Tarp Attached to Hammock, Easy Setup!

[MAD777]

Structurally you can get rid of the hammock ridgeline, but you may want it for a bug net, etc.

As long as you set the suspension from the tree flat enough, there should be no sag in the system at all. As mentioned earlier, this is why dynaglide or amsteel is needed for the "tarp" ridgeline. It's really the ridgeline for the whole system.

It's true that one drawback is the fixed relationship of the tarp to the hammock. But, like everything else in life, there is a trade-off between that and the ease of setup.

[Mule]

Yes, You are right. Even if I got rid of the Structural hammock RL it would have to be replaced by bungee to hold up the bug net. I think having both is fine. As you said, as long as I hang it flat enough and not too much angle it will always hang the same. One thing I am concerned about is getting the hammock tangled by unpacking it through the tarp ridge line. If the tarp it there it would be less likely to happen, but most of the time I will pack the tarp in it's own stuff sack. I may use snakeskins to keep it all together. I am not a great fan of snakeskin's because once you put your hammock in them it is not easy to compress it as much. Takes up a little more room in the pack.

[Mule]

Added another view in sketch up on first post, Click on link.

[HamMike]

Nice Mule. I've been thinkin about attatching my tarp to my descender rings ever since I went to them from whoopies. Never thought about doin it as one piece. Very innovative. Thanks for puttin in the work and posting. Hope to see you in the hollow this fall.

[Mule]

Nice Mule. I've been thinkin about attatching my tarp to myMike descender rings ever since I went to them from whoopies. Never thought about doin it as one piece. Very innovative. Thanks for puttin in the work and posting. Hope to see you in the hollow this fall.

HamMike, can you make the haloween hang? I hope so, my friend.

[MAD777]

I'm still digesting the finer details of this setup, so this may already be the case.
If you make the hammock removable (using biners, soft shackle or whoopie hook, etc) you could detach it for storage and set up the tarp first. This solves the problem of setting up in the rain. The tarp portion would have all the suspension, including the hammock suspension which wouuld dangle from the cinch buckles until you clipped in the hammock.

Mule, I'm liking this idea more and more. You never have to worry about your tarp being centered over the hammock!

[MedicineMan]

I'd like to see a slow 360 vid of the setup, tarp up, tarp down, etc. as you walk around. This looks like a fast functional and affordable method.

[tbctx]

Medicine man if memory serves bearchaser did a 360 of the whoopie version in the thread I linked to earlier in the thread.

Edit: Ok I didn't get the link to work right its fixed now but posting it here too, my bad.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=32421

[XTrekker]

Now that I think about it, you wouldn't have to set up your hammock first at all....Because your using soft shackles you can set up the tarp off the same suspension webbing then toss the hammock up afterwards. Why not?
lol..

Only draw back I still see is the tarp adjust-ability. Doesn't look like you can adjust its height but I guess that is fairly minor. You either need it or you don't. Make some mesh snake skins for the tarp.

The other issue I am concerned about is being able to adjust the tension of the tarp. When you sit in the hammock does the tarp go taut or slack?

Originaly, when I bought my HH, was working on doing something similar to this as I was modifying my HH suspension but decided to go a different route and remove the RainFly completely.

After seeing your suspension system work, I may go back to my original idea but use it on my DIY hammock that I am currently building.
My original plan was to put Descender Rings on the hammock suspension but mount them further out, to line up using biners. It would meet up with the HH-Tarp O-rings with alittle extra length so that I could adjust tarp tension with some Doubled-over Shock Cord paired up with Utility line. The problem with all this was I was having to use 4 Biners and this added quite a bit of weight to the suspension so I dropped it. But I could drop the Rings and go with Elephant Trunks or maybe use Figure 9 Biners for the tarp. Not sure yet but it would be nice to get away from setting a tarp suspension for a change.

Edit: Oh yeah, I remember another reason why I dropped the idea. It was because every time the wind blew, even subtle winds, you could feel the tarp tugging on the suspension of the hammock which kind of felt awkward. Hmmm..Maybe I will give it another try sometime and see if I can get used to the tarp tugging at the suspension.

[UncleMJM]

Added another view in sketch up on first post, Click on link.

Great thread Mule. Thanks for bringing this idea back into the conversation. Your visuals really help make the concept easy to understand.

I love it how great minds think alike and how through the constructive comments from folks on here ideas can be improved upon.

I've been considering this kind of set up for several years now. I first saw it used by TBCTX at a group hang and then upon getting home forgot about it. Now each time we hang together I kick myself for not simplifying my system. I may do it yet.

The thread and video of Bearchaser...

Medicine man if memory serves bearchaser did a 360 of the whoopie version in the thread I linked to earlier in the thread.

Edit: Ok I didn't get the link to work right its fixed now but posting it here too, my bad.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=32421

... shows the simplicity of the set up and answers questions about tarp tension.

Thanks for the post...definitely an attractive idea!

What would be your approach if you had to pack up wet and redeploy later in the day at a new location?

My question as well.

Another option is to make (or buy) some snakeskins and attach them along the suspension below where the hammock attaches to the buckles. That way, you can draw them closed over the hammock while it's still hanging and have it more-or-less waterproof before wrapping it up in the still-wet tarp.

It adds a small amount of weight, though, due to the difference in design from a snakeskin to a BB bag.

I like the snakeskin idea a lot.

There are other threads doing similar. You can use alpine butterflies and biners/soft shackles to allow removing the hammock. I use a similar setup to allow hanging the tarp and then setting the rest up from under it.

One of the older threads is
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=32421

Combine that with the easy attach/detach options and wet tarp issue solved.

Yep, I need to pull the gear out and do some modifying and fiddling.