After reading the advice on this forum for some time now, I decided to take the local experts advice and test my system and setup techniques before taking off on a trip. The recent steady rains on the Gulf Coast provided a great opportunity to see if I could stay dry. My initial set-up ended in failure. The hammock got soaked on one end.

My second set-up was better but still ended in a damp hammock. I readjusted the tarp, tarp angle, tarp ridgeline, placement of drip lines, etc. to try and eliminate the dampness.

Finally on my third try of adjusting my set-up I was able to keep the hammock dry in a fairly heavy downpour with gusty winds.

Even though I watched a lot of videos on how-to on this forum, until you actually set it up under real weather conditions you are not going to really know how it will hold up until you try it out...for real.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the videos and expert advice in their post. I now feel I can at least stay dry and make the best out of a bad situation if need be.