1st official hang..long post

**mugs** · 11-07-2010, 15:37

OK so I was invited to go give backpacking seminar to some boy scouts that one of my co-workers is involved with. It was going to be a car camping affair on some local property owned by the scout director. I figured what great opportunity to get in my first hang. Any way we get there Friday evening and then begin to set up.

I found some trees that were about 15 feet apart but then walk over to another potential site and by the time I got back some ground dwellers took my spot. So I went back to the 13 foot spot. Any way I set up my hammock, UQ tarp, and my WM highlite bag. Made some dinner and then went over to the already roaring camp fire. Around 10 we all went to bed.

I walk up to my hammock and get in. The temps were only supposed to be down to 40*f so I figured I was good I pitched my tarp pretty low because it was windy, and had more insulation items for when it got too cold. Any way I get in and began to try and find the sweet spot. It seemed like a lot of tension was on my calves again and after about 30 minutes I just couldn't ignore it and knew that if I tried I would not get any sleep. I remembered from my playing around in my garage that lowering the foot end alleviated this problem. So I climbed out of my snuggy cocoon and got my head lamp and proceeded to lower my foot end about 6inches or so, which looked good from my new RL line I climbed back in ... much better and this time tried to use my bag like a quilt. Yah no, I don't like that at all. MY back was cold and I didn't feel snuggly warm at all. The minute I turned it back around and zipped myself in, instantly I felt snuggy again. Sorry for me that layer underneath of me counts...no matter what the theory is. And yes I tuck it in all around me, etc, etc. YMMV. HYOH

3am I wake up (WOW I SLEPT TILL 3 AM. WOW I SLEPT TILL 3 AM

and did not have to roll over every 45 minutes, and I went to sleep right away to begin with) to answer natures call, climbed back in bed, adjusted the UQ and zipped up. 5am I wake with the feeling of man I have been on my back too long....it was a little stiff/soreish...so I flip over on my side and lay fetal, man I could never do that on the ground. From 5am-7am (when everyone began to stir) It was then a fight between me and the UQ but I will post all that in the UQ section. Just like I will post the Tarp issues I had in the Tarp section.

So after breakfast I gave my hands on backpacking workshop (non of them has ever backpacked) and then at the end we walk over to the shelters section so they could see what one looks like. I had my SMD Lunar solo, and 6x9 zpaks cuben tarp. They all spent a few minutes looking at them and then we walked up to the hammock.

After letting them see it in the "buttoned down position, I pulled back the tarp, and bug net and then proceed to demonstrate more. It was nothing but ooh and ahhs from everyone. They all loved it, including the leaders. I let each one get inside it and lay down for a few minutes(shoes off of course.) After that for the whole rest of the morning and afternoon it was Mr.>>>> can I go get in the hammock. And those that weren't in the hammock it was can we boil water with your ESBIT stove (my favourite piece of gear) and other general question by both staff and kids. But the biggest hit was the hammock....I have a feeling come spring time I am gonna see a forest full of hammocks

All in all it was a great hang, and I am totally stoked about my new adventures to come...I am once again excited to backpack...I am even contemplating winter camping

Now for some hammock questions.
A: Given that I was only able to be 13 feet between trees should I have placed my straps lower then the 6ft mark. My angles were about 40-50* (yes I brought my angle gauge) I am 6.1 so I placed the strap a scant above eye level. Do I raise the strap height for trees farther apart and lower for shorter distance, or is it the opposite?

B: In my garage, my center beam is about 8 feet high, I have my hang points at 15 feet but the hang is very steep, should I figure out a way to get the straps down to the 6 foot level first and then hang?...for practice purposes yah know

Here are some pics to prove it happened.

Early morning, tarp pulled back....The tarp may seem high, but I originally had it pitched about 6-8in (or so) non weighted off the RL, but then when I lowered the foot end of the hammock it dropped to almost even with the tarp edge. Just had to clarify.

one of the kids...his face says it all.

**perrito** · 11-07-2010, 18:42

Looks like you had a great time, Mr. Hammock Ambassador!

**Bradley** · 11-07-2010, 18:52

Well nice trip report,
I think within a decade,
the ground-dwellers will be the odd-ity.

