View Full Version : Need Constructive Criticism
Mockingbird
06-19-2011, 20:28
Hi Gang! I'm a newbie at hammocking, and just received my OES MacCat Deluxe (silnylon) with a single panel pull-out on each side and sewn-on doors by 2QZQ (both highly recommended!)...I've enclosed some photos of my first official hang with it (used a continual ridge line), and would like some constructive criticism.
A couple of questions:
1) How long should the "drip line" for rain water runoff be (see extra orange line in pic)?
2) I'm taking this tarp on an AT thru-hike next year: since I'm new to this, is it best to just stick with the stock webbing or is it lighter/less fiddle factor to go tree huggers-whoopie slings?
3) (Adding to #2) Is it lighter/less fiddle factor to use a continual ridge line or two separate lines?
1. I'm not sure, but someone definitely will.
2. That's really a matter of personal opinion. Try whoopies and see if you like them.
3. I'm also not sure, but somebody will be able to help you with that.
Finally, I noticed you tied a back up knot for your cinch buckles. With those cinch buckles, a backup is no longer required, and in fact, I am pretty sure it is discouraged. Something about damaging the webbing I think. I realize this post may not have been very helpful, but I just thought I would toss in my 2 cents.
EDIT: Oh, and with the MacCat, I am pretty sure you don't need a continuous ridgeline. You can have a line coming from either end. And for ease of use, instead of tying all those knots for your tarp, you can look into getting some tarp flyz from Dutch. They really cut down on the setup time and they weigh next to nothing. Plus they are made out of titanium, which is just cool.
Set up looks pretty good.
I love the little bridge in the first picture. :)
Drip lines don't need to be long at all, even just six inches would be enough.
The cinch buckles in the second pic do not need a half hitch to prevent slipping.
To attach your tarp to your continuous ridgeline, make a couple of fixed loops either by splicing or using a double fisherman's knot and make a couple of prusik knots (http://www.netknots.com/html/prusik_knot.html). You can then attach your tarp's D ring to the prusiks with small carabiners. The prusiks slide easily but under tension will grab the continuous ridgeline. This will allow you to centre your tarp over your hammock more easily and you can get a nice taut pitch. If the prusiks on both ends of the tarp are pulled tight enough, the continuous ridgeline under the tarp will loosen a bit and you have a place to hang stuff like wet clothing.
Whoopies and webbing are less bulky and a tiny bit lighter but it seems to be personal preference really. IMO the suspension you have there is as simple as you can get.
I second the prussik suggestion. If you don't want to use biners with them you can use small trail stick toggles. Stick the prussik loop through the tarp loop, then hold it in place with your toggle. Leave the prussiks attached to the line when you take it down. No need to keep retying them every set up.
I think the drip lin length is not important. The objective is to provide the water a path of least resistance. It will stop flowing down your suspension once it hits the drip line, then follow the drip line downward. If you use a longer line, like almost to the ground, the drips are less likely to be blown toward your hammock if it's windy. I don't think that's a common issue though.
mbiraman
06-19-2011, 21:22
I'm partial to the ridge line kit whoopie slings sells. It comes with a continuous RL, a knot bone at one end and a small figure nine at the other. The tarp is attached to the RL via prussic knots at the D rings. With this you can set up the RL and then just slide the tarp where you want it and the RL kit is light weight, and NO knots.
http://www.whoopieslings.com/Tarp_Lines.html
gargoyle
06-19-2011, 22:30
A couple of questions:
1) How long should the "drip line" for rain water runoff be (see extra orange line in pic)?
A couple inches is plenty, enough to allow gravity to work and pull the water downhill.
For your hammock, the buckles and the webbing (hitched the way you got it) will work fine. If you have excess strap hanging down, just make an extra loop and tie it up out of the way, above the buckle. The buckle and the hitch act as a dripline.
For the tarp ridge, the new tech line absorbs very little water (if any) and tends to not allow water to travel down. The d-ring/prussik connection will stop most any transfer.
2) I'm taking this tarp on an AT thru-hike next year: since I'm new to this, is it best to just stick with the stock webbing or is it lighter/less fiddle factor to go tree huggers-whoopie slings?
Congrats on your plans! :cool:
Webbing and buckles is the simplest, less fiddley. Clip it to the tree, adjust and hang. Limited equipment and reliable and always attached to your hammock. Nothing to forget!
Whoopies are only a few grams/oz. lighter, but involve tying the webbing to the tree, then tying a marlin spike hitch, insert a spike/toggle, then putting the whoopie on the spike/toggle, then adjusting the whoopie...more fiddle for the few grams/oz. you save. Extra steps after a long day on the trail.
They are a little less bulky. And you gotta be extra diligent about removal. Lots of folks end up forgetting their straps, bad news when you just did 15 miles, :eek: and realize you left your straps behind.:cursing::mad:
My opinion, stick with the stock straps and buckles, unless total UL is your goal. You got time to familarize yourself with either set up, and see whats best for you. Try to make it to a local group hang and check out the VARIOUS options. And get some hands on advice...and they're fun!
