Ridge Line tension

[flight_chick]

As a noob I have a question about ridge lines. We are getting ready to hang in the back yard tonight. I only have 3 hours experience in my HH expedition. I noticed after setting it up this afternoon that the ridge line is tight. I readjusted the height of the tree huggers, but once I am in the hammock the RL is tight. What could I be doing wrong. From the videos I have watched it appears I should be able to reach up and slightly bend the RL with ease. I am worried I am going to break something on my HH. Thanks for any and help.

[Bubba]

I'm not sure about the HH set ups but to address your ridgeline question, to take tension off the the ridgeline you lengthen your suspension. To tighten your ridgeline you shorten your suspension. Once the ridgeline is where you want it, you raise or lower the attachment points on the trees to get the hammock to chair height.

[flight_chick]

Thank you. I will try to lengthen the suspension. Also, is it possible to break the ridgeline?

[SilvrSurfr]

I've slept a lot of nights in my HH Expedition, and I must admit never once tried to regulate the tightness of the ridgeline. Perhaps I should. The only thing I ever checked was to make sure it wasn't loose when laying in it. The HH ridgeline is fixed to give you their patented "perfect hang" every time.

I don't think it's possible to hang your Hennessy in a way that will put your full weight onto the tarp ridgeline causing it to snap. This is two years of hammocking ignorance talking here. I've hung from trees 25 ft. apart (I have long whoopies and tree straps). If that didn't snap the hammock ridgeline nothing will!

When I replaced the HH rope suspension with whoopies, I thought about adding an adjustable Zing-It ridgeline. However, I read too many posts that said, "you don't wanna mess with the Hennessy ridgeline. It's part of the design." So I didn't mess with it.

[SilvrSurfr]

I'm not sure about the HH set ups but to address your ridgeline question, to take tension off the the ridgeline you lengthen your suspension. To tighten your ridgeline you shorten your suspension. Once the ridgeline is where you want it, you raise or lower the attachment points on the trees to get the hammock to chair height.

In Whoopie Speak, this is called "Loosen Whoopie. Tighten Whoopie."

In Hennessy Rope Suspension Speak, this is called, "untie and retie the rope using Hennessy's knot," which is a giant pain in the butt.

I can do that knot in my sleep (and I have).

[Knotty]

Don't sweat the ridgeline tension. I usually can't bend mine either.

Just try to aim for the suspension being near 30º from horizontal (when in the hammock).

The ridgeline ensures that the hammock shape is always the same. Don't change the length unless you find it uncomfortable.