I can't help with your style of hammock,
and will check out your other threads . . .

Keep it up . . . or . . . keep up the good work

PS kids do tend to smile while in a hammock

**Rat** · 11-07-2010, 19:19

Generally, on trees tat are closer I can wrap the suspension lines lower; closer to shoulder height. However, with a Warbonnet, you have a ridgeline, which is a gauge of sorts. A 45 degree hangle is better than a 20 degree hangle as far as loading the suspension lines goes anyway. With the Warbonnet you want to hang it so that is has the right amount of tension on the ridgeline. IOW you want to be able to 'roll' it to close to 90 degrees with your thumb and finger while having it loaded. Of course, this is from Warbonnet and you may like a tighter or looser hang, so you will need to find the proper tension that fits you; then hang it to that tension every time. You may even need to shorten or lengthen the ridgeline to make it fit you perfectly, but I doubt it; just get the tension thing figured out and you will be fine. Warbonnet has a video of the ridgeline tension on his website.

I would set up your testing lab (garage) to resemble the normal hang as closely as possible.

**mugs** · 11-08-2010, 01:15

Rat,
Yah that is what I have been doing. Just using the RL as a gauge and following Warbonnets directions (watch the vid about 6 times now). I think I will improve my garage/lab set up better. Thanks for the tips.

**Bubba** · 11-08-2010, 08:52

Nice report, thanks for sharing. Seems like you were the envy of the gathering.

For measured distance like a home set up I figured out that to get the distances for a 30 degree angle I use a factor of 1.6 meaning the the distance from the half way point between the trees/anchor points should be 1.6 times the height of the anchor points plus 2 feet for chair height.
For example: If your distance is 15 feet then half would be 7.5 feet. Divide that by 1.6 and you get 4.6 feet. Add 2 feet for chair height and and you get an anchor point that should be 6.6 feet (6' 7") from the ground. In the diagram below dehoja uses 20 inches for chair height so using my "formula" you would get 6' 3". dehoja's diagram below is great for the woods as we don't carry tape measures with us.

Originally Posted by dejoha

I believe it was OldGringo who asked for an illustration like this. After putting together the basic illustration, I saw how easy it is to achieve the "perfect hang" and get the magic 30-degree hang angle. You can see from the illustration that there is an optimal zone where the distance between the trees is also the perfect height to reach the anchor point.

I hope this makes sense!

**eflat7** · 11-08-2010, 12:58

I love that scenery. Nice campsite! Hammocking actually got me back into winter camping.

**h4wk** · 11-08-2010, 13:17

Nice trip report. I've been camping several times in the last few months with my sons BSA troop. I always take my HH to hang from. Both boys and parents come to check it out in awe and ask a bunch of questions. It's pretty cool. I'm surprised how many have never seen one before. Often I get stories of a trip on the AT where someone had spotted a hammock camper before. It is always told like it was a yeti sighting.

My boys are pretty into the hammock camping idea. My next step is to start on DIY hammocks for them and have them help me. It can't hurt for them to learn how to use a thread injector in the process.

I like the idea of creating a garage hanging area. I'll have to work on that. I've been pretty unsuccessful in convincing my wife to get rid of our bed so we can put in hammocks, so the garage might work as a "test lab"!

**mugs** · 11-08-2010, 13:26

Wow that's way too much math for me. It took me 6 math classes to get to the one math class I needed to graduate from the university I went to, so that should tell you something. I have seen Dehoja's diagram before and it is a good one. Thanks.

Originally Posted by odds

Nice report, thanks for sharing. Seems like you were the envy of the gathering.

For measured distance like a home set up I figured out that to get the distances for a 30 degree angle I use a factor of 1.6 meaning the the distance from the half way point between the trees/anchor points should be 1.6 times the height of the anchor points plus 2 feet for chair height.
For example: If your distance is 15 feet then half would be 7.5 feet. Divide that by 1.6 and you get 4.6 feet. Add 2 feet for chair height and and you get an anchor point that should be 6.6 feet (6' 7") from the ground. In the diagram below dehoja uses 20 inches for chair height so using my "formula" you would get 6' 3". dehoja's diagram below is great for the woods as we don't carry tape measures with us.