Location of Suspension Knot Relative to Tarp Coverage

[SteelToe]

Coming from a Hennessey where the suspension is a continuous line from the end of the hammock body out to the tree straps, I'd like some advice on the best-practice for a gathered-end that has continuous loops at its ends as the attachment point to the straps; is it critical that the Becket Hitch or J-Bend be covered by the tarp? Obviously a larger tarp always provides better coverage, but I can also see how the knots won't provide much of a drip-break, so would the extra end-overhang be useful so long as a proper drip-line is placed before the hammock body? A shorter tarp would allow it to sit lower on the hammock, improving side coverage (my tarp will have small end-doors, if that matters)

The hammock ridgeline (gathered-end to gathered-end) is 10ft
The tied length from continuous-loop to continous-loop is 11ft

I'm designing a 12ft tarp, but if 11ft is sufficient that makes some aspects much easier

[Shug]

Coming from a Hennessey where the suspension is a continuous line from the end of the hammock body out to the tree straps, I'd like some advice on the best-practice for a gathered-end that has continuous loops at its ends as the attachment point to the straps; is it critical that the Becket Hitch or J-Bend be covered by the tarp? Obviously a larger tarp always provides better coverage, but I can also see how the knots won't provide much of a drip-break, so would the extra end-overhang be useful so long as a proper drip-line is placed before the hammock body? A shorter tarp would allow it to sit lower on the hammock, improving side coverage (my tarp will have small end-doors, if that matters)

The hammock ridgeline (gathered-end to gathered-end) is 10ft
The tied length from continuous-loop to continous-loop is 11ft

I'm designing a 12ft tarp, but if 11ft is sufficient that makes some aspects much easier

No. You could add drip lines under the tarp on suspension.
Shug

[SteelToe]

No. You could add drip lines under the tarp on suspension.
Shug

I was planning on doing drip lines regardless, but I need some advice on how much overhang past the drip line reliably protects against the occasional gust tossing rain past it.* Not talking violent storms here, just best practice for a generic hex-style tarp. The 11ft hex-cat I made is about 1ft longer than the ends of my Hennessey, so that was never really a concern.

*I swear I used to know this back when I was pitching tarp-tents as a Scout in the Pacific Northwest, but the memory of those awful, tedious things has faded since I've been living in dry Texas

[leiavoia]

I don’t think the suspension type makes any difference here. I have been using a warbonnet 10ft BB will Edge hex tarp for several years and never had a problem with ends getting wet. The suspension knot can be out in the rain a bit, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure the CL has drip lines for the occasional downpour.

[Shug]

I was planning on doing drip lines regardless, but I need some advice on how much overhang past the drip line reliably protects against the occasional gust tossing rain past it.* Not talking violent storms here, just best practice for a generic hex-style tarp. The 11ft hex-cat I made is about 1ft longer than the ends of my Hennessey, so that was never really a concern.

*I swear I used to know this back when I was pitching tarp-tents as a Scout in the Pacific Northwest, but the memory of those awful, tedious things has faded since I've been living in dry Texas

For reference here is me under my 11' tarp with an 11' hammock.
Never been wet and have many many nights hammock camping.

Shug

[Phantom Grappler]

What is length of your hammock?
What is length of your hammock ridgeline?
An 11 foot hammock can be used with a tarp that has a tarp ridgeline of 11 feet—doors and extra drip lines help.
My hats off to you making your own gear.


My tarp ridgeline is 13 feet and my hammock is 12 feet long by 6 feet wide. And tarp width is 12 feet.
Not everyone has the same style rig.
If you make a 12 foot ridgeline, and decide later to cut it down to 11 feet ridgeline—can that be done? Or is it more trouble than the its worth on that project? Good luck

[SteelToe]

The hammock ridge line (gathered end to gathered end) is 10ft. Hammock body length is 11.5ft

My current Hex-Cat asym is 11ft long, giving 6" of overhang each end (not quite reaching the tree strap hitches), but at a diamond shape; that makes me a little uneasy for anything but windless rain. The design is great & I've been happy with it, but I've always been skeptical of how much coverage it really provides at the ends in windy rain, and how much it's been my snake skins slipped back down over the ends a short ways that really kept the rain off (I've found rain on them before). Given how much longer this new hammock is, I'm trying to minimize how much larger the tarp would have to be.

