A Warbonnet Superfly tarp with its doors should solve all your typical weather concerns: wind, rain, snow. Not expensive or heavy and is reliable. Hence their popularity. Getting wet at all or interrupted sleep because of weather concerns is wholly unnecessary when hammocking. (I've never slept out in a hurricane though, and don't intend to try it.)
Thanks for the info. I'll try to find a copy of the book.Originally Posted by Five Tango
The worst storm I've ever weathered was under a hex tarp. You can certainly stay dry under a properly rigged hex but lying in your hammock is about all you can accomplish. I had the sides staked straight down and all night the wind blew the fabric sideways into my hammock (but I didn't get wet).
By contrast, a slightly larger tarp is more forgiving so I don't have to have the sides pulled down as steep as the ends are protected by the "doors". This allows lots of room for lounging around and doing other camp tasks out of the weather.
Adam at HG made a great point to me. "Hammock camping is tarp camping." If you want to take advantage of the weight savings a hex tarp w/o doors offers, you need to think strategically about wind direction, and how it might shift overnight when a front is coming in. Then pick your trees to present the tarp in a way that the wind is least likely to blow rain in.
Pitching it right on top of you, and with steep sides helps, drip lines help, but predicting the direction of the wind, and pitching your tarp accordingly is key.
I agree with the above. It required a few rain-outs before I learned how to stay dry.
Ray Jardine has a book out on tarps. While he is a ground camper his suggestions on how to effectively use a trap works for hammocks.
I Hang right on a cliff over the pacific everytime I get the chance. I carefully selwct my spot, I pitch the tarp real close. I finally developed a sense of how to stay dry. I do put my tie-outs onto shrubs or low growing plants. Somehow the hammock, tarp and underquilt then move together instead of fighting the elements. I do use a UQP now. Whwn I first started Hanging we did not have UQP, I find they really help with wind blown water and ocean spray. I put my drip line just under my tarp. Cotton shoe lace seems to work the best for me. Only problem is I really hate stuff dangling off the hammock/tarp.
Practice, you will be pleased with tourself once you learn the keys to staying dry.
I've always stayed dry, even while being blown sideways. It depends on the rain and wind though. A light rain can have you in porch mode over looking a lake. But an actual storm? First thing would to pull the tarp down to the ridgeline. If the rain is coming down really hard, bring the sides down as close to the hammock as possible without bumping it when you're in it. And whenever possible.... Location - go further into the bush and find a spot with coverage, both above and beside. Having trees close to the width of your tarp can help too. A wide open spot i.e. overlooking a lake or in a field, can leave you vulnerable.
Remember that if your tarp has a longer ridgeline, it has to be hung higher relative to your hammock suspension. If the trees are decent sized, not necessarily huge, and not much further apart than your tarp ridgeline they tend to act like doors.
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