Hammock length vs. tarp length?

[nanok]

hmm, well, that is a good rule of thumb, but one can get quite creative with setting up tarps (and even hammocks, thought that's less common/trivial). for instance, it depends a lot how you setup the tarp, a-frame, or diamond, or some other combination. the ridgeline usually goes between the same two trees, but it doesn't have to, etc.

having said that, fitting a smaller tarp to a larger hammock is usually tricky, you might be stuck with some type of diamond setup if the tarp is really small. so i guess it comes down to: decide the hammock length first, based on your needs, a longer hammock tends to be more confortable, but if your pack weight/bulk matters, and a new tarp is not planned yet, perhaps taking into account where diminishing returns start being abysmal is worth it: mainly, depending on the height of the hammocker (mainly, but not only), different lengths of hammocks are "bare minimum" for comfort. best is to try, if you can borrow a longer hammock, or experiment with some long fabric without sewing it or even cutting it (you can use sheet bends at the gathered ends, and test several lengths this way without cutting or sewing). i've done this many times, but i have to warn you: it might be that you will like the absurdly long hang too much (it can be fixed later, with some discipline) :P

edit: the other slightly dangerous slippery slope, once you play with this, is that you find you can easily have a longer hammock, and for cramped hangs or such, there's always the option to shorten it with a sheet bend, and this way you still have a longer confy hammock for most other hangs where you have space and no rain in the forecast

[Bob-W]

Ah, yeah. Volume is the other big enemy of bikepacking.

I load my hammock kit on the handlebars using a Revelate Designs SaltyRoll - the tarp goes in a secondary dry bag to keep it away from the down kit. The total weight is under 2kg and is about the maximum I'd want up front.

I've a couple of homemade tarps, an asym for fine weather (plus maybe a light shower) and a Badlander which is a sort of a clone of the Minifly/Thunderfly design. (Do a search for the thread about it). The Badlander packs to about the volume of a cycling water bottle and weighs 400g so not big at all for a tarp that is good enough for everything but deep winter. The asym has two ridge line tie-outs at each end so you can shorten it a little should you so desire. Both designs are from a user called kitsapcowboy.

[peeeeetey]

I agree with the about a foot of overlap between the hammock and the tarp. I don't do math.

[peeeeetey]

For me the bigger the tarp the better.

[dakotaross]

Of course, length gets out of whack when you're talking about asym tarps. My smallest/lightest tarp is 146" long. Has hurt in some scenarios with tree spacing. I now rock a 10.5' tarp in wide fabric for my 10' hammock and its only a few oz more than the asym. Seemed like a decent compromise for me as I wanted to get into tighter spacing if needed. Working out so far.