I think I did something wrong…

[ineedpaintball]

I went for a hike today and when I stopped to hang my hammock it didn't feel right. Now this is my first time hanging outside of my yard too. At home I was able to lay in it at an angle so I was flat, but today everytime I turned it folded me up instead. And when I laid parallel in the center it wrapped around me and closed above my head.

Any idea as to what caused this?

[Bubba]

Its always a little tricky to replicate backyard hangs. My guess is you did not have enough sag. Try a structural ridgeline to give you some consistency from set up to set up.

[Arok]

My eno does that to me on my indoor hammock stand, because I do do not have a structural ridgeline on the eno. Check the angle at which your hanging and the amount of sag.

[default]

if it wrapped around you, it sounds like you were laying head to toe with the trees, in a straight line with the hammock. you bannana'ed

if you were laying on the diagonal, id definitely say you could benefit from a ridgeline, as i have one on all my hammocks. its very worth it.

[MAD777]

It sounds like you had the hammock suspension too tight. Try loosing it up to put more sag in the hammock.

[raiffnuke]

Try more sag and maybe add a RL. It helped me.

[ineedpaintball]

So I want the 30* when it's empty? I thought it was supposed to be once I got in it.

[Bubba]

It should be 30 degrees when you are in it. If you have a structural ridgeline (SRL), then you can estimate 30 degrees while it is empty. When setting up, you'll find as you get close to 30 degrees the SRL will become more taut and closer to parallel. Push it down with your hands to simulate the hammock being weighted and you see it get even more taut. When in the hammock, the SRL should not be very tight, however if your set up is less than ideal i.e. the distance between your trees is far and you cannot get the attachment points high enough on the trees, then the SRL may end up being very tight because the suspension may be less than 30 degrees. The advantage of course is your sag will still be the same.

One thing to note is that if you are using slap straps, they tend to stretch over time because they are nylon so your set up will change and you'll have to readjust everything. Not a big deal for short hangs but you'll find many swap them for webbing that is very low stretch like polyester if they are going to be used for an overnighter.

[ineedpaintball]

I got rid of the slap straps after 2 uses. But I didn't find any other straps at REI so for the time being I'm just using some ratchet straps. I may be looking at a SRL, hadn't thought about that yet. I'm gonna have to do some research, thanks forthe advice.

[WV]

Another thing to bear in mind is that the 30° angle is just a suggestion. For some people and some hammocks more or less may be better. When you're experimenting, make little changes. Sometimes it doesn't take much to change the feel of the hammock.