Quote Originally Posted by GrizzlyAdams View Post
don't laugh---so that I can easily get the height of the tarp and bridge right, easily, I've hung a length of cord that is Just The Right Height from the tarp's ridgeline tie-out. It hangs down, I pitch the tarp so that it just touches the ground. The rest of it follows directly. Hammock ridgeline goes immediately under the tarp ridgeline, tightened up on the trees before the real suspension lines are attached. When that's tight and level (use a $2 level from Home Depot) attach the main suspension lines to the ridgeline rings, and attach webbing at tree using as steep an angle as you can. Tighten the suspension lines until they are pulling up on the rings. Remove ridgeline cord to trees. Clip on hammock. All of the above takes a couple of minutes.

I cheated though. I left out the step of pitching the tarp after the height is right. Fussing with getting the stakes right takes a little while, but that's true for any tarp.


That all said, it is more complicated to pitch the bridge. I think with practice though it doesn't take overly long. That said, at the end of a 14 hour hike/ride/paddle, even simpler is better. No arguments.

with a 41" spread you have serious tarp issues!


Grizz

Grizz, you have this stuff down to a science, its primarily due to your posts and explanations that I even made a bridge at all, and I'm definitely not laughing on the ground height gage deal, I'd not even thought of that and its a great idea. And you're also right, my "wide body" increases the difficulty level significantly but the wider spread is soooo much more comfy for me! Who knows what I'll end up using - and therein lies all the fun