drip stoppers

[Porkbutter]

When my brother and I were trying out our new Speer hammocks the first time, it rained. I had tied socks on my straps because I had read about this in Ed's book, he did not. I stayed dry, he did not. I now have strips cut off from a packtowel tied on my straps, and have not had any problems. A better solution, in my perpetually growing list of projects, would be to just sew them onto the straps. This would avoid any possibility of water seeping under a loose tie job. It also would prevent forgetting them or even having to deal with them at all again. A very good thing for the terminally forgetful such as myself.

[Doctari]

I slept in my back yard Mon & tue nights, had to work Wed, but I left my "camp" set up, it rained off & on most of Wed & this AM, & had rained a few times Thrs night. I came home around 6:00 & went right to bed. The inside of my hammock was soaked; hammock, sleeping bag, AND underquilt. I have slept in MUCH harder rain with this exact set up w no problems. I strongly suspect that it was the prolonged hang wet weather. What may have added to the "Problem" the temp has gone from around 60 to below 45 since about 9:00 last night.

My "drip diverters" are heavy duty cotton shoe laces, about 10" long. I hang from spectra cord, my hammock tie points are 7' 8" apart, my tarp is about 8' 9" along the ridge.

What MAY have added to the problem is I had my wool cool weather sleeping shirt draped over the ridgeline near the head end. The water seemed to be pooled under the shirt. I mention it, but don't really feel the contribution if any was very much.

I think that using the spectra cord lessened the water in my hammock. The drip lines reduced that even more, but (so far) I feel that almost nothing will stop a prolinged hang in the rain. But then by prolinged rain, I suppose I mean over 24 hrs. I have gotten nearly this wet once, from condensation in my sil nylon tent.

I am going to add a drip line @ ea end made of camp towel material, just to see if that helps. This will be tied to the spectra cord, my other drip lines are tied to the hammock lines.


Doctari.

[Peter_pan]

I slept in my back yard Mon & tue nights, had to work Wed, but I left my "camp" set up, it rained off & on most of Wed & this AM, & had rained a few times Thrs night. I came home around 6:00 & went right to bed. The inside of my hammock was soaked; hammock, sleeping bag, AND underquilt. I have slept in MUCH harder rain with this exact set up w no problems. I strongly suspect that it was the prolonged hang wet weather. What may have added to the "Problem" the temp has gone from around 60 to below 45 since about 9:00 last night.

My "drip diverters" are heavy duty cotton shoe laces, about 10" long. I hang from spectra cord, my hammock tie points are 7' 8" apart, my tarp is about 8' 9" along the ridge.

What MAY have added to the problem is I had my wool cool weather sleeping shirt draped over the ridgeline near the head end. The water seemed to be pooled under the shirt. I mention it, but don't really feel the contribution if any was very much.

I think that using the spectra cord lessened the water in my hammock. The drip lines reduced that even more, but (so far) I feel that almost nothing will stop a prolinged hang in the rain. But then by prolinged rain, I suppose I mean over 24 hrs. I have gotten nearly this wet once, from condensation in my sil nylon tent.

I am going to add a drip line @ ea end made of camp towel material, just to see if that helps. This will be tied to the spectra cord, my other drip lines are tied to the hammock lines.


Doctari.

Doctari,

Tarp length sounds kinda short.... may be a basic coverage problem.....

Edit... disrgard comment... just noticed that you cite the hammock length which is even shorter

Pan

[headchange4u]

I think that the biners that I have between the support lines and the hammock would do a lot to eliminate water seeping down and soaking the hammock. You may try adding those and see if it helps.

[Coffee]

Doctari, one thing that helped me when I had this problem was to pour water onto the support. That way I could see the path the water was taking. I notied a difference when I poured a little vs a lot witout any dripstoppers. I used the inside of paracord on my HH mod. That worked no matter how much water I poured. With the drip stoppers, water seemed to take the same path.

Are you still using straps? You might want to try twisting them. That might work without adding anything.

[slowhike]

was the tarp touching the wool shirt by chance?

[Just Jeff]

Maybe the wind was blowing the hammock around enough to get wet from the sides of the tarp. When you're in it you don't blow around, but if it's flapping around it might be enough to get it wet.

[Bird Dog]

Does twisting the straps effect the amount of load that the straps can hold - like tying a knot in rope weakens the rope? (Im not an engineer so dont chastise me when you read this). BD

[The Breeze]

yes by as much as a 1/3 but most strap is way over rated. well not the walmart stuff !

[Bird Dog]

Good to know. Im getting ready to order some of the 1 inch stuff from Ed and cut the spectra on my HH. Im replacing it with the straps and descending rings setup. BTW, good to see you again Breeze. Havent heard you in awhile. BD