Where do you tie off your tarp to?

[Schmitty]

I've been trying to find the perfect tarp attachment point and can't seem to get it where I want it. When I tie off to the trees it seems the tarp is either too high and far away from the hammock or too low and rubbing on and being stressed by the hammock suspension. I would ultimately like the tarp ridgeline 1-4" above the hammock ridgeline. Where do you tie off your tarp to?

[Hawk-eye]

Always to the tree just above the hammock attachment point. Of course I use a 10x12 tarp and the size of tarp you're using will effect the hang too.

[Perkolady]

Schmitty,

When I set up, in all but the best weather, I actually tie my tarp ridgelines to the tree just below where the hammock straps are attached.

The hammock will stretch and sag a bit after getting in and the tarp sags a bit after a while too, so for me, setting up this way seems to leave the tarp ridge at the right height above my hammock ridgeline when everything is settled.

I know I'm not the only one who does this- maybe others can chime in on what works for them.

[animalcontrol]

I would ultimately like the tarp ridgeline 1-4" above the hammock ridgeline. Where do you tie off your tarp to?

To accomplish that (1-4"), you have a couple choices...(winter/rain use)
1. have your trees far enough apart that if you use a figure 9, you can tie your tarp to your figure 9 back away from the tree (forms a triangle) and your hammock suspension goes in the middle of the triangle and wont touch anything.
2. use prusik knots and tie your tarp off to your hammock suspension...very hard to get a taut tarp pitch this way...
3. let the hammock suspension rub. I seem to have this happen frequently and while I agree it is not the best solution, I have yet to see any wear n tear to my tarp

Summer use...I normally get as high as I can reach

keep trying!

[angrysparrow]

I actually tie my tarp ridgelines to the tree just below where the hammock straps are attached.

Tarp ridgeline always goes below the hammock straps for me as well. Sometimes quite a bit below, depending on the distance between the trees.

let the hammock suspension rub.

I don't sweat if it rubs the tarp suspension a little. I don't 'swing' much, and the minimal rub has never been a problem after several years of hanging.

[warbonnetguy]

my tarp guylines always go above (maybe only 1/2" though) my hammock suspension on the tree, this way it never rubs. i run my rl guylines at about the same angle as the hammock suspension (maybe slightly less since i want the tarp a little above the netting). if you crank the tarps rl guylines tight, then of course the tarp will be very high with that method. by introducing a little sag into the tarps rl guylines, i can position the rl of the tarp at whatever height i want. leaving a little sag in the rl lines is nice because just like a hammock w/rl, pulling it horizontal will result in drop once the hammock is weighted, or in this case once you tighten the ground corners. leaving it looser will mean that the height it is before and after you stake out the corners will be colser to the same, and you won't have to try and calculate how much it's going to drop when you tighten things down (or nearly as much so)

[Barry]

I also tend to tie mine just below the hammock suspension. But it varies depending on the distance between the trees.

In order to use the same tie-off location and achieve the same height difference between the ridgelines (hammock and tarp), the only other factor that you'd be able to adjust is the tension on the hammock suspension (assuming the tarp is always taut). I don't think this is recommended. Instead I worry most about getting the hammock hang, which in most cases means a 15-20 angle on my hammock suspension, then I know that generally the tarp ties at around or just below the same location.

I've also tried using the hammock suspension, but also found that this tends to make it tough to achieve a really taut tarp.

[Frawg]

I hook the tarp ridge lines over the same tree-side toggles that my hammock hangs from. The toggles are very close (1" - 2") to the tree and don't move that much under load. The self-tensioned tarp side guy lines take up any slack that occurs when I get in the hammock.