Ridgeline tension

How much tension should I have on my ridgeline. I took my hammock to a park near our house and I set up my hammock for the first time. All feels pretty good but I notice a fair amount of tension on the ridgeline. It seem to be a little too tight. Now since It is my first hammock experience I am not sure of the proper amount that I should see. Also I had a problem with the tarp, I could not get it nice and tight without a crest or fold at the top or middle . Side were nice but the top look a little out of place and not quite right. My first trip will be in early June and I can not wait for a good night sleep in the hammock. I am still not too sure about the bottom entry........seem to be a bit of a pain but will see.

Any advise would be great.
Thanks for the great forum.
HappySeb

Ridgeline can be pretty tight. No worries. Just shoot for having your suspension at about 30° from horizontal. The flatter you go the tighter the ridge line will get.

Are you using the standard asym tarp? Supposedly your supposed to tension the sides before the ends.

Should it be 30* when your in it or out of it?

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Originally Posted by Dragoro

Should it be 30* when your in it or out of it?

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Prior to getting in!

I've never had a loose RL in my Hennessy. Shouldn't be any issues with it being tight. It shouldn't be guitar string tight, you should be able to take it in 3 fingers and twist it about 90 degrees. At least that's what I was told by Ann at Hennessy.
The bottom entry takes a little getting used to. I like mine, but I am going to get a zipper mod from 2QZQ to have both options. Bottom entry for buggy season and side entry for the rest of the year.

You can do 30 degrees before or after getting in. If you do before, the angle will only become larger and therefor the loads will become smaller.

I tend to go for near 30 when I'm in the hammock. It's not really all that fussy, since the ridgeline determines the sag (within limits).

The tension on the suspension lines is determined by the angle once the hammock is loaded.

You lose a lot birds when it is too loose. You can shoot arrows out of a badly hung hammock. LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mule

You lose a lot birds when it is too loose. You can shoot arrows out of a badly hung hammock. LOL

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NOTE TO SELF: Pack a couple arrows on my next camping trip...
:lol:

i have a DIY hammock with ring buckle suspension. For several years, I adjusted the sag by eye to get around 30 degrees. I used cheaper welded rings from the home improvement store, rated at 800 pounds or so. I had no problems with these rings until-----

This year I went to a structural ridge line. With this setup, the tendency is to crank on the force, since the sag is preset.

I first noticed my ring buckles has an increased tendency to slip. Then, on a hike on the AT, one side of the rings just peeled open.

I checked the math. When your loaded angle is reduced to 5 degrees, the side tension resulting from my 160 pounds is 1839 lbs. (divide by the tangent of 5 degrees) no wonder my rings failed.