But you guys confirming that I can get sufficient basic coverage from even an 10ft tarp is just what I needed. I will be copying the layout of the thunderfly/badlander hex tarps that have half-doors at the ends. The hitches will be barely outside the fly, which is just about right for the way I am attaching the tarp ends to the tree straps (with prussik-hitched hooks). My drip shields will be wadded-up snakeskins cinched down tightly over the CL --I will do a silnylon snakeskin/bishop bag for the hammock as opposed to mesh ones for the tarp

The 'badlander' plan that kitsap posted some time back is for an 11ft tarp ridgeline, but if it's not a big risk I'm inclined to sneak that down to 10.5", which would allow for the doors to hang slightly lower while fitting inside the same 4yd length of fabric. Maybe reduce the distance between the door 'tips' as well, for same-length doors but which close at a shallower tarp pitch angle. I don't know how much optimization went into that design, as far as balancing footprint vs. side coverage, but it seems like a happy median between the two that would give considerably better side-coverage than my current setup (and would be a good bit more compact when made from lighter fabric)

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...9&d=1527869956

[Phantom Grappler]

Tarp with 11 foot ridgeline pitched over a hammock with ridgeline of 10 feet,as you described, can give you 6 inches of overhang on each end...lots of hammock campers are ok with 6 inch overhang. Even though it’s likely you could have hammock slightly to one side, and have 4 inches overhang on one side and 8 inches overhang on the other side. And plus plus plus, you’re building doors on end.
Lots of people do it the above method.
Even though Kitsapcowboy has made some small tarps, pushing the envelope, I think a tarp with 10 and a half foot ridgeline pitched above a hammock with a 10 foot ridgeline is skating too close to the edge.
This would give you 3 inch inches overhang per side, provided hammock is centered perfectly even☔️
Hike your own hike, Your mileage may vary...

And on rainy nights, if you have an adjustable hammock ridgeline, or can wrap extra ridgeline around a carabiner—you can probably get away with and benefit from a hammock ridgeline shorter than 10 feet, maybe 9 and a half feet.

[cmoulder]

Tarp with 11 foot ridgeline pitched over a hammock with ridgeline of 10 feet,as you described, can give you 6 inches of overhang on each end...lots of hammock campers are ok with 6 inch overhang. Even though it’s likely you could have hammock slightly to one side, and have 4 inches overhang on one side and 8 inches overhang on the other side. And plus plus plus, you’re building doors on end.
Lots of people do it the above method.
Even though Kitsapcowboy has made some small tarps, pushing the envelope, I think a tarp with 10 and a half foot ridgeline pitched above a hammock with a 10 foot ridgeline is skating too close to the edge.
This would give you 3 inch inches overhang per side, provided hammock is centered perfectly even☔️
Hike your own hike, Your mileage may vary...

And on rainy nights, if you have an adjustable hammock ridgeline, or can wrap extra ridgeline around a carabiner—you can probably get away with and benefit from a hammock ridgeline shorter than 10 feet, maybe 9 and a half feet.

^^^This!^^^

It's nice having a little cushion when seriously nasty weather is on the menu.

Also, perhaps consider whether a shorter hammock might work for you. I'm 5'9" in height and have a 10' DH Darien (Robic 1.7) with 100" SRL and it is the most comfortable, locked-in hammock I own. A 10' tarp RL would be no problem for this.

[SteelToe]

My tarp doesn't have its own ridgeline, it will always sit atop the hammock's (maybe not the best solution out there, but it's what I'm used to). I may make the tie-outs to the tree straps somewhat adjustable so I can hang the tarp higher in nice weather, but that'd be about the extent of it.

Probably a dumb idea, but has anyone tried to 'seal' doors up to the ridgeline-penetration before? The plan I'm looking at doing will leave a little slack fabric at the door-seam when the tarp is pitched at a lower angle, so it may be possible to roll up those edges all the way to the peak for a 'hermetic seal' so to speak. With the bunched-up hammock snake-skins right behind that door-penetration, I think it'd be pretty rain & drip-proof, even with the hammock body being close to the doors. I'll see if I can still do an 11ft tarp ridgeline, though, using the cat-cut wastage to push the doors out to the same distance without extra yards of fabric (I'm not real concerned about seam-leaks on the doors, lol)

Not doing a shorter hammock (at least not at this time). The one I've made is way too comfortable for me to want to "fix". Like I said, I may be able to still do an 11ft tarp ridgeline with the fabric I purchases, and still have the slightly-larger doors I want.