If all goes well tomorrow will be my first night in a hammock. Actually looking forward to rain, it will make a good test.

What will the temps expected to be? Are you using any insulating layers?

What are you hanging in? How bout insulation and what tarp you using?

Hope that you have a good hang tonight.

Have fun. You'll find its as easy as pie.

We need pic's.

quote OBX2Kayak: "We need pic's."

+1

O.K. Lots learned, lots to learn...

The little ones were with at first, so setup was rushed so that we could keep them occupied and having fun. About dark the wife took them home and left me to hang alone. One thing that didn't strike me until them is that for all my camping experience I have never spent the night outdoors totally alone. The brain tries to make sense of what it hears, and that's just not always a good thing...

I have a stock Hennessy Expedition.

The low last night was 43º, and breezy with a fair amount of medium strong gusting.

The trees I picked turned out to be 12ft apart, the minimum distance recommended by Hennessy for that model. I know because I measured it.

The hammock was reasonably level, or as close as I could eyeball it. It was perfect "chair height" when loaded. when loaded, the ridge line was taught, but had a decent snap to it. Not a tight twang, but and inch or so easy tug and snapped right back.



I had under me a sheet of reflectix, and a 3/4 under inflated REI camp pad.

I slept off center. If the head of the hammock was 12 o'clock, then my head was at 1 and my feet at 7. Zipper on my right side, and my feet on the right side. No amount of wiggling or adjusting seemed to get me any farther off center. My left shoulder was even with the head side tie out.

I ended up using a sweatshirt as a pillow. Actually, it just supported my neck, my head rested comfortably on the hammock itself.

Observations:

The biggest thing I need to deal with is everything, including my butt, slides to the center. No matter how much care I put into movement, the pads slide. Gear slides. I slide. The sliding was a major pain in the butt.

I slept quite warm, no complaints there. I did notice that if part of me moved off my pad(s) at all it was quickly apparent.

I had trouble falling asleep, but since I normally am up until 2 or 3 3AM, it could be more hitting the rack "early" than a comfort issue.

I need to work on my gear stowage. I have it to a science in a tent, but this is new. That will end up being trial and error.

My lower back, or the top portion of my tuchas, is hurting. I suspect, but do not know, that my pads sliding were part of the reason I could not get a flat lay.

I really did NOT like that I could not see out when a 2am "visitor" came to my campsite. I heard what sounded like a foot scuff on the gravel. I heard my visitor walking, and just about had a heart attack when my visitor tripped on my tarp tie out. Up to that point I didn't know if my visitor was on two or four legs. Shortly after that I heard sniffing and concluded it was the 4 legged variety.

I was confronted with a dilemma in changing clothes in a public campground. In a tent, I can lay flat and wiggle into some new underwear without getting a ticket for public indecency. The hammock does not seem (or maybe I'm just not experienced yet) to allow me that luxury.

The fly when set up caused me some concern. I was hoping for rain, but when I woke at 5AM with lightning on the horizon, I packed up and left. (wimp, I know)

I found the hammock side tie outs to be way too long to use with he tarp. They didn't spread the hammock out at all, and just ended up getting in my way exiting the hammock. However it was a good reference to show how much I slid in the hammock.

Wondering what the heck the elastic cord and ring are for on the inside of the hammock? It is located on the inside, away from the zipper side, and at the same place as the shoulder tie out.



I think that's enough for now...

To changing clothes you can change pants and under shorts while lying in a hammock. Then just set up and set on the edge of the hammock to change shirts.
As far as 2 am visitors just let out your best blood curdling scream. If it is 4 legged it will run off. If it is 2 legged it will carry the excrement away that was excreted when you screamed.

you had a normal first night in a hammock.
i would ditch the fly and get a larger one. hennessy sells one.
i made an under quilt out of a down blanket.
losing the pad should help your back.
your hammock may have been too straight. tree to tree.
you experienced a normal night first time in a hammock, congrat's!

Very informative. Thank you.

Nice job. You got me thinking about a few things. And I tried a mattress pad for a test and really disliked the feel and the sliding around. Going with a under quilt.

Thanks for the report and picture.

"Normal first night" is exactly what I was thinking.

From the picture, it appears that the hammock may have been strung up a little to tight. Also, try hanging the feet a few inches higher than your head.

It takes a while to figure out what angle works best for you and your hammock. Try several different positions and see how you do.

As far as changing clothes, don't worry about it. You're camping. Sometimes I'll go to the back of the hammock facing away from the campground.

I really had to think about the tying the foot end higher, It's counter intuitive, but I see how it would work.

On the tarp, i'm not excited about spending an extra $80+ and adding a pound to my carry weight. A common thread in all this is there is no store to go see and try this stuff. I have to guess what I want and hope I guess right. I lack the resources to go hog wild on this stuff, I need to be sure I am getting what I need, and at a price I can afford.

Under quilts are troubling for me. I've never ever seen one in real life. If I could see it, touch it, understand it's construction. I again understand them, and want one, but really not in the budget. I have toyed with taking an old sleeping bag and sewing on some shock cord loops. But many questions, and the online answers on the DIY stuff I've read don't tell me what I want to know on a way I can understand and adapt with what I have on hand to make one. Wow, that was a run-on sentence!

