Hanging a tarp from suspension lines (via Prusik knot) - is this frowned upon?

[EZ Bake]

I recently got a Hennessey Expedition Asym and noticed that it came with some plastic hooks on a sort of prusik-style knot that attached to the suspension rope it came with (for attaching the tarp).

The first thing I did was to remove a bunch of the rope (just left enough for loop for Whoopies) and and I moved the tarp-hooks over by redoing the prusik knot to be a true prusik, and attached them to the bury-section of the whoopies. This makes it sort of a pain to adjust the whoopies once the tarp is tensioned, but I don't typically have to do much adjusting once I've got it setup (or at least I haven't with my other hammocks).

My question is this - is this harming the whoopies at all (or stressing the suspension lines in a way that puts me in any danger)? I'm actually thinking of converting my other tarps over to attach to the whoopies (I've got 4 other folks in the family, so hammocking becomes really expensive when I have to do everything 5 times ).

Why don't more people hang the hammock from the suspension lines to save from having to have the extra line? Is it strictly a head-room thing or am I missing something?

My apologies if this has been answered, I searched, but couldn't find anything.

[jackleberry]

First, I have to admit, I don't really understand the setup you describe. But to answer the simple question, "Why don't people attach their tarp to their hammock suspension instead of directly to the trees?". I'd say there are three main reasons: the most obvious is that the tarp may be set up fine when you're not in the hammock, but as soon as you get in, it's going to go slack and droopy unless you maybe used some really tight shock cord for the guylines. The second reason is that, as you stated, the height of the tarp will no longer be indepedent of the height of the hammock--probably making it impossible to stand up under it. Lastly, if it's raining, and, after all, that's when you're going to need the tarp, with a separate tarp ridgeline one can setup the tarp before the hammock and prevent the hammock and oneself from getting wet. Your method would seem to remove that benefit.

[Chard]

I've found that unless I use some sort of elastic or bungee between the tarp and the whoopie to maintain tension, my weight in the hammock will cause the trap to sag. I tried the tarp on suspension approach originally with the stock Hennessey, but quickly move to an independent tarp ridgeline.

One big benefit of a dedicated tarp ridgeline is setting up in the rain. Not only can you set up the tarp first and then keep your hammock, and thus your quilts, dry while setting up, but when you just want to stop to get out of the weather and just need a quick tarp shelter you don't have to get your sleeping system out and exposed. A wet hammock will mean wet quilts/insulation and tha's never good.

I can't comment on the attachments damaging your whoppies. A pciture might be helpful.

[OutandBack]

I could not agree more with jackleberry.
Usually the first mod HH owners do is make a seperate line for the tarp.
Even if it's the little tarp that comes with the HH Exp.

Replacing the fat black lines on the hammock with whoopies and longer tree straps is usually the second mod.

hth

[EZ Bake]

Sorry - I re-did the OP to try and clarify (I realized that it sounded much more clear in my head than on the page ). Basically the Hennessey just comes with plastic hooks that attach to your tarp and they're just attached to the suspension rope with a tiny bit of cord and a prusik knot (I just moved the prusik knot onto the whoopie).


Sagging huh?... OK - I'll admit that I've only done a few test setups with this new hammock, so I may have been completely oblivious to the sag (though a shock-cord setup might take care of that). I was kind of thinking about the "setting up in the rain" thing when considering this, but my thought was that I always have a bit of spare cord with me anyways, so I could always use that and setup the tarp first if necessary - of course, that sort of eliminates the convenience factor I guess.

I've found that when summer camping, I like to have as small a tarp as possible so putting it up fairly high usually ends up with me getting rain blow-in from the edges - so my thinking was to get it as close to me as possible but if it's raining when I put it up, I sort of have to have the tarp there first anyway.

Appreciate the insight - I may have to re-think this approach. I've got a car-camping trip with the family coming up next week so I may experiment with this a little and see if it's convenient enough to be worth the rain-setup risk.

[EZ Bake]

I could not agree more with jackleberry.
Usually the first mod HH owners do is make a seperate line for the tarp.
Even if it's the little tarp that comes with the HH Exp.

Replacing the fat black lines on the hammock with whoopies and longer tree straps is usually the second mod.

hth

You know, I just watched this video:

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...pie-Conversion

and discovered that I can remove the rope loops I've got and just attach my whoopies straight to the hammock, so I may be doing that and then swapping out my tarp lines with some longer ones and tensioners - the weight/bulk difference will probably equal out (this thing is already pretty heavy).

Thanks again everyone - I really appreciate the forum for stuff like this - I try and research stuff so I don't have too many noob questions, but I'm certainly glad for the patience and info here in the hammock community when I have to ask

[bghiker]

I did the exact same setup with my HH. I found it difficult to adjust the prussiks on the whoopies, they would sometimes slip and I found that I had to move them past the bury and I had to slide the whole length of the tail through he prussik, depending on where I was hanging. I used this setup on about 5 trips and then moved to a dedicated ridgeline for my tarp. I have only used this a few times but I like it a lot better for all the reasons that jackleberry, plus, if I'm on a long day hike or a backpacking trip and a storm comes up or I just want a sheltered spot to take a break, I can easily setup my hex tarp then pack it up quickly. Having said that, remember to HYOH...if it works for you, do it. To answer your actual question, I don't see how it could make a whoopie fail, maybe after many, many uses, your whoopie possibly could start to fray a bit, but as long as you inspect it frequently (which you should do regardless) you should a see a potential problem before it actually have one.

Also, I use a HH hex, that system may work better with the smaller, lighter asym tarp.

Whatever you decide...Enjoy!

Eric

[EZ Bake]

Well, I'm not too proud to admit I don't know everything when it comes to hammocks. I've got plenty of reflective cord and tarp-hanging goodies, so after I re-did the whoopies directly to the hammock, I went ahead and pulled off the prusiks/hooks and added some line and guyline adjusters to the ends of the Asym tarp. I test hung it and it works like all my other hammock/tarp setups, so this should make it easier should I have to setup in the rain.

Thanks again for the help!