Hammock experiment #2. Moderate Sucess

[GregB]

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.

[samiam2714]

From what I read you are on the right track with the ridge line. The angle on your suspension is important but if you have the correct length ridgeline it makes fudging it easier. However if the angles aren't close then the ridge line is going to be pulled tighter than a guitar string and may snap.

My advice do one of two things. Get a ladder and use the hang calculator here and put the suspension up higher so you can get that 30*, or make half a turtle dog stand and use it to support the other side of your hammock at a closer distance. if you do the latter make sure you anchor the tripod side down or rig a solid ridge support or it may topple inward when you lay down. Good start, keep it up.

[MAD777]

All good advice, samiam!

[GregB]

I moved the anchor points up, switched one end to a closer tree, shortened the ridge line and I got this:



Compare that with the angle in the first picture and you can see what a huge difference it is.

Now the diagonal position is a lot easier to maintain. I now see what they mean when they say "you can lay almost flat" when you're on the diagonal. These trees are far enough apart that I'm not sure I can get the anchors much higher. But this already feels vastly better.

[samiam2714]

That looks much better. Depending on the distance between the trees is how high you need to hang the suspension.

Look at this http://theultimatehang.com/hammock-hang-calculator.html it may help.

If you are comfortable that all that counts.

[GregB]

That calculator shows some interesting numbers. The stress on my suspension lines is about 100 lbs more than I weigh. I'm glad I went with the 1000lb break strength line instead of 550 chord. I think I'll be changing all of it to Amsteel for a 1400 lb break strength and the lack of stretch.