my goal is comfort above everything else. i mostly cycle, so am not too worried about the weight. but i still have an excel sheet with everything measured in grams and can reach a 10lbs baseweight.
my goal is comfort above everything else. i mostly cycle, so am not too worried about the weight. but i still have an excel sheet with everything measured in grams and can reach a 10lbs baseweight.
[QUOTE=Shug;464679]Hello R MacE,
I have done tarps and tarptents and hammocks. At the time I was worried to add weight. Once I tried a gathered end hammock I just had so much fun and loved sitting up in it and watching a major storm crashing around me and my woods brother Hickery. It takes some getting used to and some fiddling...but I am fiddly. Therefore I am.
JustJeff has a wonderful site on hammocks....http://www.tothewoods.net/HammockCamping.html
By the way I was born in Derry....have good friends in Belfast.
All secure in sector seven,
Shug
Here is a video of Hickery and myself riding out a huge storm....hammocks hung but us on the ground watching a terrific lightning storm....
What about ye Shug,
That's serious rain for sure but not quite the conditions that I assume the OP was referring to, I'm thinking more of high winds and near horizontal rain. To be clear I not knocking hammocks as such and certainly not questioning anyones personal preference for hammocks over tents but I think it's fantasy to suggest that a hammock/tarp can outperform a tent for less weight in the kind of conditions I'm thinking about.
Anyway, enough about tents, lets talk hammocks. I watched your beginners videos, brilliant, I had to watch them twice as I kept getting distracted through laughing too much at your accents and antics
Loads of good information for a noobie like me, you like to 'fiddle with stuff'? excellent so do I, only just got my hammock last Wednesday, by Saturday I'd sewn the webbing suspension straps into carabiner compatible tree huggers, made 2 toggles for the marlin spike hitch and made up a couple of whoopie slings, also sewed up a mesh ridgeline pocket, sewed some ribbon tyings to the midge net to tie it up out of the way and added 3 tyings along the side zipper so I could roll and tie the hammock when not in use (Yeah I know, what took me so long ;-). Hopefully converting a cheapie sleeping bag into a low rent UQ tomorrow for a 1st real try out this weekend.
All the best, MacE (Antrim)
For hard wind/horizontal rain I wouldn't want a diamond/asym tarp (its doable but not my preference). You just set the stakes to the loops so the tarp edge is to the ground like you would for a tarptent. That said the advantage of the hammock in that situation is that little thing called runoff, your not on the ground so you don't have the potential to wake up wet and in a puddle. Most of the UL tents are made to be water resistant but leave it in a puddle and they tend to leak. Silnylon will leak some especially if there is pressure from the dry side and your body would be that pressure. The trick to hammocking in bad weather is knowing all of the ways you can pitch are tarp to do different things, hung wrong it could be a problem in bad weather. Same problem exist in tarptenting. As for going as light as possible, I'm not an extremely gram conscious person, I prefer light (makes the hiking more enjoyable) but its not an absolute get as light as you can, key is comfort. You have to balance comfort hiking (lightweight) with comfort when you sleep as no matter how light your load is (even packless) I'm not comfortable hiking after a night on the ground. Main thing is find what your comfortable with and HYOH.
I understand what you're saying, and like I say there's no question when it comes to personal preference or what one person finds comfortable, I know that only too well as I can't get comfortable on air mats (POE Ether/BA Clearview etc) despite their popularity and actually prefer a closed cell pad.
I'm really only looking at it from the angle that the OP was talking about, i.e. in seriously bad weather can a hammock set up still be lighter yet provide equal or better protection than a tent. I don't believe it can, not at the same weight anyway and while I agree that weight isn't the only consideration it was the weight issue that the OP was asking about so for the purposes of this thread anyway weight/protection is the issue.
The OP didn't mention weather, only the insulation. And that is an insulation vs sleeping bag/pad issue. The weights for the two sides is comparable on that.Originally Posted by R MacE
Quick answer, absolutely is can, weight will be comperable, but with experience it can offer every bit of the same type of protection as a comperable ground setup, and sometimes more.
When it comes to extremes and protection, the user has a lot more to do with it working properly as the equipment itself. Plus hammocks are quite a bit more versatile in where you can set them up than tents. If there is a place to hang it, you can use it, and they can also be setup on the ground in a pinch if there isn't a place to hang it.
The only places hammocks don't shine is above the tree line. If you spend most of your camping time above the tree line, then scrap the hammock idea.
Fulfillment is living a life that makes the lives of others worth living.
DIY is addicting and fulfilling!
"If guns kill people, then pencils mispell words, cars cause people to drink and drive, and spoons made Rosie O'donnell fat."
All I can add is once hammocks and tarps become less new to you, you will surely gain the confidence in them.. Have fun doin it..
We would be one step closer to world peace, if everyone slept in a hammock..
Cheers Stan, good advice, I'm at the bottom of a steep learning curve
As for the fun part, definitely, if it isn't fun forget it whether it's a hammock, tarp or tent.
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