Lesson's learned

**bclarkmsu** · 11-05-2010, 22:06

I set up in the dark for the first time tonight and I have to say WOW!!! I knew it would be harder but man those tarp lines almost drove me crazy. Good thing I'm only hanging about 15 yards from the house.

Figured better to learn here than when I get to the hanging grounds. I've always set up before it got dark. It was a new world and good practice. I'm not as set as I thought.

**Bradley** · 11-05-2010, 22:41

Fine tuning in the yard . . .

Another night out . . .

Me 2 . . .

**STinGa** · 11-05-2010, 23:00

Two things to learn (although most probably practice this already). Stay consistant with where things are packed. That way you can find what you are looking for more easily. Setting up in the dark does test you more. Roots, branches, etc can cause you to bump things in the night.

At least you are setting up your hammock. I am stuck in a drab motel room surfing the net.

STinGa

**Lepmeister** · 11-06-2010, 02:46

Back yard hang for me tonight too... Some new items arrived Friday so tweak night it is!

**DuctTape** · 11-06-2010, 04:13

and once that is mastered you'll need to practice setting up in the dark while it is pouring rain. Then dark with rain and wind. Then...

dT
(who hates setting up in wind even when it is daytime)

**Shewie** · 11-06-2010, 05:08

I setup in the cold, wet and strong winds a couple of weeks ago for the first time since switching to 2mm cordage. When my hands were numb from the cold and everything was sticking to me because of the wet, it made the whole process a lot more tricky.
The guy lines weren't too bad but the 2mm dynaglide ridgeline kept me busy for a good couple of minutes at least..

I was surprised how much more tricky it was compared to my previous 4mm ridge, it's sounds daft writing it now but at the time it was doing my head in.

All good practice though

**Youngblood** · 11-06-2010, 07:42

Originally Posted by Shewie

I setup in the cold, wet and strong winds a couple of weeks ago for the first time since switching to 2mm cordage. When my hands were numb from the cold and everything was sticking to me because of the wet, it made the whole process a lot more tricky.
The guy lines weren't too bad but the 2mm dynaglide ridgeline kept me busy for a good couple of minutes at least..

I was surprised how much more tricky it was compared to my previous 4mm ridge, it's sounds daft writing it now but at the time it was doing my head in.

All good practice though

It was amazing to me how much more difficult it was the first few times I had to make or break down my setup in foul weather conditions. Not only are things more difficult to do but often your mind isn't working as well either. What I found that if I wasn't careful and kept everything relatively simple to do, was that I had to trouble doing things right and had to repeat and repeat the processes that were not simple enough.

A couple of things I did was to simplify as much as I could and take the 'compulsive obsessive' approach in how I went about things. That way you learn your process and after a while you can pretty much do it on auto-pilot. Now I do allow for differences concerning the tarp and the wind and rain, but that's about it. I do this down to getting my lights in hand and throwing a line for my food bag.

**bigred72** · 11-06-2010, 07:53

Do you have a continual ridgeline for the tarp? If not, that will remove one degree of difficulty.

**bclarkmsu** · 11-06-2010, 09:03

Originally Posted by bigred72

Do you have a continual ridgeline for the tarp? If not, that will remove one degree of difficulty.

No, I don't. I just changed my two end's to a different line and had not tested it at all. Found out I don't like the new line and going back to the old stuff. The guide lines is what slowed the process. I thought I was clever in the way I put my lines up the last time I packed but come to find out it was as easy as I thought at least in the dark. Going to rethink that today while taking down.

**sandykayak** · 11-09-2010, 18:13

I'm 5' and found setting up the BWD rectangular 3-season tarp difficult with the wind flapping everything about.

I do have an SRL, but what helped is that I clip the sides together with the mini-biners (I like the JRB ones) (I use a different color for the middle just as an additional aide).

I hang the tarp and then unclip.

I also made some mini-mesh guy line bags with elastic tops (and a bishop bag-type hole at the other end. Need to work on this some more as I found the lines would come out. For now, I wrap a rubber band around it.