3) (Adding to #2) Is it lighter/less fiddle factor to use a continual ridge line or two separate lines?
I am partial to a continuous ridgeline. I prefer to run the line under the tarp. The prussik method works well here for attaching the tarp to the ridgeline. With the line under the tarp, you have a place to hang clothes for drying, even if it's raining out.
The prussik acts as a dripline of sorts, diverting any water, and the d-ring acts as one too. Double safety factor againt drippage. (is that a word?)
The prussiks allow you to slide the tarp left or right along the ridgeline for easy centering of the tarp between the trees.
Prussiks are easy to make (there are several threads of how to) and take a few fiddly minutes to install the first time. After that, I leave everything attached (ridgeline, prussiks and tarp) as one unit.
You can do two seperate lines with prussiks, still alows easy adjustments, but you loose the advantage of the clothesline, which is priceless for hanging the days sweaty clothes.
OutandBack
06-19-2011, 23:17
Constructive Criticism
Don't hang so close to the wee people. You might step on them as they are crossing their bridge. :lol:
I like your setup. MAybe add a figure 9 to replace the knots in #3
Hi Gang! I'm a newbie at hammocking, and just received my OES MacCat Deluxe (silnylon) with a single panel pull-out on each side and sewn-on doors by 2QZQ (both highly recommended!)...I've enclosed some photos of my first official hang with it (used a continual ridge line), and would like some constructive criticism.
A couple of questions:
1) How long should the "drip line" for rain water runoff be (see extra orange line in pic)?
2) I'm taking this tarp on an AT thru-hike next year: since I'm new to this, is it best to just stick with the stock webbing or is it lighter/less fiddle factor to go tree huggers-whoopie slings?
3) (Adding to #2) Is it lighter/less fiddle factor to use a continual ridge line or two separate lines?
Hello there,
Your set up looks very good.
1) Drip line does not to be very long and you may not need one depending on how you rig. Your buckle and strap is under your tarp so you likely do not need to mess with a drip line. You can always throw a wet sock or bandana on if needed in a deluge.
2) I like whoopies, marlinspike,toggle, straps. Less bulk in the pack. Lighter.
3) I have done both....and both work well. Now I am back to two separate lines.
I did a video series for new hangers...it may help you out in some places: Hammock Stuff (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=15516)
Shug
Nothing helpful, as you are way ahead of me,
but is anyone else thinking Stonehenge from Spinaltap?
jason
Mockingbird
06-20-2011, 12:41
Thanks for your suggestions, everyone! I really appreciate it. I am going to try making my own continual ridge line like on whoopieslings.com, with the figure-9 on one end, knot bone on the other, and prusiks.
I see you guys are really digging my waterfall! Here is a better picture of it (now it has some nice red mulch around it):
How did those ball bungees work out for tensioning the tarp?
You have plenty of great advice. As you can see, personal preference has a lot to do with it. As to the whoopies vs adjustable straps - I would stick with the straps that you have for the first couple of outings, because that is about as simple as it gets and you can concentrate on tweaking other things. Eventually, you should try whoopies if you backpack, where weight and bulk are important.
By the way, the White Mountains are a great place to hike! I envy you, Plymouth State is a picturesque school. I have a vacation place in the Whites but I'm still trying to figure out how to retire and move there before I die :eek:
Mockingbird
06-22-2011, 20:11
How did those ball bungees work out for tensioning the tarp?
chorpie, the bungees seemed to work all right, not sure if I will use those on the AT or try out some single shock cord pieces.
You have plenty of great advice. As you can see, personal preference has a lot to do with it. As to the whoopies vs adjustable straps - I would stick with the straps that you have for the first couple of outings, because that is about as simple as it gets and you can concentrate on tweaking other things. Eventually, you should try whoopies if you backpack, where weight and bulk are important.
By the way, the White Mountains are a great place to hike! I envy you, Plymouth State is a picturesque school. I have a vacation place in the Whites but I'm still trying to figure out how to retire and move there before I die :eek:
MAD777, It's usually the other way around, LOL, people up here are scrambling to retire to Florida. The past few winters up here have been harsh with all the snow.
One more thing you might try--------you can get by with 2 stakes by tieing the two side lines together and placing one stake on each side. (so it kind of goes up like a diamond tarp---very simple with 2 stakes---even though its a cat tarp. ) To me, its alot simpler to set up that way! Good luck on your AT thru hike!
guySmiley
06-23-2011, 18:41
As long as you keep the buckles underneath that tarp you don't need the dripstrings at all.
I've spent many rainy nights in a hammock/tarp setup nearly identical to yours (your tarp is nicer, I had no doors) and never had an issue with water getting down the straps, past the buckle.
Changing the suspension to the hammock is going to be a trade off, I think.
