Do you run a ridge line?

[snowtrac]

1.75mm zing-it CRL with Dutch hook on one end, Wasp on the other end. Tarp is placed over the CRL and attached with prussiks and soft shackles.

[AlaskaChad]

I use a split ridgeline with Dutch Stingerz that stay attached to each end. I've never had an issue getting centering right, because it's always the Stingerz are always the same distance in relation to the ends of my hammock, so I know where they need to be. I like the speed, ease, and tautness of the tarp when setting up this way.

One potential problem is if I set my tarp up taut on trees that move in opposing directions during substantial wind, it's in danger of damaging my expensive DCF tarp. This has happened once before, breaking a BeastieD on one end of the tarp. I carry a spare CRL with a Dutch Hook and Wasp that I could use in those situations.

Has anyone else using split ridgelines encountered this? How do you deal with it? We have a lot of birch trees here that sway with heavy wind.


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[bluesam3]

I use a split ridgeline with Dutch Stingerz that stay attached to each end. I've never had an issue getting centering right, because it's always the Stingerz are always the same distance in relation to the ends of my hammock, so I know where they need to be. I like the speed, ease, and tautness of the tarp when setting up this way.

One potential problem is if I set my tarp up taut on trees that move in opposing directions during substantial wind, it's in danger of damaging my expensive DCF tarp. This has happened once before, breaking a BeastieD on one end of the tarp. I carry a spare CRL with a Dutch Hook and Wasp that I could use in those situations.

Has anyone else using split ridgelines encountered this? How do you deal with it? We have a lot of birch trees here that sway with heavy wind.


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If you wanted to keep using the split ridgelines, just adding a fail-safe breakpoint would deal with it nicely: add something weak (split rings work nicely, and come in a variety of thicknesses, so you can decide how weak you want the weak point to be, or you can do the same with a bit of some kind of cheap cordage and a couple of knots, or basically anything whose yield strength is reasonably low, but whose tensile strength is relatively high: we want it to stretch and absorb the force, not snap and shock-load the system) somewhere in the line, with a slightly longer bit of cord bypassing it (set to the most distance that you want the tarp to drop due to swaying trees: you could also just skip this, if you don't mind how much it drops). That way, you can set the tarp with the weak side taut, and it'll sit there and be fine, but if it gets windy, before the tarp would rip, the failsafe hits its yield strength and starts undergoing plastic deformation, getting longer, and the tarp loosens off , which drops the tension down enough to avoid damage to the tarp. Carry some spare failsafes, so you can put them back in for the next night: they're useless once they've been stretched past their yield point once. Only disadvantage is that you do lose that tarp tension, so if you're cutting it ridiculously fine on coverage already, you lose a bit more.

[leiavoia]

You could also just add a short shockcord loop to help absorb some pull.

[bluesam3]

You could also just add a short shockcord loop to help absorb some pull.

Yeah, shockcord does basically the same job, but you do have to balance pull protection with tension a little, since it also deforms under normal tensioning.