Assistance with hanging angles

I need some advice I am definitely doing something wrong. I just got my DB Double 1.0 oz camo. Hung it up in the back yard today I figure I got my angles wrong and I'm not sure what I did wrong. I tried raising the tree straps, loosened the whoopie slings... I am not sure what I'm doing wrong. I figure it's wrong because when I do the tug test on the ridge line I can barely get it to move no matter what I do.

Here's some pictures of it hanging I did end up raising the tree straps and loosening the whoopies after and it loosened a little....

Please help.

Reposted with upright pictures sorry about that.

How far apart are those trees?

Those trees are a good distance apart. You may need to use longer straps/line (or larks head a few straps together to extend) and then raise the straps up the tree a bit.

The easiest way to do it is to use Dehoja's hang calculator. You can enter tree distance, ridgeline length (100 or 110" for the Dangerbird depending on how long you got it), etc. Then, it tells you how far the suspension should be, how far off the ground, etc. Very handy tool, especially when you're learning or trying out a new hammock.

http://theultimatehang.com/hammock-hang-calculator/

I'm going to guess about... 13ish feet. I have other backyard tree's. I'll plug into that calculator and see what my distance should be.

Thanks folks

Your trees do look very far apart. For that distance, I would expect the straps to be higher. The problem is getting them up the trees. You can use a stick to push the straps up the trunk and tighten the tail when they're up higher.

You can make yourself one of these hammock levels out of a plastic oatmeal or margarine top.

Attachment 44931

Hang it from your ridge line with a bread twistie tie. Judge the levelness of your ridge line with the top edge. Judge the 30 degree angles of the suspension with the side edges.

Pretty soon, you'll be able judge the angle with just your eye. Good luck!! :D

I'll give that angle thing a shot too... I ended up having the straps up to maybe 5'9" or so by the time I wasn't sure what to do anymore and just laid in it. It wasn't uncomfortable but I don't want to damage my new hammock.

Also really really hard to get the thermorest pad to stay under me. Issue is I am just about as big as the pad so if it was off just a little I was cold. The temperature was below freezing today though.

You can make something called a SPE it fixes that shifting of your pad and helps the shoulders warm up.
http://www.tothewoods.net/HomemadeGearSPE.html

ENO is the only one that sells them they are called hotspots. Most of us in the forum use fluffy down underquilts. Some day I will have to adopt one if I winter camped.

Nice post... I guess I'll have to learn how to sew. My problem is there's a good possibility on the trip I may have to go to the ground here and there and I'll need to carry a pad anyways. Also with all this great gear I'm out of cash for a underquilt at this time.

That calculator is wonderful tool..

The cheater way to see what your angle is is to have a smart phone with a bubble level app that tells you. Or you could use the quick and dirty rule of thumb. When you make a right angel with your thumb and index finger the line between your finger tips is roughly 30*.

I could be wrong, really hard to judge distance in pictures, but it looks like your span is more in the neighborhood of 20 ft, 8-9ft for ridgeline and 5-6ft to each tree. If that is the case you'd want your straps to be over 7ft up the tree.

Keep messing with it and find that sweet spot, then it's nap time.

Even before using the hang calculator, you can use a "seat of the pants" guess and get pretty close.

What I do is to simply take a look at the angle of the hammock itself and try to imagine the suspension lines extending up at this same angle. After your suspension roughly matches the hammock, you then begin to fine tune with the hang calculator or just jump in and try to bend the ridgeline.

It's difficult to show because of the photo angle, but here's roughly how I see it.

I can also recommend the phone app, or if you wait a bit Tato gear, will be releasing some hammock specific levels in the near future called Hangles

Quote:

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Originally Posted by macinnisl

I'm going to guess about... 13ish feet. I have other backyard tree's. I'll plug into that calculator and see what my distance should be.

Thanks folks

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No way those trees are 13 ft. apart. A Dangerbird is probably 10 or 11 foot long, and it looks like you have six ft. on either side, in which case your trees are 22 ft. away from each other. The hang calculator says your straps should be 8 ft. up the tree, and yet you are much shallower.

That's what it looks like to me, anyways.

Yep...time to measure the distance between trees because your "guess" is way off.

As others have said, it's 20+ feet between the trees and the straps need to be raised a few feet higher.

Thumb up or down, use the 30* calculators you have with you...

