure on my lower legs.
Practice makes perfect, and I'm definitely not opposed to "practicing" sleeping in the woods as often as possible!

[oldgringo]

30 degrees is when the drop of the suspension cord is half of the length of the cord.

I had just finished looking this up, when you posted this.

According to the source I found, a 30* angle will rise 6.9" for each 12" of run...7:12, to keep things workable.

[SirCantaloupe]

Just snapped my ridgeline (y'all were right about high tension putting excessive strain on it it seems) tonight, had to restring it with Spyderline. Anybody know how long a stock HH Explorer Ultralite ridgeline is?

[tight-wad]

.....You will never see a powerline in a straight line from one pole to the next. Surely if it were practical (or possible) the power companies would hang lines that way...

For what it is worth.. this is (?) hyperbolic (?) tan, sin, cos that we use for our cat cuts....

[tight-wad]

... Then I went back to my shop and dug up my inclinometer...

For those who aren't civil engineers, this is a very simple device that measures the angle/slope of various things. Don't know where you can actually buy them, but I have several passed down from my grandfather and father.

A simple DIY tool is to buy a big protractor* at Wally's World, a piece of string, and a rock. Tie the rock to the string, hold the string at the the middle on the straight edge of the protractor, and then, holding the protractor so that the curved edge is down and the straight edge parallel to your support strap, read the number.

If you are really cheap (like me) you could print a protractror ( http://www.ossmann.com/protractor/ ) on a piece of 8x10 paper and use that....