Initial Impressions on Exp. UL + SS & a Problem

[dspittard]

I received my Explorer Ultralite and matching Super Shelter on Monday. Weather was amazing during the day, so I couldn't wait to set it up and experience my first hammock!

Being a first time user, setup was a bit confusing the first go around. Hennessy was smart enough to put the instructions right on the stuff sack, which I like since I'll always have them with me, unlike a paper add in that I'd probably lose. After getting everything setup, including the SS, I of course gave it a test drive. As everyone here knows, it was extremely comfortable...like sleeping on a cloud!

That night, it was forcasted to be in the upper 40s, so I decided to give it a full run. With the SS in place, including a space blanket and 25+ synthetic bag, I headed for my first night in the clouds.

Overall.....it was AMAZING! I was warm throughout the night, and most importantly, COMFORTABLE! I had no problem with condensation or cold spots. I checked the temps around 5:30a and it ended up in the low 40s...but I certainly didn't know!

THE PROBLEM: The reason I was awake at 5:30 was because I woke up realizing that my rear was on the ground. Even then, I was warm...just not quite in the air like I planned. There are a couple of reasons that I can come up with that may explain this, and I wanted to run this by the collective genius of this forum.

1. Being that it is a new hammock, the cord needed to stretch a little under my weight.

2. I didn't tie the knots as tight as I should have. I have checked and rechecked the HH website lashing video and I am confident I had the pattern correct. Again, I just don't think they were as tight as possible.

3. I know I hung the hammock lower than I should. I didn't realize this until it was too late and decided to try it out anyway.

What other problems have you guys run into that may cause the hammock to sag that much. I know during the day, once I had the hammock up, I quickly laid in it and readjusted the tension a few times to get it to a comfortable position. I thought I had it set up right...guess not :confused:

Again, all around, I'm very impressed and CANNOT WAIT until I can hit the trail and really try the hammock out!

Thanks to everyone for their willingness to offer their expertise and advise!

DP

[jeffjenn]

There are a couple of reasons that I can come up with that may explain this,
1. Being that it is a new hammock, the cord needed to stretch a little under my weight.

2. I didn't tie the knots as tight as I should have. I have checked and rechecked the HH website lashing video and I am confident I had the pattern correct. Again, I just don't think they were as tight as possible.

3. I know I hung the hammock lower than I should. I didn't realize this until it was too late and decided to try it out anyway.

DP

Your thoughts are correct the first couple of times in the HH everything will give a little. It actually works out for a good excuse to spend time in it. (But honey I need to make sure all the stretch is out of my lines before I use it in the wild!;)) Note: this only works soo many times before she stops believing you! As for the knots I found myself needing to pull the hammock very tight to make up for the "drop" I got from my weight tightening them. That's why they make rings & cinch buckles. I usually try to hang the HH as high as I can still get in then if it drops too much I just retie one side to take up the slack.

[Ramblinrev]

You may also have hung the hammock too tight. HUH??? Too tight? You don't understand... I sank to the ground!!

Yeah.. gotcha... too tight. The HH is very subject to initial drop when you hang it. You acknowledged you hung it too low (no biggie...) So if you had it too tight and you dropped it would be too low. Next time try hanging the hammock with just a small amount of tension on the ridgeline. Just bearly tighten it. I know it seems totlly counter intuitive. There are multitudinous posts on the forum about why this works but it has to do with the dynamics of of the suspension angles. I can't explain it but the engineers and mathletes have done so. I no longer sink much at all when I hang unless I crank that beastie too tight. Play with it and yu'll get it figured out.

[MacEntyre]

+1 for the counter-intuitive idea of hanging it with the ridgeline just beginning to get tight, resulting in less stretch-drop. It works!

I never was satisfied with the Hennessy 'tow-boat hitch' method of lashing the suspension. It's difficult to get that space-age line to stay put with that hitch. I changed to rings (http://tothewoods.net/HomemadeGearHHGarda.html) and all is well!