a compact lay

[greggg3]

Thanks Greggg3!!! i am going to try that little fabric trick and see how
it affects the lay right now!

let me guess - significant shoulder squeeze?

[MacEntyre]

Similar ideas were running around in my head when I asked about South American hammocks.

When I shortened my hang by necessity, when the trees were only 10' wide, I was significantly more comfy. I've since shortened the ridgeline by two inches so I can keep it comfy.

It seems that lighter people are more comfy with tighter ridgelines, and heavier people are more comfy with looser ridgelines. I think this is because as the load gets heavier, the more the hammock wants the load to be perpendicular, especially as the structural ridgeline is shortened. The heavier the person, and the shorter the structural ridgeline, the more the occupant feels the hammock trying to move the load to the perpendicular.

Listening to Ed Speer talk about hoisting his hammock and himself into trees made me wonder about hanging from a single point. If you can lay on the perpendicular, instead of the diagonal, then you can hang from a single point, using spreader bars.

Either you are onto something, Turk, or you are reinventing the bridge hammock!

[warbonnetguy]

i've got a big mayan, and i've never tried a really short ridge dist, but when i hang with a good amount of sag, you can't really lay flat while being perpendicular in it, the hammock fabric is going to curve side to side no matter what (think of a jump rope, it's arc is curved). unless you shorten the middle like someone mentioned before, the hammock fabric will still follow a similar arc. also seems like longer (in the traditional sense) hammock fabric would be better because the arc would be flatter and thus less to adjust for. that poses problems with a higher attachment point though.

similarly i have done this by hanging a regular haab type hammock from trees about 5' apart, but i hung one end much lower/higher than the other. it makes a comfy chair.