Originally Posted by
BillyBob58
That was indeed a very informative set of videos! I was amazed that he went through re-tying that HH suspension over and over again, as he showed the original setup of each individual component of the super shelter and snake skins and tarp. Wow!
One thing that was very interesting to me is that he set up the over cover before the undercover. This is actually exactly as HH recommends in their instructions that come with the super shelter. But it didn't seem quite right to me when I first set it up. So I contacted Hennessy and asked them about it. And they actually responded that indeed it was better to set the over cover on last, after the undercover. That way the over cover overlaps the outer edge of the undercover, and any moisture that has accumulated on it can rolloff on the ground. Rather than being funneled down into the undercover.
But now, after watching Bushman set this up, I can see the reasoning for the other approach. One thing about the over cover, the way I was using it, it does have a tendency to gap up along the edges, in fact even the wind can blow it upward along the edges, decreasing its efficiency as a wind block. Regardless, it still seems to have a lot of retained warmth and wind blocking abilities. But I can clearly see– looking at Bushman's set up – that putting the over cover on their first might well help that situation. In other words, the undercover's top edge comes up well above the bottom edge of the over cover. This should greatly decrease the ability of the wind to get under the top cover edge and lifted upwards.
And after all, the over cover is not really meant to serve as any form of tarp duty. Even though I do find it somewhat water resistant. So there shouldn't be much moisture drops on it to roll down into the undercover – since the tarp should be keeping that from happening. Still, I suspect moisture can accumulate on it, just like it accumulates on the underside of the tarp from condensation. So there is a choice for a person to make, which way to apply the over cover. I'm not even sure which way, Hennessy suggest doing it, since their directions said to put the over cover on first, but their correspondence to me indicated that that was some kind of misprint, and I should put the over cover on last. So, your choice.
One thing that is plenty to see is how every part of this system really adds to the weatherproofing. Even the snake skins. When you're looking at this thing, it's hard to imagine any water getting past the Sil-Nylon, even with sideways rain/snow/fog. The waterproof Sil-Nylon undercover and the somewhat water resistant top cover go almost to the end of the hammock, and then the quite small stock tarp supplies the final coverage over the ends and some coverage out of the sides. Then the snake skins, and somewhat over the end of the tarp, supplying even a small bit of extra coverage. And I remember, if the tarp is tied to the trees, then the snake skins come in right over the end of the hammock to meet the end of the undercover/over cover! What a system! At least if you're a person from the system works – especially condensation wise. Too bad it doesn't seem to work for everybody, but only some of us lucky ones I guess!
Did he mention the space blanket? I don't remember seeing that.
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