First night and loving it, but....

**watertones** · 01-08-2012, 12:00

Well last night was my first night in a hammock and it was magnificent! I was roasty toasty in my Eno Db,JRB 11x10 tarp, Phoenix 0*, and 30* sleeping bag. It got down to 18 according to my thermometer. I went to bed with a lightweight and midweight layer and by the time morning came around i was down to my lightweight layer and had to ditch the socks.

Learned that even though the phoenix was warm I was getting a cold pocket of air on my rump so I'll have to shorten the length of the suspension and see if that helps.

One thing I just cannot figure out is my adjustable structural ridgeline. It's just way to tight; I played me a song on it this morning when I woke up

. I've tried hanging my hammock low, high, shallow, deep. picked trees with different distances. The only way I can get it to not be tight is if I hang it really high and deep, but then I wouldn't really need a ridgeline by the time I was done. Plus it seems the only time I don't have a lot of tension on my ridgeline is when I hang past the 30 degree angle, which isn't good either. Does a person's weight have anything to do with the tension on the asr? I know it's supposed to be taught, but still pliable. I think mine was in the key of C Major.

**neo** · 01-08-2012, 12:04

Originally Posted by watertones

Well last night was my first night in a hammock and it was magnificent! I was roasty toasty in my Eno Db,JRB 11x10 tarp, Phoenix 0*, and 30* sleeping bag. It got down to 18 according to my thermometer. I went to bed with a lightweight and midweight layer and by the time morning came around i was down to my lightweight layer and had to ditch the socks.

Learned that even though the phoenix was warm I was getting a cold pocket of air on my rump so I'll have to shorten the length of the suspension and see if that helps.

One thing I just cannot figure out is my adjustable structural ridgeline. It's just way to tight; I played me a song on it this morning when I woke up

. I've tried hanging my hammock low, high, shallow, deep. picked trees with different distances. The only way I can get it to not be tight is if I hang it really high and deep, but then I wouldn't really need a ridgeline by the time I was done. Plus it seems the only time I don't have a lot of tension on my ridgeline is when I hang past the 30 degree angle, which isn't good either. Does a person's weight have anything to do with the tension on the asr? I know it's supposed to be taught, but still pliable. I think mine was in the key of C Major.

i never sleep on the ground.after 10 years of hammock camping i can say it just keeps getting better

neo

**samiam2714** · 01-08-2012, 12:04

how far apart were your trees? if they were really far apart and the suspension was lower than the usual 30* then the ridge line would be quite tight. closer trees (or higher suspension) steeper the angles less tension on the ridge line, and so on.

Also I have had mine ridge line on my black bird be pretty darn tight went I have to pick tree that a far apart because I am short and can't reach much higher than 6. ft off the ground and had no trouble. it just puts more strain on the RL & suspension.

Someone else want to chime in make sure I am right.

**watertones** · 01-08-2012, 12:11

Originally Posted by samiam2714

how far apart were your trees? if they were really far apart and the suspension was lower than the usual 30* then the ridge line would be quite tight. closer trees (or higher suspension) steeper the angles less tension on the ridge line, and so on.

Also I have had mine ridge line on my black bird be pretty darn tight went I have to pick tree that a far apart because I am short and can't reach much higher than 6. ft off the ground and had no trouble. it just puts more strain on the RL & suspension.

Someone else want to chime in make sure I am right.

Trees were about 15 feet apart and I grabbed a ladder out of my garage and threw my suspension up to about 8 feet. I can go measure if anyone needs to know the numbers. I get that the farther apart the trees the higher the suspension and vice versa. My ridgeline is loose before I get it, but it is really tight once I lay in it. I'm 240 so would that have anything to do with it?

**Desiel** · 01-08-2012, 12:21

I'm a noob but I thought that was the whole idea of a Structural Ridge line to take that tension off of the hammock and make it to where you don't have to figure out your hang every time.

**gmcttr** · 01-08-2012, 12:33

Originally Posted by watertones

...I'm 240 so would that have anything to do with it?

Heavier weight will increase the stress on the SRL if the suspension is set up at too shallow of an angle. The ~30* "rule" assumes a ridgeline length that is ~83% of the hammock length. If your adjustable ridgeline is shorter than 83%, it will require a hang angle greater then 30*.

If the hang angle is correct for the ridgeline length, weight will have little effect on the ridgeline tension and the SRL does very little except to keep a bug net off of your face.

Originally Posted by Desiel

I'm a noob but I thought that was the whole idea of a Structural Ridge line to take that tension off of the hammock and make it to where you don't have to figure out your hang every time.

The SRL is intended to "fine tune" the sag and make up for small differences in hang angles. If you use it to make up for very shallow hang angles, you may over stress the SRL and require a heavier duty suspension and SRL.

**samiam2714** · 01-08-2012, 12:35

15 feet is a good distance. I can't find it now because I am on my iPad, but there is a chart that shows tree distance and approximated suspension height. Your weight shouldn't matter I weight about the same as you and have no problems. Others will chime in I am sure.

**BlueSkies** · 01-08-2012, 12:56

Watertones,
Ya know, I have the same problem on my DN. I've had my ridgeline at 83%, 87%, all the way up to 92%, that's where it seems to have the right tension at a 30 degree hang, but then the hammock doesn't have enough sag. So I've gone to the theory that How the hammock feels is what I am most concerned with. So my ridgeline is set at about 103" and it's about a middle g when I am laying in it, but I just don't worry about it. My hammock is comfy and ridgeline is tight ...

**Gra_factor** · 01-08-2012, 13:09

I would have thought the tightness of the ridgeline would not affect the sag of your hammock at all (unless of course it's so loose that it's not doing anything). Of course it would affect the amount of force on the suspension, just not the sag. Is this right?

**gmcttr** · 01-08-2012, 14:43

Originally Posted by Gra_factor

I would have thought the tightness of the ridgeline would not affect the sag of your hammock at all (unless of course it's so loose that it's not doing anything). Of course it would affect the amount of force on the suspension, just not the sag. Is this right?

If I understand you correctly...yes. The SRL sets a minimum amount of sag as soon as it is taut. After that, additional tension in the SRL does not change the sag.