Importance of a diagonal flat lay?

[Sparrow]

So I know how most HF members suggest laying on the diagonal to get a flatter hang for sleeping in a hammock and I've been able to achieve this for afternoon naps without a pad or blanket a number of times and found it comfortable.

However I've spent the last two nights in the backyard to test out the overnight hammock experience before hitting the trial and was completely unable to get any semblance of a diagonal hang with my therm-a-rest pro-lite 4 full length in there with me. The pad as simply too stiff even after I let almost all the air out. I still slept pretty well though that first night.

Last night I used a self inflating torso pad and my pack under my legs as insulation and again found myself pretty much unable to get into a diagonal position. In this case the two sections left me in an even more pronounced V shape but I slept even better like this.

Some thoughts I had:
Hammock suspension was overtensioned since I was using a backyard hammock stand with support point that were too low.
There is no ridgeline installed on my ENO DN which might help by adding slack. (Might make one today actually)

Maybe it's just a personal preference but does anyone else sleep better in a V shape over flat?

[MAD777]

I think you are right on about the hammock being hung too tightly.
I have never slept with pads, but perhaps that is also a contributing factor;
some pad users will chime in I'm sure.

[raiffnuke]

it sounds like you are hung too tight. I have used a pad in my HH on the diagnal with no real issues before. It was a bottom entry, so I had to squirm a little to get situated, but after that everything was just fine.

[Apollo2112]

I have used a pad and with the proper sag, you should be fine. The pad sometimes slips off the hammock, but that is the only problem I've had.

[samiam2714]

I have never used a camping pad but a Harbor freight moving blanket and that went well it was stiff enough to keep the hammock open and soft enough to no interfere with the natural lay of the hammock. That i think is why most prefer the Walmart pad it is much the same but lighter than my solution. That is if a pad must be used.

[gunner76]

Instead of an inflatable air pad try a CCF pad like those sold at Wallyworld. I have used the 24" wide blue pad for a while now and find it to be very flexable.

[default]

the issue i see is youre using a pad with an eno.

any single layer hammock is going to be a PTA to keep in one place on a diagonal. it will not want to stay in place and will try to go back to parallel. so until you can figure out a way to keep it in place, you might be out of luck with the pad.

a pad in my WBBB is ok, but the same pad in my eno wont do a dang thing but piss me off

[Festus Hagen]

I'll be honest, I've slept all night diagonal, I've slept all night parallel, it's all good. For some really cold hangs I've had so much insulation, it's tough to get diagonal, but "zzzzzzzzz" regardless.