Well, I spend the first night in my new hammock. I purchased a Speer IIIA hammock and a MacCat Deluxe tarp. I also bought the Speer SPE 4 x 4 for insulation. The SPE is a pretty great piece of gear. I bought the 4x4 because I am a side sleeper and it worked out well. By the morning, the pad shifted a bit, but I guess that is par for the course. It did keep me warm with a Ridgerest for a pad that I tapered for the foot area. For a top layer I used a synthetic mummy bag that I used as a quilt and zipped up the footbox.

The sleep was very comfortable. I still turned over a couple of times, but did not turn over because my hip was sore like I have to do when sleeping on the ground. All in all, I’m very much looking forward to more nights hangin’, and want to thank everyone here for sharing their knowledge and expertise. Reading through the posts helped me make some decisions when purchasing gear, and helped to make the first night a success.

I have ordered some cinch buckles and plan on making a strap that has a loop on one end to go around the tree with the cinch buckle on the other end so that the buckle is about a foot or two from the tree. That should be a quick and easy way to set things up and adjust.

Cheers!