Hi,
Just bought my first hammock after extensive reading on the Internet. Posting here my costs so far, first impressions and some questions.

Costs so far $375 CAD. For $USD equivalent $1CAD = $0.72 USD at this time so take 72% of my figures or $270USD. I bought a Hennessy Expedition Asymmetric Zip. I bought what was recommended by others: Hennessy Hex fly, carabiniers, and descending rings. I added cordage to sling the underquilt, webbing, tent pegs, and a cheap sleeping bag to test as an underquilt. So advice to those budgeting on just the hammock tent alone, there are other costs so figure close to double by the time you are finished.

Underquilt. My first week long trip will be in night time temps forecast for 7C/45F. Re: Celcius, water freezes at 0C and 20C is a nice room temp. Temps above 20C is not an issue for camping. I bought a cheap Canadian Tire (it's a big box household/auto/sporting good/hardware/gardening store) $27 rectangular sleeping bag rated for 6C. Hah. More like 15C it's so thin. So I unzipped it and laid it out. Then folded it by bringing the head end down to the feet end. This gave me a quilt with proportions wider than when the bag is folded its normal way one side to the other.

Underquilt suspension. I like the triangular suspension. One variant is an all string suspension. However people suggest the point load of the string on the netting over the ridgeline can wear a hole in the netting. So using the idea that the triangular piece of cloth spreads the load and reduces chafing, I made a pad to spread the load holding up the underquilt. I had an exercise ball that had a hole it it. The material is tough, pliant, and smooth. See photos. The red string keeps the suspension from sliding down the ridgeline. The red string is tied like a prussic knot to the main tent cord so adjustable. See photos of the suspension and underquilt. I get pretty good contact of the underquilt with the bottom of the tent. I'll try adding some shockcord to draw the underquilt up tighter to the bottom of the tent with some give.

Impressions and observations
1. Wow, it's small. See photo #1 with the sleeping bag laid out diagonally as I would sleep. It's really meant just for sleeping once inside. I'm used to 2 man tents. In a tent I like lay out and sort my gear for the next day, sit up and change my clothes, etc. Guess with a hammock you do all this outside on the ground under the fly?

2. It's easy to forget and leave the straps in the trees when packing up. Need a way to remember to take them off the trees when packing up.

3. Lots of guy lines to setup. My 2 man tent is free standing and the contents inside weigh it down and keep it from blowing away. The only time I guy it down is if it's really windy. The hammock tent and fly has lots of guylines.

4. The webbing that comes with the Hennessy tent is really short and not really useful. I bought two pieces of webbing each 4 metres long to go around the trees I'll likely encounter. That will handle a tree almost 4 feet diam. I'll bring rope for any trees bigger. People suggest tying a water knot in webbing. I would use a bowline in a bight which is faster to tie, can do it in the dark, is easy to untie, and spreads load out on the webbing like the water knot.

Questions.
1. Once you are in the tent, legs drawn up and fly zipped up, can you sit up in the hammock tent to change etc.? I see the pictures where people us the hammock like sitting in a swing. I don't mean that, I mean once you've laid down, swung up your legs and zipped the fly. Can you still sit up?

2. Anybody use both flys at the same time? The one that comes with the tent and the optional Hex fly? I can see using the Hex fly to get out of the rain and keep gear on the ground dry, and the smaller original fly in tighter to block heat loss from wind.

3. How do you handle sorting out and getting gear ready, what I used to do inside a tent out of the rain and leave lying there until I need something.

Thanks. I'll get to hang for a week.

2. Setup.jpg3. Adaptation of triangular UQ suspension.jpg4. UQ head end.jpg5. UQ foot end.jpg1. Interior size Hennessy Asym-Zip.jpg