Two things you're going to value greatly on your thru hike are:
Quick setup
Weight
I think the buckles are better for 1 and a cord based suspension like the whoopie slings are better at 2. You're going to just have to figure out which you value more.
rip waverly
06-27-2011, 00:37
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Changing the suspension to the hammock is going to be a trade off, I think.
Two things you're going to value greatly on your thru hike are:
Quick setup
Weight
I think the buckles are better for 1 and a cord based suspension like the whoopie slings are better at 2. You're going to just have to figure out which you value more.
yeah. if you're rigging your hmmk regularly, i'd go webbing and buckles. carry the 3 oz. and leave the snickers bar behind. after trying 'em, and thinking i loved whoopies... you sacrifice more than weight..........imho per usual.
PackBacker81
06-30-2011, 10:13
Thanks for your suggestions, everyone! I really appreciate it. I am going to try making my own continual ridge line like on whoopieslings.com, with the figure-9 on one end, knot bone on the other, and prusiks.
Here's some links that might help. For the locked brummel around the knotbone check out Opie's pictoral here (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=13328&highlight=locked+brummel+pictoral). Just slide the knotbone on before starting to splice. On the opposite side of the CRL is a backsplice. Check out this (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9349&highlight=backsplice) thread for a how to on that. I do it the opposite way SlowBro does his in the first post (I insert fid and use that to pull the tail through instead of the other way around) but each way works. Then for the prussics I would start here (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=13779&highlight=locked+brummel) for Opie's continuous loop pictoral. You won't need 12" loops as shown in the thread so I'd start out with about 18" of line and maybe 3-3.5" buries. Hope this helps and have fun!
I just recently setup a continuous ridgeline using dutch hooks and dutch tarp flyz and would highly recommend it. You can get the parts here http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/
And there is a video of how to complete the setup here. http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/gear-reviews/dutch-flyz-hook-how-to-video/
Okay a few quick comments from looking at your pics others have probably mention these too:
First with those buckles on the webbing I doubt you need drip lines there, on the tarp your extra line/d'ring is good enough also, behind the d'ring you can just throw a half hitch in for good measure.
I like the webbing, marlin spike, whoopie set up, easy to adjust and light...
For doing you tarp better you can do a prussic on you ridge line that attaches to ring on the tarp by you favorite method, biner, soft schakle etc... this let you hook up and adjust the tarps position easy also. There are some images in my gallery of my set up that works good for me... http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/browseimages.php?s=&do=member&catid=&imageuser=12475&searchid=&orderby=title&direction=ASC&cutoffdate=-1
Also it may just be the angle of the pic but I've found I get the tarp tighter if you pull the lower tie outs at an angle, instead of perpendicular to the ridge line.
peace
bluejeans
07-06-2011, 10:46
View all of Shugs hammock videos and then review Professor Hammocks videos on suspensions and you should have a good idea of the direction you want to go that fits your needs and likes.
Separate tarp line allows you to store your tarp outside of your main pack and set it up first in the rain for shelter without exsposing your internal pack contents to the elements. Again Shug & Professor Hammock videos should answer most of your questions. Happy Hanging and I will be watching for your Trail Journal entires next year. It is always great to follow a hammick hanger on the AT :)
Mockingbird
07-06-2011, 13:42
Thanks again, everyone!
I just recently setup a continuous ridgeline using dutch hooks and dutch tarp flyz and would highly recommend it. You can get the parts here http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/
And there is a video of how to complete the setup here. http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/gear-reviews/dutch-flyz-hook-how-to-video/
I got my mesh snake skins from OTG. They are nicely made.
View all of Shugs hammock videos and then review Professor Hammocks videos on suspensions and you should have a good idea of the direction you want to go that fits your needs and likes.
Separate tarp line allows you to store your tarp outside of your main pack and set it up first in the rain for shelter without exsposing your internal pack contents to the elements. Again Shug & Professor Hammock videos should answer most of your questions. Happy Hanging and I will be watching for your Trail Journal entires next year. It is always great to follow a hammick hanger on the AT :)
Thanks, bluejeans! :D
TadTheTinker
07-07-2011, 15:55
I am thinking snake skins for my DIY tarp are next on my list. Folding it up nice and neat is okay but rolling it up, stuffing it in a sock and dropping it in my bag is a much better idea!
I like what you have so far. Lots of good advice given here.
As a simple alternative to snakeskins, I use velcro cable ties HERE'S AN EXAMPLE (http://www.amazon.com/Velcro-Reusable-Self-Gripping-Inches-91140/dp/B001E1Y5O6) that are simply wrapped anchored to my tarp continuous ridge line and then wrapped around the tarp after I roll it up. It's not quite as compact as snakeskins but it's super simple, super light and an easily replaceable solution.
For my OES MacCat Deluxe, I use three ties.
i just furl it with my guyline tieouts. i don't see why anything more that that is ever needed...
CaptainNemo
08-09-2011, 09:45
1. I have gone at it with a hose and no drip line with my OES tarp and my hammock remain totally dry. That was just one time though but it was a hose and I had the flow of water right on the strap.