First Hang/First Mistakes

**mdolomieu1** · 05-27-2008, 11:25

Hi all:

I finally got around to my first hang in my Claytor over the weekend. Having read all of the posts re: the stock straps, I thought I had come up with the perfect solution: since I am also a kayaker, I decided that my Yakima kayak straps would be an ideal (read: cheap) replacement for the stock Claytor straps. I simply threaded the tag ends through the hammock, wrapped the buckle around the tree, tightened everything up, and tied the tag ends around everything to create a drip loop. The weatherman was calling for scattered showers all weekend, and it was looking like rain as I was setting up, so I was moving fast and didn't have much of a chance for tweaking. Anyway, the "scattered showers" soon turned into a pretty strong thunderstorm with lots of wind, which I rode out in relative comfort inside the hammock. Unfortunately, it didn't take long before I started to get some water wicking into the ends--while the kayak straps might have been better than the stock straps, my system did not completely eliminate the wicking/stretching problem, so I think I will try the short strap in the hammock with the biner/ring setup that others have recommended.

Beyond the water troubles, I seem to have not had the hammock centered, as I was sliding toward the foot end and could not quite manage to find the sweet spot. Again, not having much time to tweak my setup, I think I did not have enought sag.

All in all, I slept okay, and found that, with care, I could actually change clothes inside, and it was very enjoyable to watch the mosquitoes get frustrated for a change!

**Narwhalin** · 05-27-2008, 12:44

Sounds great! Nobody gets it right the first time, anyway...

Your story reminds me of the time my GF and I had to pitch our tent up on this boulder because it was the only flat spot around, and it was getting late. She had a relativly flat lay, but on my side there was quite an indention that I was laying on. I folded my raingear and put it in between my pad and the tent floor to try to even it out, but it didn't work out so well. Plus, I was also at a slant, and kept sliding towards the foot end all night. But, that was probably in my top three favorite sites on that trip, and I'll never forget it!

**BillyBob58** · 05-27-2008, 13:51

You will probably want to end up with one of the tweaks like folks do around here, i.e. polyester or polypropylene webbing and either a biner or rings or cinch buckle between the hammock and the tree webbing. These things stop water.

However, I did put the stock webbing back on one end just to play. I got plenty of wicking into the hammock no matter what I tried. But finally, I saw a recommendation at the Claytor web site to put a knot in the webbing near the hammock. Of course there is already a knot in on one side where you have tied the bowline, if you are following Claytor directions. So I put in the knot and layed in it to tighten it up. This knot stopped 99 % of any water getting past the knot, a 2nd knot stopped 100%. This was after first slowly pouring a bucket of water just above the knots over a few minutes. Then second putting the water hose on it for 5 or 10 minutes. No water at all got to the hammock.

But I have not tried this in an all night rain, so caution is suggested. But if you are not feeling like spending any time or money, you might want to experiment with this.

**HappyCamper** · 05-28-2008, 06:23

Congratulations on your first hang! I"ve been hanging for a year and still need lots of time to setup and tweak to find sweet spot. So keep going, it only gets better! Are you going to consider a structural ridgeline once you decide on how much sag is just right?

**Mule** · 05-28-2008, 06:35

I found that you can use the original straps on the hammock side of the biner since you would only be using a short loop of it, I don't think I notice any stretching. I put a double loop of it through my no-net and it does fine, but getting a biner between your hammock and the tree is pretty important. Cinch buckles are worth their weight in sweat too.

**mdolomieu1** · 05-28-2008, 09:28

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I've just about got everything dried out from the weekend.

I am hoping to get out for an overnight float this weekend (pending the better half's permission) and get right back in the saddle. No rain in the forecast for the weekend (yet), so I may not make any headway on the wicking problem, but hopefully I'll be able to spend enough time tweaking to find that elusive "sweet-spot". I recently realized that it is almost June and I have yet to catch my first smallmouth of the year--a situation I find totally unacceptable!

As for adding a ridgeline to a jungle, would the primary purpose of adding one be to permanently set the correct amount of sag?