Ridge line length

Who can give me some ideas on ridge line length. I tried 109 inches on my 11 foot hammock and found the hammock to be like a long, fairly tight tube with only a little room for going diagonal. Also, the ridge line was tight as a guitar string with me in the hammock. i noticed that everything sagged alot when i got in. the hammock was up pretty close to the tarp and when i got in it was clearing the ground by 18 inches. climbing in was a chore since the hammock started up so high. How does weight and height influence how long you should set your ridge line? I know you put it where it's comfortable but right now I 'm using scrap poly twine tied to a fixed length and I want to keep the number of try's to a few. I've tried the hammock set up calculator and had mine set up per its recommendations ... But something seems "off"

Several vendors offer an adjustable structural ridgeline (ASL) which you might want to try. It's basically a whoopie sling ridgeline. You can test out various lengths with one item and make your fixed ridgeline when you find the sweet spot for ya. Then use the ASR on your next hammock to do the same thing...Bush

I've found that the best way to get it right is to just keep adjusting it.
Also, your hammock shouldn't be sagging much at all. What kind of suspension system do you have? If you are using nylon tree straps that could be the cause of it.
I would look into getting a pair of polyester tree straps.

I don't use the calculator either. I like my ridgeline a lot shorter than the calculator recommends. That said, the calculator is just a place to start and nothing more. Most people can make that work, but not everyone.

How much does weight play a part? I think it has a lot to do with it. Weight will impact the material stretch and that will change your angles which will put you close to the ground or on it. I'm not sure how much a persons height changes the angles, but center of gravity will change things for sure.

I would recommend setting up with the ridgeline sagging or off, and then see if that feels better to you. Once you get the hammock setup the way you like it, then adjust the ridgeline to match that. The ridgeline will then help you set things up the same way on the next trip.

I weigh 240 lbs. My suspension is 7/64 amsteel whoopies with polypropylene tree straps. Those components were selected because they don't stretch much if at all. The hammock is a single layer 1.9 oz nylon 11 footer. After sleeping in the hammock one night I think a heavier person would want the ridgeline shorter. I should not have used the term sag to describe the deflection of my hammock. I meant deflection, not sag when I said I had to start with it very high in order to be 18 inches off the ground when I was in it. I don't have time to get or make an adjustable SRL because I'm taking the new rig hiking for the first time pretty soon. I suppose I could make a line with three or four loops tied in one end and easily/quickly get some crude adjustability that way. For a temporary solution I've been using that white tie down line they give you at Home Depot or Lowes when you buy something big that has to be tied on. It is fairly strong, tough and it doesn't stretch. Anyhow, additional suggetsions for a what might be comfortable for someone who have 240 lbs of heft would help because unfortunately I don't have too much time for the trial and error method and I don't have time to order or make a whoopie sling style adjustable.

I would get polyester tree straps instead of polypro.
Also try to get the marlin spike hitch close to the tree to eliminate as much sag as possible.

You've told us that you have an 11' hammock, but not how wide the hammock is. The amount of diagonal that you can obtain in a given hammock depends on the width as much as the ridgeline-length.

The hammock calculator is based on the "general" recommendation that your ridgeline be around 83% of the length of your hammock fabric. But it also assumes a hammock width of around 65" (ala a Traveler, or ENO, etc).

If your hammock is narrower, you'll need a much shorter (shorter than 83%) ridgeline....or if it's wider, you can get away with a longer ridge...in order to get the same amount of diagonal.

Regarding your hammock deflection, I'd recommend hanging your tree straps higher on the tree to begin with, thus generating a steeper angle on your suspension. A weighted hammock will always drop to accommodate the occupant, but it will do so to a lesser degree if you set the angle to be steeper to begin with (the 30 degree suspension discussion).

We also need to know how far apart the supports are and how high off the ground they are.

I just made an 11'-5 (finished length) hammock out of 68" wide 1.1 Marpat. I've got it hung in the house from supports that I know are 15'-0 apart and 7'-0 off the floor. It has a 109" ridgeline and I have so much room to go diagonal in it I might not go back to my HHDJ. I mean, there's an echo in there------

make a long dog bone, a nacrabiner, and a whoopie!

Hammock is slightly less than 5 feet wide (58 inches) don't know the distance between the trees (I can measure it later) but its probably about 18 feet. I had the tree straps up as high as I could get them without standing on something .... about 86 to 88 inches. I plan to order some polyester straps, but polypro is what I have at the moment and the polyester may not get to me in time for my hike.