My first impression of the NX-200

[shupola]

Hey guys. I finally got my Clark NX-200 today via UPS! Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to "hang out" in it. I got it pretty late in the evening and did have a chance to set it up on my back porch, but it was very low and I don't think that the "trees"(or in this case porch posts) weren't sturdy enough to hold my weight. Don't have any trees big enough in my neighborhood. It also started raining later on in the evening, but I know that's not an issue with a Clark. I do have a few questions for you veteran Clark owners.

First, I notice that in the video from cavediver2 that he puts his slapstraps up very high, almost as high as he can reach, to get the hammock to hang with a gentle curve. I also noticed the trees he hangs it on are very close together. If someone were to hang their hammock and the trees were further apart would the straps end up being lower, or would that make the sag of the hammock be wrong? Would the straps still need to be at the same height? Or even lower? When I hung mine today, the ropes were a little above head high(I'm 6'3") and the bottom of the hammock was about at my kneecaps. Something about the hammock still didn't look quite right. Any info on setting up with tree straps of just the stock ropes would be helpful. I have seen some of the cinch buckle systems, but I'm not quite ready to mod this hammock just yet. I want to try and use what came with it first and be able to do it right every time(with practice of course).

I am also curious about the easiest way to put the hammock in the stuff sack when its ready to be put away, without it touching the ground. Is there a certain technique? Do you unhook the rainfly when you are putting it in the stuff sack? When I was putting mine away for the first time today it was a little windy and the middle of the rainfly kept blowing away from the main body of the hammock and creating a gap that made it hard to stuff it all in at the same time. I was thinking it might be easier to remove and fold up the fly, put it in the sack first, and then stuff the hammock? Just want to know about other peoples preferences. I guess this kind of question doesn't get asked on here a lot.

I guess that about does it for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions later. Thanks in advance!

P.S. I'm gonna post this on the yahoo! Clark Forum too. My username is m_shupee2003 there.

mshupe

[RAW]

Personally, I carry my tarp in a separate stuff sack altogether.

That way, if it's raining, I can do it like this:

unfasten the foot end of the hammock and wad it up into a ball in your fist. stuff that fist into the storage pocket with one hand, while pulling the pocket inside out with the other hand. Then just start gathering the hammock and stuffing it into that pocket as you walk toward the head end. When you get all the way to the head end, unfasten it and stuff it in the pocket. Then stuff that inside the flap-pocket. Voila! hammock packed.

And all of this was done standing under the still deployed tarp.

Then you can set to taking down the tarp . . . while still under it. and stuff it in its own sack . . . so as not to get your hammock wet.

Hope that helps

[shupola]

Yeah, makes enough sense. I like the idea of having everything together, but it does make sense to do it the way you are talking about. I will give it a shot when I get a chance to put it up. I do happen to have a small extra stuff sack. Just hope the fly will fit in there. Thanks!

ms

[hangnout]

The Clark way is to unzip the bugnet and lay everything inside the hammock including tarp. Then take loose on end without stuff sack and start folding up untill you reach the stuff sack.

[cavediver2]

I have posted you answer on the yahoo site and will try to post them here shortly

Hey guys. I finally got my Clark NX-200 today via UPS! Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to "hang out" in it. I got it pretty late in the evening and did have a chance to set it up on my back porch, but it was very low and I don't think that the "trees"(or in this case porch posts) were sturdy enough to hold my weight. Don't have any trees big enough in my neighborhood. It also started raining later on in the evening, but I know that's not an issue with a Clark. I do have a few questions for you veteran Clark owners.
>
>
> First, I notice that in the video from cavediver2 that he puts his slapstraps up very high, almost as high as he can reach, to get the hammock to hang with a gentle curve. I also noticed the trees he hangs it on are very close together. Try to find trees that are about 15ft to 19ft apart I have went as far as almost 28 feet before If someone were to hang their hammock and the trees were further apart would the straps end up being lower that depends on what straps your using and how long they are and if your tying to the strap and how far up the strap your going., or would that make the sag of the hammock be wrong? Would the straps still need to be at the same height? Or even lower? When I hung mine today, the ropes were a little above head high(I'm 6'3") and the bottom of the hammock was about at my kneecaps.in my video I set mine up so that it was about chair high which would be about kneecap high or maybe just a bit higher. what I try to do is get so that when I do sit in it like a chair i am not so high i can't reach the ground and not so low that the bottom of hammock is about a foot to a foot and a half off the ground when i sit in it. When it's colder out you want the hammock closer to the ground so that you catch some of the heat coming off the ground and so that it's not catching allot of the wind. Convection is the thing that we have to deal with when in a hammock. Something about the hammock still didn't look quite right. Any info on setting up with tree straps of just the stock ropes would be helpful. I have seen some of the cinch buckle systems, but I'm not quite ready to mod this hammock just yet. I want to try and use what came with it first and be able to do it right every time(with practice of course). I like the way you think mister that is how I feel as well and I also do it tell it comes very natural to me and even tieing the knots I try to do those with my eyes closed.

