-
There are a ton of great tips in this thread thank you all who commented. I will echo all those who came before in saying the larger the tarp the less the issues with rain (so far at least). I set mine up usually a 6 inches to a foot above my hammock ridgeline and that has served me well so far, but I have a very large tarp. I also usually have a 45 degree pitch to the walls during heavy showers. As they say, your mileage may vary..
-
I made a 0.33oz DCF sleeve for my hammock that I can attach to my suspension, under the deployed tarp. This way I can position the hammock, sag, height, and side-to-side position, under the tarp without it blowing around and possibly getting wet. This does take some experience with how high the sleeved hammock should be off the ground, and how close to the tarp ridgeline. Pack hangs on a small biner from the head end.
-
Where possible, with windy and rainy weather, I tie tarp guylines to trees or bushes.
Sometimes I tie corner door guylines crisscrossed to base of tree, hammock suspension is on.
This can help reduce or eliminate stakes being ripped from ground and flailing around in wind against tarp.
If I have to use a stake in windy conditions, I get a log, rock or rocks to help hold stake firmly in ground.
Once a stake blew loose with one rock, so I put it back in ground with two rocks holding it down.
This helps keep me dry, but usually my setup doesn’t look strack—but rather like a shanty town structure. Hahaha lol
-
Note the direction of the wind with respect to the hammock center line. When I setup broadside to the wind, the pressure against the side of the trap created the usual aggression on the stake. But once I started setting up parallel to the wind - smaller surface areas to the wind and suspension tree providing partial blockage - the wind across the side of the tarp created lift - an upward pull on the stake. So I had to angle it a bit more.