My first night in a Hammock

[NovanIV]

I enjoyed the mediocre indoors in my new Hammock last night.
Got a Vivere Brazilian double Hammock and a space saving stand of the same brand.
Was never REALLY able to get flat, the diagonal lay did manage to get me much closer, but my butt was still in a pit and my feet were still trying to run up the sides. I certainly felt like I had enough material, but I really couldn't utilize it all. For reference, I am 5'8", and just over two bills. My current theory (and this may well just be coming from the top of Mount Stupid), is that the space saving stand results in an effective hammock that is too short for me (could also just be a too much/too little sag, or something else that I am not even thinking of), in any case here is a picture of my current set up.
20140320_072611.jpg
Hard to see, but the hooks can be adjusted up/down with holes every couple inches.

Aside from that, the night itself wasn't too bad. The whole thing is a new sleep system for me, so it naturally will take some getting used to. In a bed, I typically side-sleep, curled up into a ball, so the flat on my back, stretched out was different, not bad, but went against my natural inclinations. The rocking was much the same, not really BAD per say, but something I was not used to when trying to sleep.
Woke up in the middle of the night a couple times, most of them were in and out, so I am not really sure how often. The two times I do remember were my dog wanting to be let out (which she would have woke me up no matter WHERE I was sleeping), and in the middle of the night when I woke up to pee. I typically don't do that, so I have no idea if it was the hammock, or something I drank, or whatever, but the important thing is, that by the time I got back, I was really feeling the Hammock's lack of bottom insulation, as it had already gotten just as cold as the rest of my room. Never really got cold butt, but certainly needed more warmth than I expected for the temperature. Was able to get there, and certainly will be able to bottom insulate/use a space heater when things get even colder.

Woke up with a little stiffness right between my shoulders, and a little tired which seemed to correspond to what happens when I wake up as much as I did. Overall, I am not QUITE convinced just yet, but I am interested in continuing to experiment to see if I can get that perfect hang!

[newfieghost]

I have that same hammock I'm 6 foot and approaching 3 bills. I find it massive. The frequent bathroom breaks are a very real thing for me also.

[NovanIV]

I have that same hammock I'm 6 foot and approaching 3 bills. I find it massive. The frequent bathroom breaks are a very real thing for me also.

Yeah, the Hammock itself seems big enough, like I mentioned I am just not sure about my hang/my hanger.
Mind telling me how you hang yours?

[mrjaw14]

I too often wake to pee where I don't do that when sleeping in my bed at home. Might be a function of sleeping too cool and the body trying to rid itself of extra liquid it has to keep warm? I agree that your stand is probably not promoting a correct lay. hanging a hammock is very trial and error, and can be frustrating to get right. I have a brazilian style hammock as well currently. I added a structural ridge line to get a consistant lay each time I hang the hammock. It's not 100% right all the time, but close enough. I'd recomment you look into doing the same if it makes sense for you.

Figure our your bottom insulation and practice hanging your hammock with that in place because it will change the lay of your hammock. CCF pads will tend to help get a flatter lay a little bit, where as underquilts I've heard can squeeze you if you get the suspension for the UQ too tight.

Either way, waking up to pee means you were sleeping to wake up from...when I tent camp I toss and turn, mainly to shift the pain to a different pressure point. Hammock's are 100% worth it once you learn to get it dialed in!

[newfieghost]

I replaced the suspension with whooping slings and hang between two trees about 13 foot apart. I try to get the straps at 30 degree

[newfieghost]

I also ran a 100 inch ridgeline. To long and it is near impossible to get in and out

[NovanIV]

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to look into getting the proper gear for that.
Now that I am home, I have managed to make the hanger at least seem a little nicer by giving myself one more holes worth of slack, my lay is much flatter now, so hopefully I'll be able to get a better nights sleep tonight. Full report will have to wait until the morning.

Very satisfied with the hammock itself though, the sleeping area is more than big enough for me and the material is comfortable, if I can just figure out the hang I can just tell it'll be perfect for me.

[LibertyLS]

I slept in my hammock setup for the first time also last night in the shed in the backyard. It got down to about 30 degrees. I bought 50' of amsteel 12 cord and i used the single line suspension setup. I have a ENO single nest hammock (wish I wouldve got the double nest since I'm 6' 3"). Initially I bought one of the cheap Grand Truck hammocks for 20 bucks but decided that wasnt going to cut it. Nevertheless I used the GT hammock as sort of an underquilt.

I put prusik knots in the descender rings with shock cord and hung the GT hammock below the ENO hammock. Then I put my foam pad in the GT hammock underneath the ENO hammock. Finally I put a mylar blanket on the foam pad. This allowed me to adjust the foam pad and mylar blanket while laying in the hammock. Also, I used some cord to pull the GT hammock up tighter to the ENO. I used a MSS sleeping bag with the gore tex bivy and green patrol bag, no black bag. I can see how using a top quilt instead of a sleeping bag would be so much easier getting into and out of the hammock. I was wearing merino wool base layers, sweater, and socks.

My feet were fine all night but I did get chilly in the shoulders in the early morning hours. Nature called and when I got back into the hammock I threw on a carhart jacket that I brought along just in case. Im also a side sleeper mostly so it will take some getting used to sleeping on my back all night. I guess if I'm on the trail all day I'd be so tired it wouldnt matter.

[NovanIV]

I think I still need to do some fiddling to find the perfect sag/tension ratio for me (and I am becoming more and more certain that I just need to find a better way than my hanger to hang it in general).
Also got pretty cold through the night, which means that tonight I need to make sure my space heater is set up and ready to go, and longer term I need to figure out a bottom insulation solution. As it is I barely made it though the night (woke up like 20 minutes before my alarm, not knowing what time it was debated throwing in the towel for the rest of the night cause of how cold I was, but when I saw the time I realized I might as well get up).

On one hand, I am realizing that this can work, on the other I am also realizing I have a ways to go to get there!

[SmilinJoe]

I had my first night hanging too on Friday in the back yard. I got a Yukon outfitters hammock on sale at Woot. It's a double and I like it. Not bad for 20.00, didn't want to spend too much if it wasn't going to work out for me. It got down to the 50's and my MSS intermediate bag wrapped around me and a wool blanket on top did me just fine. Rain was in the forcast so I set up a cheap plastic blue tarp but the moisture in the air made the hammock stretch and I was almost on the ground at 5:30am. I also had the sore shoulders in the morning but overall it was more comfortable than being on the ground even in the cot. Any pointers for the sore shoulder thing? I too did the ridgeline and that helped keep the sag constant. More hanging to come.
Joe