There is a bit of a learning curve that comes with hammock and it will take you about 7 or so times of setting it up and taking it down to get a feel for it.
trying to find the sweet spot so to speak will take that and maybe a little longer to achive.
>
>
> I am also curious about the easiest way to put the hammock in the stuff sack when its ready to be put away, without it touching the ground. Is there a certain technique? Do you unhook the rainfly when you are putting it in the stuff sack? When I was putting mine away for the first time today it was a little windy and the middle of the rainfly kept blowing away from the main body of the hammock and creating a gap that made it hard to stuff it all in at the same time. I was thinking it might be easier to remove and fold up the fly, put it in the sack first, and then stuff the hammock? there are those out there that will hang the fly separate from the hammock and then there are those who leave it all hooked up. with that there are reasons behind this and most will say that if you unhook the hammock it allows you to hang it first in the rain so that you are not putting up the hammock in the rain and that works great be before you try this you might want to get practice in setting it up all hooked up first just my opinion. If you unhook it from the hammock and store it first it might be easier to do and if it is wet you can store it outside the pack or in a different place so that you don't get everything wet from the tarp this works real well as well. It does help to in the process of taken down on windy day a bit as well but I find that leaving it hooked up on windy days helps keep it close by and not to blow all over the place. when I take it down I untie all the sides of the hammock and leave the two end ones then I go to the head end and untie the hammock and then the tarp on that end and then just start bunching it up walking to the foot end and untie the tarp first on that end and then the hammock and and all of this would be being stuffed as I walk to the foot end and the pouch on my belly/chest helping me to hold it.Just want to know about other peoples preferences. I guess this kind of question doesn't get asked on here a lot.

Those questions and more get asked It may have been along time ago but I assure you that they have been asked if not here they have been asked somewhere. Those where all real good questions and you will get some real good answers as well. I hope this helped a little bit and all I can say is practice practice practice and doing this at home first will make allot more enjoyable out in the field

[shupola]

Hey guys......
Well the weather finally got a little better here today, so I was able to go to one of my local parks and set up my hammock. I have to say, I was really impressed! I have been a little worried about how comfortable a hammock would actually be. Let me tell all you skeptics out there that you can just put all that nonsense out of your head!!!!!!!!! I was really amazed at how comfortable this thing was. I guess the main thing I was worried about was how the hammock might squeeze me in from the sides and I would feel cramped. I had no problem putting my hands behind my head and sticking my elbows out. There was only about an hour for me to test this thing out, but I was wishing I could have stayed out all day and night. It was a damp day, and when I got everything set up a light rain had set in; great opportunity to practice packing up the hammock the way Reuben suggested. It worked great! I stayed mostly dry and so did the hammock. The only things that got wet were the ropes and the rainfly. I was high and dry. I was able to set up the hammock and tarp without breaking a bungee thanks to cavediver2's video. I didn't get the setup quite right, mostly due to the fact that I only tied out one side of the rainfly. This sort of made the bug net and weather shield pull to one side. I went back later and tied the other side. I think the best technique would be to tie off all four corners loosely first with a tautline hitch, then go back and tighten them all up. How do you all do this? I think I did a pretty good job with the sag though. I was about 2.5 to 3 feet off the ground and that was about right to reach the ground for cooking and such. Thanks again for all the info and suggestions.

ms

[RAW]

Congrats on a successful test!
Glad you're liking the new setup.
I refuse to go back to a tent now that I've tried hammocks.

For the rainfly: I tie the ridgeline pretty tight. And since I have tarp tensioners in-line on my tie-outs . . . I just set 'em and forget 'em.

Without tensioners, I'd do it the way you mentioned, going back and re-tightening each tie-out once they're all set in the ground.

[cavediver2]

yeah what he said. I would add that the tarp tensioner's I used was from JustJeffs site. and they work fabulous. Glad it's starting to come together for you. once you get the hang of things (no pun intended ) it will become more enjoyable.

[shupola]

Congrats on a successful test!
Glad you're liking the new setup.
I refuse to go back to a tent now that I've tried hammocks.

For the rainfly: I tie the ridgeline pretty tight. And since I have tarp tensioners in-line on my tie-outs . . . I just set 'em and forget 'em.

Without tensioners, I'd do it the way you mentioned, going back and re-tightening each tie-out once they're all set in the ground.

What kind of tensioners are you using? I saw a post on here somewhere where someone was using rubber o-rings as tensioners. What is a tensioner made of anyway?

Also, I have had a little more time to play around with my Clark, but still no real overnight test. When I had a couple hours to just relax and lay around, I noticed that my legs were starting to get a little tingly. In the NX-200 I had enough room to actually cross my legs while laying down and this helped a little bit, but I don't know if I could sleep that way all night. Does anyone else have this problem. I think I might have hung my hammock with too much of a curve to it? I will try hanging it a little tighter next time to see if that helps, but I'm just curious to see if anyone else has had this problem.

Thanks
ms