How did those ball bungees work out for tensioning the tarp?
How did those ball bungees work out for tensioning the tarp?
You have plenty of great advice. As you can see, personal preference has a lot to do with it. As to the whoopies vs adjustable straps - I would stick with the straps that you have for the first couple of outings, because that is about as simple as it gets and you can concentrate on tweaking other things. Eventually, you should try whoopies if you backpack, where weight and bulk are important.
By the way, the White Mountains are a great place to hike! I envy you, Plymouth State is a picturesque school. I have a vacation place in the Whites but I'm still trying to figure out how to retire and move there before I die
Mike
"Life is a Project!"
chorpie, the bungees seemed to work all right, not sure if I will use those on the AT or try out some single shock cord pieces.
MAD777, It's usually the other way around, LOL, people up here are scrambling to retire to Florida. The past few winters up here have been harsh with all the snow.
Mockingbird
One more thing you might try--------you can get by with 2 stakes by tieing the two side lines together and placing one stake on each side. (so it kind of goes up like a diamond tarp---very simple with 2 stakes---even though its a cat tarp. ) To me, its alot simpler to set up that way! Good luck on your AT thru hike!
FYI: If you want to know what type a certain bear is, sneak up behind it and kick it. Then,
run like crazy and climb up a tree. If the bear climbs the tree and eats you, it's a black
bear. If the bear just pushes the tree over and eats you, it's a grizzly bear : )
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either, just leave me alone.
--unknown
As long as you keep the buckles underneath that tarp you don't need the dripstrings at all.
I've spent many rainy nights in a hammock/tarp setup nearly identical to yours (your tarp is nicer, I had no doors) and never had an issue with water getting down the straps, past the buckle.
Changing the suspension to the hammock is going to be a trade off, I think.
Two things you're going to value greatly on your thru hike are:
- Quick setup
- Weight
I think the buckles are better for 1 and a cord based suspension like the whoopie slings are better at 2. You're going to just have to figure out which you value more.
Here's some links that might help. For the locked brummel around the knotbone check out Opie's pictoral here. Just slide the knotbone on before starting to splice. On the opposite side of the CRL is a backsplice. Check out this thread for a how to on that. I do it the opposite way SlowBro does his in the first post (I insert fid and use that to pull the tail through instead of the other way around) but each way works. Then for the prussics I would start here for Opie's continuous loop pictoral. You won't need 12" loops as shown in the thread so I'd start out with about 18" of line and maybe 3-3.5" buries. Hope this helps and have fun!
I just recently setup a continuous ridgeline using dutch hooks and dutch tarp flyz and would highly recommend it. You can get the parts here http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/
And there is a video of how to complete the setup here. http://www.outdoortrailgear.com/gear...-how-to-video/
Okay a few quick comments from looking at your pics others have probably mention these too:
First with those buckles on the webbing I doubt you need drip lines there, on the tarp your extra line/d'ring is good enough also, behind the d'ring you can just throw a half hitch in for good measure.
I like the webbing, marlin spike, whoopie set up, easy to adjust and light...
For doing you tarp better you can do a prussic on you ridge line that attaches to ring on the tarp by you favorite method, biner, soft schakle etc... this let you hook up and adjust the tarps position easy also. There are some images in my gallery of my set up that works good for me... http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery...&cutoffdate=-1
Also it may just be the angle of the pic but I've found I get the tarp tighter if you pull the lower tie outs at an angle, instead of perpendicular to the ridge line.
peace
"truth is uncontainable, and inexpressible. It neither is nor is not.
This unformulated principle is the foundation of the different systems of all the sages."
Diamond Sutra
View all of Shugs hammock videos and then review Professor Hammocks videos on suspensions and you should have a good idea of the direction you want to go that fits your needs and likes.
Separate tarp line allows you to store your tarp outside of your main pack and set it up first in the rain for shelter without exsposing your internal pack contents to the elements. Again Shug & Professor Hammock videos should answer most of your questions. Happy Hanging and I will be watching for your Trail Journal entires next year. It is always great to follow a hammick hanger on the AT
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