NOOB: First Time in a HH Hammock: Lots of Condensation

**mrlocksmith** · 02-28-2011, 22:17

Hi All:

A Noobie question here. I just spent the night testing out my new Expedition Hennesey Hammock. The temps were in the 30's and the sky was clear and I was sleeping in my warmite sleeping bag with the DAM inflated just a bit. I was very comfy and warm. Almost too warm.

At about 3:00 AM I woke to find condensation all over. The fly and the bug screen.

How much space should there be between the hammock ridgeline and the fly. They seem to be soo close togather that there is little room for ventilation. Should the fly get it's own ridgeline?

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

Mark

**lori** · 02-28-2011, 22:22

Where were you?

It does sound like you had the tarp practically on top of the bugnet, but I've had one instance of condensation on both sides of the tarp and the bugnet, with the tarp hung 2-3 feet off the netting. Some places you cannot get away from condensation no matter what. A river valley with muddy meadows did the trick for me...

**Silverlion** · 02-28-2011, 23:05

You most definitely want to get that tarp off of your hammock. I have a separate ridgeline and try to get about 8" gap before I get in the hammock. Once I'm in, I have about 1.5' gap. I know with the larger tarp, I can get away with a larger gap and not get wet in the rain. I hear, but do not know for sure, that the standard fly has to be pretty tight to keep out any rain. Best advice I can give you is experiment and read a bunch of threads on condensation. Different methods work for different people.

**lymphocytosis** · 02-28-2011, 23:08

Your fly also looks a tad droopy (from the pic). You should be able to get it tighter along the length by pulling out the prussik knots attached to the fly. It should look fairly flat, and not dip in the center like that.

**G.L.P.** · 02-28-2011, 23:25

also around those temps you will have some condensation ....
i agree with others you need to get your tarp alittle bit higher ..
but you will have some condensation at times ... after some time you will learn how to control it to a point

**mrlocksmith** · 03-01-2011, 00:02

Thanks All

I had a bit of space between the fly and the ridgeline. But when I got in the hammock the space went away. I might try for a sperate ridge-line and a hex fly. It looks like you have to pull the stock fly down really tight to avoid any horizontal rain.

Are there any "hangs" in Northern Califorina. I would like to see what other folks are using.

I have used my Warmlite bag for a few years now and it never disappoints. I layed out the DAM on a diagonal pushed each of the two top layers off to the side a bit to cover the shoulders. I have seen some of the crazy but informative videos that SHUG made and hope to find something ligher than my Warmlite bag. I tend to overheat and then soak the insulation layer and wakeup cold. The Warmlite bag takes care of that for me in that the vapor barrier keeps the down dry, and if I get too hot, I just wakeup and vent the bag and go back to sleep.

Mark

**OutandBack** · 03-01-2011, 00:55

Another possibility for the condensation on your tarp could just be frost.
Was there any frost on the ground or trees around you or was it just under the tarp?

**OutandBack** · 03-01-2011, 00:56

double post sorry

**Dain Bramage** · 03-01-2011, 06:05

Very interesting. I learned quite a bit from this thread, as short as it is. Thanks.

**BillyBob58** · 03-01-2011, 10:09

Originally Posted by mrlocksmith

Thanks All

I had a bit of space between the fly and the ridgeline. But when I got in the hammock the space went away. I might try for a sperate ridge-line and a hex fly. It looks like you have to pull the stock fly down really tight to avoid any horizontal rain.

Are there any "hangs" in Northern Califorina. I would like to see what other folks are using.

I have used my Warmlite bag for a few years now and it never disappoints. I layed out the DAM on a diagonal pushed each of the two top layers off to the side a bit to cover the shoulders. I have seen some of the crazy but informative videos that SHUG made and hope to find something ligher than my Warmlite bag. I tend to overheat and then soak the insulation layer and wakeup cold. The Warmlite bag takes care of that for me in that the vapor barrier keeps the down dry, and if I get too hot, I just wakeup and vent the bag and go back to sleep.

Mark

Thanks for the info on the Warmlite VB system, we don't see much about that here. Sounds like it has been working as designed for you for years!

Was the condensation inside the hammock net?

I have had- many times- condensation- sometimes frozen- SOAK the underside of my tarp when hung in my backyard here in humid MS. I always get the feeling it is like a heavy dew on the grass, but instead up on the tarp. I'm not sure if there has also always been dew on the ground, or if the ground is fairly dry and it is just on my tarp. ( been a long time since I slept under a tarp in the back yard so memory fades )

This has happened even when the hammock was NOT occupied! So the vapor my body was putting out was not even a factor. This has happened even when I have been using larger tarps that were hung fairly high and wide for plenty of clearance. In fact, I needed to have plenty of tarp clearance just to avoid contact when I got in and out of side loading hammocks. If I did not I would soak my back or head, or in winter cause a little snow storm into my hammock. No fun!

What can be done to prevent that I have no idea. It has not been any worse with my HH stock tarp hung tight and close than it was with my larger tarps hung in a wide "A" frame with plenty of head room.

On a more pleasant note, this has mostly happened in my grassy back yard, which is also famous for poor/slow drainage. IOW, it will still be wet or damp long after any rains. Sometimes it has actually been muddy right under where I was hanging a lot. I can not remember actually having such a problem on any of my camping trips, even using the stock HH tarp hung pretty close ( or attached to the stock HH Prussicks/ridgeline). I may have had the problem, but it was not noticeable enough to stay in my memory.

So is the main problem related to where you are hanging, the amount of vapor coming up from the ground and condensing on the cold tarp? If so, is there really any thing that can be done?

But maybe not, as I see you are hung over concrete in a state with normally low humidity. Who knows? Not me!