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/a...9&d=1304950089

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PapaSmurf

...What I do is to simply take a look at the angle of the hammock itself and try to imagine the suspension lines extending up at this same angle. After your suspension roughly matches the hammock, you then begin to fine tune with the hang calculator or just jump in and try to bend the ridgeline. ...

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Yep, that's what I do, too. I don't want any "break" in my suspension. I want the hammock and suspension the form two straight lines, angling down to each other. If you have a big "break" in your suspension, you're really just using your ridge line to hold the right sag.

Also, you can use a bottle of water or Gatorade turned on its side for a level. Just hold it up in front of your face parallel to the hammock. Compare the ridge line to the water level. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KyleEiger

I can also recommend the phone app, or if you wait a bit Tato gear, will be releasing some hammock specific levels in the near future called Hangles

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Just checked and hangles are available at Dutchware now. :)

Aside from the ridge line flex test, how does it feel?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PapaSmurf

Simply take a look at the angle of the hammock itself and try to imagine the suspension lines extending up at this same angle.

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I was messing around with hang angles this weekend and this really seems to be the best and simplest method.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pipsissewa

. . . You can make yourself one of these hammock levels out of a plastic oatmeal or margarine top.

Attachment 44931

Hang it from your ridge line with a bread twistie tie. Judge the levelness of your ridge line with the top edge. Judge the 30 degree angles of the suspension with the side edges. :D

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SHWEEEEEET! I like simple solutions, Thanks!

-Klauss

I dont get it. I thought the purpose of the SRL was to limit how far the ends of the hammock could be pulled apart and thus fix the angle of sag, thereby providing a consistent lay.
If that is the purpose of the SRL then why does it matter what the angle of the suspension is?
I understand force is multiplied at a lower angle, but if the trees, tree huggers, suspension system, and SRL can handle the force then what is wrong with using trees that are 20-30' apart with a 5-10* angle? The hammock angle is set by the SRL and the SRL is taking the load, not the hammock, because the SRL, is shorter than the hammock.
What am I missing here?:confused:

For those interested, there is a free Android App in the Google Play Store that also calculates suspension length and height based on tree distance and other variables.

Search for "Hammock Tools" in the Google Play Store.

I did a couple of quick comparisons between the Hammock Tools app and the http://theultimatehang.com/hammock-hang-calculator/. The results are very close if not exactly the same.

Sorry busy there for a bit! Great suggestions everyone I like the KISS principle cause I fit the stupid category. It's been full on winter storms here last few days so no chance to try out the new technique but I like the angle of the hammock idea. I will be taking measurements from the calculator to get comfortable with what 30 degrees looks like but ultimately papa smurph has allealed to my KISS principle.

The hammock felt a little strained when I later in it but it was comfortable, middle of it was pretty tight though. Not sure it that is normal but it doesn't seem to. Maybe with a better hanging angle I will have a better chance of keeping that darn pad under my butt as well.

Thanks everyone !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ibgary

I dont get it. I thought the purpose of the SRL was to limit how far the ends of the hammock could be pulled apart and thus fix the angle of sag, thereby providing a consistent lay.
If that is the purpose of the SRL then why does it matter what the angle of the suspension is?
I understand force is multiplied at a lower angle, but if the trees, tree huggers, suspension system, and SRL can handle the force then what is wrong with using trees that are 20-30' apart with a 5-10* angle? The hammock angle is set by the SRL and the SRL is taking the load, not the hammock, because the SRL, is shorter than the hammock.
What am I missing here?:confused:

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You aren't missing anything. All of that is correct... But with the hang you propose the force would be pretty great... I just don't want to push my rig to the extreme like that if I can avoid it. Nine times out of ten you can adjust the suspension to reduce that force, so why wouldn't you? Of course if you can't, and you're confident in your set-up then you can fudge it, but that's not what needs to be taught to beginners as a rule of thumb.

Also I'd love to see some information on the forces applied to the SRL. Mine is Dyneema, and I believe it is rated to five hundred pounds. I'd be inclined to think an improper hang can easily approach that, but I'm no physics guy so I may be wrong.

My Srl is dynema also, 7/64. I think its rated at about 1,500 lbs. I agree with your thought of not over stressing the system. If the trees r 12-15' apart that's great, but I've also gone with a longer reach when I had no choice. That's why I went from woopie to UCR. It just gives me a longer reach if I need it. I may go to a single line suspension on my next diy. :) thanks

You can get the hangle from Dutch

http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/wp-c...hangle-001.jpg

http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/feat...hammock-level/