sleeping on the diagonal?

[meeegun]

wow, this is way over my mathematically challenged head! suffice it to say, i am looking at a claytor hammock which the jungle version is 9ft long i believe. it seems, according to this thread and all the calculations contained in it that i should mostly have no problem hanging my hammock even given my height. thanks for the info and for explaining things to me. i had been looking at a diagram in another post and it seemed to show that i would need to hang the hammock quite high on the tree and that the longer the hammock was the higher up i would need to hang it. i must have misinterpreted the diagram, so thanks for clearing that up for me. i am kind of thinking that a 9 ft hammock might be overkill for someone my size anyways and possibly not worth the weight vs. comfort of it. i will continue my research in this area. =P

[Youngblood]

Thanks Dave. I'll ponder why they do that in otherwise mind numbing committee meetings, giving me an excuse to look engaged and deep in thought...

Grizz

At one time I went through the 3D geometry a bit and thought I understood why they did it. It has to do with how flat you can get laying on a diagonal as a function of how far you can get from the hammock knots and the sag angle. There is a limit on this and I don't even know the proper term for it, but it is akin to girth and how 'flat' a cross section of a cylinder is. (It isn't quite a cylinder but it is close and a cylinder is something I could work with.)

But a longer hammock is more comfortable without the additional sag and the additional sag sure impacts how high it needs to be hung. So from that standpoint I'm not sure I agree with the tradeoff, but that is how tradeoffs work, they are subjective.

[Youngblood]

wow, this is way over my mathematically challenged head! suffice it to say, i am looking at a claytor hammock which the jungle version is 9ft long i believe. it seems, according to this thread and all the calculations contained in it that i should mostly have no problem hanging my hammock even given my height. thanks for the info and for explaining things to me. i had been looking at a diagram in another post and it seemed to show that i would need to hang the hammock quite high on the tree and that the longer the hammock was the higher up i would need to hang it. i must have misinterpreted the diagram, so thanks for clearing that up for me. i am kind of thinking that a 9 ft hammock might be overkill for someone my size anyways and possibly not worth the weight vs. comfort of it. i will continue my research in this area. =P

Yeah, we got side tracked.

[elcolombianito]

also, i will be backpacking in hawaii from mid dec-mid jan. what model of the claytor would be good for this? the jungle one is moisture proof which sounds like a definite plus for me. any thoughts?

I say the jungle model would be quite ideal for your needs (not only for this trip you will be making, but for further use in other climates). Im actually thinking of getting that model too (besides the free scout when my sister buys here expedition).
My only concern with the Claytor is the diagonal lay. I have a Clark NA, and even with my small size, trying to get a comfortable diagonal to sleep is not easy. I might be spoiled with my native arhuacan hammocks and my hennessy. Since the Claytor its very similar to the Clark im assuming i will encounter the same problem, but still i think (from watching Neo's video) that it's a hammock that is worth the try.

Still, with whatever you decide to go, get a FAN... thats something you wont want to regret not taking when you want to sleep a few more hours in the morning when it begins to get hot.

[fin]

I'm 10" taller than you and can reach up a little over 8'. Let's suppose you can reach 7'. Typically the angle the suspension line makes with the tree when the hammock is occupied is 30 degrees. And suppose that when you sit in the hammock, at the center, the hammock is 2' off the ground. Back-of-the-envelope calculation is that the longest distance from tree to center that you might do is (using trig, close your eyes if you have to) (7'-2')/tan(30) = 8.66 feet. So the largest span between trees that you could deal with is 17.3 feet. We normally try to find trees about 15 feet apart, so this is not unusually short.

Note that in the analysis above the length of the hammock plays no role. Having a shorter hammock does not change the maximum distance between trees you can deal with.

You can increase the span you can deal with by decreasing the angle of the suspension rope. And this you do by making sure you have a pretty highly rated rope, and a structural ridgeline. The ridgeline makes sure that you "set the sag", i.e., have the hammock ends at the same distance every time. Then you can tighten up the suspension some and decrease the angle...there is a limit of course...but if you could make the angle, say, 25 degrees, and your maximum span increases to 21.4 feet.

Grizz

Couldn't resist a chance to do some math, could you?

[GrizzlyAdams]

Couldn't resist a chance to do some math, could you?

I have a reputation to uphold!

Grizz

[JayS]

I have a reputation to uphold!

Grizz

Uphold a reputation....
Hold up a hammock.....

Either way, it works!

[slowhike]

Thanks Dave. I'll ponder why they do that in otherwise mind numbing committee meetings, giving me an excuse to look engaged and deep in thought...

Grizz

That would make a great cartoon... Grizz sitting in the meeting, gazing directly at the speaker (who is going to great depths about who knows what???) with the most thoughtful, dissecting look, but the balloon showing Grizzly's thoughts show detailed hammock diagrams & formulas<G>.

[FanaticFringer]

That would make a great cartoon... Grizz sitting in the meeting, gazing directly at the speaker (who is going to great depths about who knows what???) with the most thoughtful, dissecting look, but the balloon showing Grizzly's thoughts show detailed hammock diagrams & formulas<G>.

That's funny right there.

[GrizzlyAdams]

That would make a great cartoon... Grizz sitting in the meeting, gazing directly at the speaker (who is going to great depths about who knows what???) with the most thoughtful, dissecting look, but the balloon showing Grizzly's thoughts show detailed hammock diagrams & formulas<G>.

who knew? You were close....
grizz-at-meeting.jpg

Grizz