Hi hangers,

First off I don't know if I'm setting the hammock up correctly. I'm self taught and its not always very comfortably. I don't know the perfect trees. I don't know how the hammock should lay. Where in the campsite should i look for trees. By shore? In the woods away from the wind?

Two years ago I decided to purchase a hammock because everyone seemed to rave about them on this site. I got a HH Explorer bottom entry. For my first trip in the early summer it didn't work so well. During a storm the tree I was on fell over and it freaked the $@#% out of me. The rest of the trip I slept in a tent. The next trip later in the summer I went back to the hammock and it worked great. We didn't get any rain or storms that trip. Last year I decided to bring it for a late May trip. I bought an Arrowhead Potomac underquilt for warmth. It was very cold this trip. Lows got near freezing and I froze my butt off. It was brutal and I slept very poorly. I thought I set it up correctly but I was still cold with all my layers on. I thought my hanging days were over but I decided one last time I'd try it on a summer trip last year. Again it failed me. We had a huge storm and our campsite received heavy winds. I didn't get wet because I had a CCS tarp overhead. But I swayed all night long and could sleep because the wind was blowing me all around. I'm using a tent this spring for my may trip. Am I hopeless or can someone help me?

Hammocks are not a cure all and not everyone enjoys them despite what you hear especially on another very well known forum on this topic.

They simply are not for everyone.

However, I will address some of the problems you have encountered and perhaps you can knock out a few of your hammock ills:

1. Take a better look at your trees and make sure they are alive, sturdy and have no overhanging dead limbs. Safety first!

2. Make sure your underquilt is fit for how and where you position your body inside the hammock. You may have to adjust it for those cold drafts (and you will feel them like cold blades stabbing at you) that permeate sharply down your head and shoulder areas as well as drafts that can get in the foot end. This may also require some additional work to get that UQ up tight around you and eliminate those gaps.

3. For winds, you will have to learn to set it up so the wind hits you more broadside and adjust your tarp accordingly. Hang that hammock a little higher up the ridge of the tarp to help give you more side coverage. Setting up to the pertaining winds is an important element of this type of camping.Really "batten down the hatches" in those windy situations, especially on the windward side. The sharper the angle downward, the better.

4. You are not hopeless. I believe you need to spend some time doing some backyard tweaking with a friend to figure out where that UQ works best and fiddle with it to eliminate all those drafts and cold spots. Wait for some "not so perfect" conditions and play with it as much as you can to gain that confidence in your system.

Good luck.

Kyle -- Have you viewed some of Shug's videos? They really helped me when I was first getting started.

Here's the link: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?15516-Video-Series-Hammock-Hangin-Shug-Style-Essentials-For-Noobs

(Sorry, the "Add a Link" thing isn't working for me tonight.)

I have found that most tarps do not totally protect you from the wind. IMO, you really need one that has doors ( Warbonnet ). These types of flys will protect you much better. Some guy lines on your hammock will minimize your swaying.

I am a side sleeper so I sleep at an angle in my hammock vs parallel with it; and I always use a pad. These two tactics help me sleep straighter and more comfortably on my side.

As suggested look at Shug's videos. He has some great advice. You can also look at his "frozen butt hang" where the temperatures were well below zero. You need a good bag/quilt, underquilt and clothing to survive those temperatures.

As suggested, I would spend some backyard time trying what works for you. It is much different from a tent - more stuff to tweak.

Thanks a lot for the replies. Your information is much appreciated.

First, I also use a HH hammock. I have seldom had the problems that you speak of, but I do see differences between your set-up and mine, that likely make the difference. As said, is sounds as though your under quilt is not adjusted properly. I probably lucked out getting mine adjusted right in the beginning and I haven't changed it since. It'd be great to lie in the hammock and have someone else adjust the quilt, but usually that someone is a person who doesn't know how it needs to be adjusted (think wife). So your option is to keep trying 'til you get it right. You don't want air to be able to creep in the ends or sides.
After that, you are not using the supplied tarp that came with your hammock. You say that you didn't get wet because you were using a CCS tarp (which wasn't designed as a hammock tarp). I only use my Hennessy tarp, and I've never gotten wet with that. The Hennessy tarp is designed to drape down in bad weather (it actually lays down flat against the hammock side all by itself when adjusted right and pops back up when the wind dies down). Everyone buys a bigger tarp as soon as they buy their hammock. The bigger tarp is great for better coverage in good weather, but when the wind picks up, so does the tarp.
My hammock will sway a little in heavy winds but my elastic guy lines keep that to a minimum.
Last... as said, try to hang sideways to the weather.