Hammocking is getting way too complicated

[sswens]

Im A newbie Hammocker and still using the hammock as it came from the factory with factory suspension with no plans soon to upgrade no UQ Whoopies Etc. So Take it at your pace no hurry and take time to enjoy your hammock.

[leepingreenlizards]

I've been lured into hammocking, from the tarp/tent world, by the siren song of comfort. So, what do I want, a cold, hard tent floor or a warm, embracing, cocooning, and comforting hammock that surrounds you with love?

Now that I've ordered a hammock and am past that lure, I feel like the siren song has me ready to crash into the rocks like Jason and the Argonauts.

Frankly, I'm overwhelmed with three thousand knots, four thousand slings, whoopies galore, reverse tensions lines and innumerable combinations of all of those that can not possibly be calculated.

Honestly, it's turning me off. I've watched all of Shug's videos, and they are immensely helpful (and entertaining too Shug!). Kudos. However, I still feel like I am a babe in the woods. This is from a guy who has taken wilderness survival courses and could live off the land without benefit of almost anything much less a hammock.

I'm at a point where I don't know how to proceed. Do I spend the next week learning knot tying? Do I spend the next week getting up to speed with lines, cords, carabiners, and the like?

Help.....I'm completely overwhelmed.

I'm with you 100% friend. I've been using hammocks since the very first Clarks and HH's were introduced some 10 or 15 years ago, perhaps even longer than that...I don't recall now. My setup hasn't changed much and I plan to keep it that way by using the K.I.S.S. approach. It amazes me when I see\read the extent that people will go to just to hang a hammock and lay in it, but to each their own I guess.

It can be very overwhelming and expensive to say the least.

I use very few knots…most are permanent and I limit myself to a single type when I use one. When I bought my first Clark’s (the first ones released) I almost immediately did away with the main line knot tying, with a very quick\cheap setup that’s easy to use before it became the popular thing to do. My guy-lines use a plastic clip for easy on\off when needed and guy out clips that enable them to go around trees, stakes and anything else with ease without knots; and they were cheap too.

It’s just my opinion, but hammock camping seems to have become very complicated\expensive and it’s meant to be simple and relaxing.

Most of what I use is simple, cheap and I’ve never had a problem with failures or weather.

Good luck friend!
LGL.

[itsjustbusiness999]

My advice: Avoid knots like the plague! I'm a rock climber, which means my life depends on my knot tying ability. I can tie a myriad of knots with my eyes closed, but knots take time to tie and untie, and lets face it the sooner you're hanging the better. I use the prussic method on the tarp, where each tie out has a prussic girth hitched on and has about 6 feet of cord (one end has shock cord on it), so all i have to do is loop the fixed end around the stake and pull- Done! Whoppie slings on the hammock, and there you have a no knot hammock set up that is super fast and adjustable!