My yard has no place to hang, and thus no place to easily experiment. The biggest issue, and the one I need to resolve quickly if I'm gonna take this thing on the trail, is my back.

For reading, it was awesome. I welcomed the breeze as it kept my hammock in a gentle sway. I was grateful for my luck as the wind changed direction between setup and dusk. I only felt the strongest gusts inside my hammock.

Getting my shoes on was great for those midnight strolls, but I fear they would be drenched if there was rain, and for that matter my gear as well. So, add another point for tarp. Also some sort of groundcloth to step on... Preferably not slippery if it gets wet.

Most of my gear is for summer camping. I wanted to join some friends at a February campout. For my tarp I use a continuous ridge line that I run under the tarp. For under insulation I used a sleeping bag suspended by shock cord that went over the tarp ridge line. Probably not what you would want for a permanent solution but it would give you a chance to sleep warm without a pad.

+1 first night.

I have a HH Deep Jungle, it is a double layer hammock that you can slide your pad into. This eliminates the sliding. My sons have the expedition, we used some permatex (liquid electrical tape) to create a dot pattern on their thermarest pads to stop some of the sliding.

Your hammock might have been too tight. You should be able to wiggle around enough to find a reasonably flat lay. It will take a little time to find the sweet spot. Make sure the foot end is higher than the head.

Try putting a sweat shirt or jacket under your knees. It might help you lay flatter and eliminate and backward pressure caused from your legs bending opposite the shape of the hammock.

quote ECpizza: "Under quilts are troubling for me. I've never ever seen one in real life."

Here's a pic.

quote ECpizza: "I really had to think about the tying the foot end higher, It's counter intuitive, but I see how it would work.


On the tarp, i'm not excited about spending an extra $80+ and adding a pound to my carry weight. A common thread in all this is there is no store to go see and try this stuff. I have to guess what I want and hope I guess right. I lack the resources to go hog wild on this stuff, I need to be sure I am getting what I need, and at a price I can afford.
"

Keeping the foot end slightly higher took me a while to figure out. I kept thinking I should make the head end higher since my head felt too low. Finally realized that was just making it worse, since the higher the end is the more your body wants to slide down it.

As for the tarp. I used a Noah's tarp, similar to yours, for a few years with my hammock. Certainly not ideal but it worked for the most part. Not completely dry with rain and heavy winds but thankfully that never lasted long for me. I'd carry two of them, one to sleep under and the other to pitch over the gear if it looked like rain.

I've since bought a couple CCS tarps and am much happier with them. If the budget is tight I'd recommend running with what you've got for now until you can afford a good, lightweight, tarp.

Alan

As for the stock rain fly, give it a chance. Me and my sons have 3 different HH, the ultra light backpacker, Expedition and the Scout. All the rain flys are barely larger then the hammock is but we have never gotten wet in them even in some very heavy storms. if we are expecting rain we just stake down the tie outs in the fly a little closer to the hammock. In sunny weather I find a stick in the woods to prop it up a little so I can see out better. I keep my pack right under my hammock and it stays dry also. My shoes go in a pouch that I hang from the ridgeline and slide down past my feet.

For the elastic tie outs on the side of the hammock , I tied it in the middle where it would pull the hammock body out towards the fly so I had more "room" in the hammock. Also mine are the older style with the bottom entry vs the side zipper, not sure if that makes a difference but it doesn't get in the way when I get in and out.

Keep us updated on your progress and we'll keep giving tips.
...Happy Hanging!

Your tarp looks ok for a summer hang . Perhaps if it's coming down sideways you could get wet. Don't forget your drip lines.

You will find the correct angles and lay soon enough. If you have a basement put some eyebolts in some studs and hang down there to test things out.

I ponied up and bought a Warbonnet Superfly. Something about doors gives me peace of mind.

If you know someone who sews you could buy materials and download some plans and make a under quilt. Should be able to get it done for under 100 bucks.

Sweatshirt under the knees... I need to try that.

In my tents I am fanatic about staying dry. My #1 absolute requirement with a tent is a full fly around the tent. Down to almost the ground.

Given that, then just for my own mental peace I should get a different tarp/fly. Knowing what is best for me, and affordable, will take some time to research. Even looking at my own picture, that fly looks a heck of a lot smaller in real life than in the photo.

I have found some good examples of adding shock cord to a sleeping bag. I also saw a way (without destroying it) to turn the original fly into an "under fly" to block wind. I like that I could do these for about $20 in materials, and the alternate uses on the trail are plentiful. I think that for sure the combination, and possibly that either one alone might be enough, so I am comfortable with trying it out.

Alas, I live in a townhouse with no basement. The only suitable home option I have is the garage door rails, but I also read that is a bad idea.

Sounds like you need a superfly!

my xl hh tarp. this diy underquilt was about 40$. 1/4 inch shock cord at ends and down the sides keep it tight to the hh. i also purchased an underquilt cover from 2qzq for about 35$. this goes over the underquilt and makes the bottom windproof.