BillyBob58
08-08-2008, 16:42
Instead of our drought like conditions in recent months, I finally got a chance to put my JRB to the test with my Claytor, with out a RL. I had been planning to put the hammock/tarp up latter in the day for a test, as we had about a 40% chance of rain or storms forecast.
But about 1300 I heard distant thunder. So I decide to go ahead and set it up. I grab my JRB 10x11, which is in snake skins. But then I glance at the radar and see a huge red cell quickly approaching. So I run out side, and as soon as I get into the back yard, I see a dark black sky not far to the west. It turns out that sucker is coming in fast. I put the tarp up in a real hurry, as the thunder and lightening are getting too close for comfort. I grab my Claytor No Net and hang it in a hurry, with enough sag ( normal amount) so that the cinch buckles on one end and biner on the other are just covered by the tarp. I had not managed to get the tarps middle guy outs to stakes ( I had to hammer in all stakes from scratch), and just got the forth stake in the ground and tarp guyed out when the storm hit. I run inside with the rain hitting me.
( Sorry, but I was not going to lay out in severe lightning unless forced to on the trail. )
As soon as I got in an saw the weather channel, I said "Uh Oh, mistake- my tarp and hammock are going to be torn up". The warning was for a severe thunderstorm with winds to 60 mph, trees being knocked down. Plus, my wife gets me to run back out and close a vent on the travel trailer, and the wind nearly knocks me down. I notice that the garbage can has been blown to the middle of the road.
As I am having a sandwich for lunch, I look out the back towards the tarp. I have no elastics on it yet, and as soon as the water hit it loosened up. As I watch in dismay, the tarp is connected with very little tension and is whipping around like crazy, along with the nearby trees. You would not believe the contortions that tarp was going through. I did not think it would even survive without something tearing. In addition, I can see the empty hammock flopping around insanely under the tarp. We got a good 2" of wind driven rain in about 30 minutes, then about another inch over the following hour or so.
As soon as the lightening passed, I threw on some rain gear and went out to assess the damage. First I got the tarp tightened up, plus staked out the middle guy lines. Now she was tight as a drum. BTW, this was no "storm" pitch, just a normal fairly wide "a" frame pitch.
When I got under the tarp, I was shocked to see that the hammock was totally dry except for a few drops on the extreme foot end. Which had not even soaked into the hammock. I really thought the whole hammock would be soaked. Then I got in the hammock, and laid out there for the next half hour or so, with steady, sometimes heavy rain and wind continuing. I stayed until I heard/saw some more lightning coming in from the west. I could see the water (that was running down the strap on the head end) almost pouring off of the cinch buckle to ground! Though it was not exposed to direct rain. After it rained for over 2 hours, ( almost 3" total), water got past the CB, slightly wetting the rope connecting hammock to CB. Resulting in the first couple of inches of the hammock getting just a little damp.
On the other end, I had the stock Claytor webbing with a knot on the left side a couple of inches out from the hammock, and a carabiner in the bowline I had tied on the right side. By the time the rain had stopped, enough water had gotten past the knots to just barely wet the hammock on the end. It wasn't very wet, but it was noticeably damper than the slightly damp head end with the CB. So, I will add some kind of drip line to both ends if expecting many hours of heavy rain. But even as it was, no water got down far enough into the hammock to contact me. It was damp no more than just a few inches from the end. Also, I theorize that the stock Claytor ( and maybe also the CB) end would have done a little better if I had been in the hammock longer. Because my weight would have put more tension on the knots, possibly slowing up the water flow a little more. Maybe. Also, adding an additional knot or 2 to the Claytor webbing might help some more. But it wasn't terrible just as it was, I've had worse! Like the time I forgot to put drip lines on my Speer webbing when testing my PeaPod! :o
So there you have it. I consider this a very good result for the JRB tarp. This was, I think, a worst case scenario, because:
1: Had I been on a hike with rain gear, and no place to run to escape the lightening, I would have had all the time I needed to set the tarp up correctly, get all of the side guy outs secured, and quickly re-tighten as needed once the rain caused the sil-nylon to loosen. Or, better yet, I would have some elastics/tensioners.
2: I had NO shelter help from trees or ridges to help blunt the wind and wind driven rain. Just totally exposed hanging from a hammock stand
3: I had the 10 foot long Claytor No Net, which, with added coverage needed for bowlines and biners and CBs, really pushes the 11 foot RL of the JRB to the max. But, even without using a structural RL to shorten the hammock, just hanging with a moderate amount of sag provided adequate coverage in this severe storm. Once I laid in the hammock, with my weight pulling the ends towards the middle, it looked like I had a good six inches of tarp out past the CB or biner on each end. If I had been in my HH Exp, Speer or JRB BMBH, I would have had way past adequate coverage. Still, what I had was enough. Even without a storm pitch.
4: The tarp was very poorly pitched for the most severe part of the storm, flapping loosely in the very high wind. I still don't know why the hammock did not get wet. Once it was tightened up, the wind seemed a minor issue.
