Tightening Secondary Suspension...

[SteveE]

I've read that when you tighten the secondary suspension on your underquilt it's suggested to tighten the head side and foot side more, creating a bit of a trapezoid shape. I guess the idea is that this better contours the shape of your lay. When I did this I found that it was a lot more difficult to get a diagonal lay as the underquilt was snug on my head side and snug on my feet side, almost forcing my body to lay along the center line more. I tried reversing this idea and made it looser on my head side and looser on my foot side (tightening the opposite sides) and found it made a big difference in being able to get a nice diagonal lay. It also made the hammock feel less constrictive this way. How do you guys tighten your secondary suspension?

[rweb82]

I had a similar experience. While tightening the head and foot sides of the UQ provided a little better coverage, I found the quilt to be a bit too tight for my liking. I've since began tightening it the same on both sides, and it's much more comfortable. Also, I don't like to over-tighten the secondary suspension. I tighten it just enough to take out the slack. I may lose an inch of coverage by not stretching the quilt to its max; but it's way more comfortable this way, and I feel the down doesn't compress as much when I lay in it.

[SteveE]

Ya I agree totally. That's one of the reasons I went with a long/wide underquilt. An extra few inches in both length and width seems to allow for a bit more flexibility and it doesn't slip at all off my feet or shoulders...

[Five Tango]

I don't profess to know what I'm doing but what I do is tighten the head side a little more than the foot side.Works for me so far.
One thing I have learned though is that regardless of what your UQ rating is,if you don't have the primary suspension nice and snug then you WILL get some CBS as your draft collars snug up the ends and not the middle.

[Shug]

A wee bit of tightening goes a long way.
As in everything hammock...there is a learning curve to find your sweet spot.
Carry forth.
Shug

[West michigan]

Yes I’m going through this with my Econ 20 incubator
Still needs some tweaking

[Five Tango]

Yes I’m going through this with my Econ 20 incubator
Still needs some tweaking

Don't be afraid to loosen up those draft collars and start over.I think I saw a Shug video once where he said the primary should be snug enough to lift the hammock up somewhat.I ordered me some plastic biners today so I can make my JRB Winter Nest more like the HG Phoenix so it will "clip on" rather than "tie on" to the hammock suspension.I procrastinated in adjusting my primary a couple weeks ago when the temps dropped and thought I could just snug up the secondary-NO JOY there.......once I untied and retied and then went back to square one on the draft collars,I had a glorious 30 minutes or so until everyone decided to get up early.

[OneClick]

I get the primary suspension pretty tight...lift that hammock up! Then I only pull the secondary enough to "eat up some slack"...usually meaning about 6" of cord pulled thru the locs. I don't really worry about which one; I keep all four of them about equal.

As for the cinch cord on the ends around the draft collars, these should be looser than you think. When you get in it will totally change (spread out a lot wider) so don't worry about what "looks right" when you're not in the hammock. In the past I had these way too tight and it's what caused cold legs and butt.

[cmoulder]

Don't be afraid to loosen up those draft collars and start over.I think I saw a Shug video once where he said the primary should be snug enough to lift the hammock up somewhat.I ordered me some plastic biners today so I can make my JRB Winter Nest more like the HG Phoenix so it will "clip on" rather than "tie on" to the hammock suspension.I procrastinated in adjusting my primary a couple weeks ago when the temps dropped and thought I could just snug up the secondary-NO JOY there.......once I untied and retied and then went back to square one on the draft collars,I had a glorious 30 minutes or so until everyone decided to get up early.

I also found Shug's video very helpful... man, that thing needs to be a LOT higher than I would have thought, but it was indeed spot-on.

Nowadays, once I find the perfect adjustment for a UQ that I'm going to be using repeatedly with the same hammock (such as Revolt 40 with DH Darien), I'll tie some overhand knots in the primary suspension where it attaches to the hammock's CL, and put some figure 8 knots in the secondary (where it passes thru the LL3s) and draft collar (altho Revolts don't have draft collars!) shock cords so that the position is exactly the same the next time I use the UQ.

[SteveE]

I think I've found my sweet spot for all my suspensions as well and have tied knots at the cord locks so that it's easier to set up each time. They sure are finicky (especially at colder temps)!