The only real problem is when the tarp gets wet form dew on the bottom. You will not be able to advoid getting you back wet. However usually when there is dew on the bottom it is relatively warm and getting a little water on your back is no big deal.
Peace Dutch
GA>ME 2003
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OK, so there is typically contact with the tarp when you get in and out? I suppose you can swing it out a bit to the middle before you stand up provided you aren't staked out on the sides - if the tarp is low. Otherwise I guess you just hang the tarp a little higher than with the HH.Originally Posted by Dutch
p.s. I really liked the bottom entry at first, but the velcro isn't as strong as it used to be and I've caught myself with my leg hanging out a couple of times in the middle of the night. Might be nice on a hot night, but not in the cold.
I really like a side loading hammock---its easy to use etc. As far as the tarp goes, Ive never had a problem with my back hitting the tarp---never thought about it. If youre not sure about the whole thing, put a simple diy speer hammock together out of cheap walmart cloth and try it with your tarp--youll be able to get a feel how the whole thing is going to work for you! Good luck!
FYI: If you want to know what type a certain bear is, sneak up behind it and kick it. Then,
run like crazy and climb up a tree. If the bear climbs the tree and eats you, it's a black
bear. If the bear just pushes the tree over and eats you, it's a grizzly bear : )
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either, just leave me alone.
--unknown
Roger that. One advantage of the bottom entry is being able to come up right in the middle for entry, away from the sides of the tarp.
I don't hammock very much when a net is needed. So especially considering I have other hammocks with nets, I cut the net off of my HH Explorer. I sure do like it a lot better now. I just ignore the bottom entry. But I could still use it if I ever need to because of a dew or frost covered tarp. At the very least, I need think I kind of need a larger tarp for side entry. Then again, I kind of like larger tarps for a variety of other reasons.
What is so annoying about the bottom entry/exit?
Solve the wet back (no racial slur intended) problem by getting a Spinn tarp. Gotta be my favorite thing about Spinn; zero moisture pass-thru.
Your leg flopping out of the entry/exit slit might be a case of not having the foot-end of the hammock a few inches higher than the head-end. If that's the problem and it's your only issue with your HH, I don't see any reason to change. Sending it in for a zipper mod would give you both options. We all know options is goooooooood.
Trust nobody!
Side entry is definitely nice especially in the winter months when you place more stuff in the hammock. Or when getting up to pee in the middle of the night. But the bottom entry has it's advantages here in mosquito season as I get fewer or none at all when going and out through the bottom. Unless you're looking to get another hammock, I'd suggest getting a 2Q/ZQ #2 or #3 zipper mod as it is relatively inexpensive and gives you the best of both worlds.
stumo
I have a WBBB and a claytor diamond fly, which is a small tarp. If the weather is nice I hang it high, or only half deployed, which gives me plenty of room to stand and get in. But, I can still hang the tarp low enough to protect myself from bad weather and "slither" into the hammock without touching the sides of the tarp that much or at all. It works for me, atleast in the summet anyways.
"In your face space coyote"-HJS
Absolutely nothing for me, unless I'm trying to wrestle with a pad. Trying to get a pad in the proper position and keeping it there as you enter and attempt to lie down can be a bit of a struggle. A thermarest with an SPE works better in this regard than any other pad I've tried because the bottom of the pad is slick (if you try it without an SPE it will squirt out from under you). With a JRB Nest the bottom entry is a non-issue. If you camp somewhere mosquitoes are REALLY bad, think Alaska or Okefenokee Swamp, that bottom entry is the only way to go.
For me, really not much. Though these days I completely use side entry ( since I cut the net off my HH and use a WB net if needed), I never really minded the bottom entry all that much, and sometimes I liked it.
Sometimes I would, especially if not pitched very high, hit my head on the ridge line on entry, a bit irritating but not a big deal. Positioning a pad or sleeping bag ( not a quilt) can be a bit trickier.
The fact is, after I had used it a while, I could be in and out of that thing in a heart beat, even with the SS in place. There were never any worries about falling out like I did once when I 1st used my Speer with Pea Pod. (getting back in in the middle of the night, I grabbed an edge of the Pea Pod instead of the back edge of the hammock, and when I sat down I just rolled right out of there on my back ). Once you have poked your head through and turned around, there is nothing left to do but sit down. And getting out, there is nothing to do but poke your feet through ( easy to do even by accident) and stand up.
The main thing was the inability to reach out of the hammock for any gear I might have beside the hammock. Unless of course you have at least a minimal zipper mod. And related to that, it is easier to swing my legs out and into my shoes than it is coming out of the bottom entry. Though even with those problems, when I look back on my actual trips, it really didn't amount to much, it was just a matter of routine. Most anything I was at all likely to need, I just carried into the hammock with me. Then I was usually soon out for the night anyway. If I was just lounging, then I was not in the hammock anyway, but using it chair or lounge style, which worked pretty good for me.
My personal main complaint was a frequent problem with keeping the net out of my face, but that is not related to bottom entry. And I always suspected I might have stretched my netting on my infamous first night of use, when I ended up in the netting as I did acrobatics trying to get inside my sleeping bag.
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