So, very good tarp, and excellent results IMO! :D
But about 1300 I heard distant thunder. So I decide to go ahead and set it up. I grab my JRB 10x11, which is in snake skins. But then I glance at the radar and see a huge red cell quickly approaching. So I run out side, and as soon as I get into the back yard, I see a dark black sky not far to the west. It turns out that sucker is coming in fast. I put the tarp up in a real hurry, as the thunder and lightening are getting too close for comfort. I grab my Claytor No Net and hang it in a hurry, with enough sag ( normal amount) so that the cinch buckles on one end and biner on the other are just covered by the tarp. I had not managed to get the tarps middle guy outs to stakes ( I had to hammer in all stakes from scratch), and just got the forth stake in the ground and tarp guyed out when the storm hit. I run inside with the rain hitting me.
( Sorry, but I was not going to lay out in severe lightning unless forced to on the trail. )
As soon as I got in an saw the weather channel, I said "Uh Oh, mistake- my tarp and hammock are going to be torn up". The warning was for a severe thunderstorm with winds to 60 mph, trees being knocked down. Plus, my wife gets me to run back out and close a vent on the travel trailer, and the wind nearly knocks me down. I notice that the garbage can has been blown to the middle of the road.
As I am having a sandwich for lunch, I look out the back towards the tarp. I have no elastics on it yet, and as soon as the water hit it loosened up. As I watch in dismay, the tarp is connected with very little tension and is whipping around like crazy, along with the nearby trees. You would not believe the contortions that tarp was going through. I did not think it would even survive without something tearing. In addition, I can see the empty hammock flopping around insanely under the tarp. We got a good 2" of wind driven rain in about 30 minutes, then about another inch over the following hour or so.
As soon as the lightening passed, I threw on some rain gear and went out to assess the damage. First I got the tarp tightened up, plus staked out the middle guy lines. Now she was tight as a drum. BTW, this was no "storm" pitch, just a normal fairly wide "a" frame pitch.
When I got under the tarp, I was shocked to see that the hammock was totally dry except for a few drops on the extreme foot end. Which had not even soaked into the hammock. I really thought the whole hammock would be soaked. Then I got in the hammock, and laid out there for the next half hour or so, with steady, sometimes heavy rain and wind continuing. I stayed until I heard/saw some more lightning coming in from the west. I could see the water (that was running down the strap on the head end) almost pouring off of the cinch buckle to ground! Though it was not exposed to direct rain. After it rained for over 2 hours, ( almost 3" total), water got past the CB, slightly wetting the rope connecting hammock to CB. Resulting in the first couple of inches of the hammock getting just a little damp.
On the other end, I had the stock Claytor webbing with a knot on the left side a couple of inches out from the hammock, and a carabiner in the bowline I had tied on the right side. By the time the rain had stopped, enough water had gotten past the knots to just barely wet the hammock on the end. It wasn't very wet, but it was noticeably damper than the slightly damp head end with the CB. So, I will add some kind of drip line to both ends if expecting many hours of heavy rain. But even as it was, no water got down far enough into the hammock to contact me. It was damp no more than just a few inches from the end. Also, I theorize that the stock Claytor ( and maybe also the CB) end would have done a little better if I had been in the hammock longer. Because my weight would have put more tension on the knots, possibly slowing up the water flow a little more. Maybe. Also, adding an additional knot or 2 to the Claytor webbing might help some more. But it wasn't terrible just as it was, I've had worse! Like the time I forgot to put drip lines on my Speer webbing when testing my PeaPod! :o
So there you have it. I consider this a very good result for the JRB tarp. This was, I think, a worst case scenario, because:
1: Had I been on a hike with rain gear, and no place to run to escape the lightening, I would have had all the time I needed to set the tarp up correctly, get all of the side guy outs secured, and quickly re-tighten as needed once the rain caused the sil-nylon to loosen. Or, better yet, I would have some elastics/tensioners.
2: I had NO shelter help from trees or ridges to help blunt the wind and wind driven rain. Just totally exposed hanging from a hammock stand
3: I had the 10 foot long Claytor No Net, which, with added coverage needed for bowlines and biners and CBs, really pushes the 11 foot RL of the JRB to the max. But, even without using a structural RL to shorten the hammock, just hanging with a moderate amount of sag provided adequate coverage in this severe storm. Once I laid in the hammock, with my weight pulling the ends towards the middle, it looked like I had a good six inches of tarp out past the CB or biner on each end. If I had been in my HH Exp, Speer or JRB BMBH, I would have had way past adequate coverage. Still, what I had was enough. Even without a storm pitch.
4: The tarp was very poorly pitched for the most severe part of the storm, flapping loosely in the very high wind. I still don't know why the hammock did not get wet. Once it was tightened up, the wind seemed a minor issue.
So, very good tarp, and excellent results IMO! :D