Well, I built my hammock according to Just Jim's tutorial and hung it up.
I laid down in it and it was comfortable enough. I was having a heck of a time trying to lay down at a diagonal as all the tutorials and books show. I can't quite figure out how the hammock doesn't just push you back in line with your suspension points.
So it got late, and dark, and it's been freakin' hot up here in the Sierras. We've had several days this week in the 105 to 107 range. I look at the hammock, look outside where it's cooling down nicely, and think "What the heck. Let's try to sleep in it.
At first it was pure bliss. The sleeping position was odd. But once I got a pillow and a thin fleece blanket my sleeping position settled in and I, eventually, got to sleep.
Until 2am. I woke up and couldn't seem to get comfortable. OK, that was a learning experience. Let's go back to bed and see what we can come up with in the morning.
This morning I looked at my hammock and saw how it was pitched nearly flat because my trees were about 24' apart and to pitch it with any more slack would have me dragging my butt on the ground. The first experiment was to tie in a structural ridge line. Immediately that helped me find that diagonal sleeping position a bit more easily because my hammock wasn't so darn tight. I went back and looked at a few videos and noticed that most people have a lot more slack between their ridge line and their hammock than I do. But I can't do that AND get the sweet spot 30 degree angle from my anchor point to my hammock.
Newbie's lesson # whatever: If your trees are further apart, set your suspension point higher to get that angle.
I'm going to go play with suspension point heights, ridge line lengths and sag to see if I can tame this beast. I think I'm getting closer.
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