Questions after first hammock trip

[backcountryrmnp]

Hello folks,

I recently decided I wanted to try substituting a hammock for a tent on backpack trips as I sleep terribly on the ground. I checked out outdoorgearlab and settled on the Hennessey ultralight backpacker asym zip. Now, I would like to mention that I'm experienced with backcountry trips/camping/gear, however, now realize that there was quite a bit that I didn't know about hammocks. I got the hammock last Monday, with a 3 day/2 night trip planned in RMNP over the weekend with nighttime lows around 50*f. As I was watching videos on setup, I started to realize that I would need some under-side insulation. Since I didn't want to order any fancy UQ quite yet, I decided to bring along my Thermarest pad as I figured it would stay in position better than my inflatable pad.

As for how it went... I spent a few times re-rigging the hammock until I was happy with the comfort. The rain fly worked well in a light rainstorm. During the nights, the pad slipped around, and repositioning things was a pain in the ***. It also took away from the hammock comfort. However, I want to pursue more hammock camping, so I have a few questions...

1. I realized I may have jumped the gun in which hammock I purchased. My goal is backpacking trips, so lightweight stuff is important. Is there anything I should switch out or modify, such as the tree straps or rainfly? Is the HH ultralight a good core hammock?
2. How the hell does the rainfly keep an UQ dry if there's even a hint of wind? Are there larger rainflys that cover more as opposed to the one that came with my hammock?
3. Do I continue to use my regular mummy bag if I use an UQ, or do people prefer just the top quilt?
4. Any other pointers or things I may not know?

Cheers!

[bluesam3]

1. The HH Ultralight is shorter than most people prefer (as a trade-off to make it lighter), but will do the job nicely, and may well be perfectly comfortable if you're not too tall. As for the rest of the system: the suspension system is slow to set up and hard to adjust, but works. Swapping it out to something else is cheap and easy, though. The rainfly is very much on the skimpy side, and I wouldn't be overly happy using it in any kind of significant wind-driven rain, personally, so you might want to swap that out for something bigger at some point (if you want to keep it small but get more coverage, the minifly is excellent for that, as the weird shape puts the coverage in the important places). I don't especially like the "attach the tarp to the hammock suspension" setup either: I find it hard to get the tarp set up right, since its pitch changes when I get in the hammock. Fixing that is entirely trivial: take any two random bits of cordage (one for each end), tie one end of each to the tarp attachment point, then go around the tree and tie back to the same attachment point. You can swap this out for fancier setups (mostly amounting to adding a bit of hardware so you don't need to tie the knot at the end), if you like. The tree straps are fine, though (as ever), there are expensive lighter version available.

2. Yeah, that rainfly is designed for absolute minimum weight (without changing material), and makes a few compromises to get there. The HH setup is generally designed to use their weird foam mat thing in the bottom, which doesn't need keeping dry, and you can get more protection by pitching it so steep that your head barely misses it, but it's never going to be the best for coverage.

3. Doesn't really matter. TQs are lighter and easier to get into, but your mummy bag will work just fine.

[Miquel Westano]

Hello folks,

I recently decided I wanted to try substituting a hammock for a tent on backpack trips as I sleep terribly on the ground. I checked out outdoorgearlab and settled on the Hennessey ultralight backpacker asym zip. Now, I would like to mention that I'm experienced with backcountry trips/camping/gear, however, now realize that there was quite a bit that I didn't know about hammocks. I got the hammock last Monday, with a 3 day/2 night trip planned in RMNP over the weekend with nighttime lows around 50*f. As I was watching videos on setup, I started to realize that I would need some under-side insulation. Since I didn't want to order any fancy UQ quite yet, I decided to bring along my Thermarest pad as I figured it would stay in position better than my inflatable pad.

As for how it went... I spent a few times re-rigging the hammock until I was happy with the comfort. The rain fly worked well in a light rainstorm. During the nights, the pad slipped around, and repositioning things was a pain in the ***. It also took away from the hammock comfort. However, I want to pursue more hammock camping, so I have a few questions...

1. How the hell does the rainfly keep an UQ dry if there's even a hint of wind? Are there larger rainflys that cover more as opposed to the one that came with my hammock?
   

Cheers!

Get some sort of underquilt protector. I'd suggest a bigger fly too, but the UQ protector is almost a must have in my mind. They are on here used once in a while, but not that expensive new. You can make one with nylon from a fabric store, but they are so cheap it isn't worth it in my mind. Don't use some form of plastic as you will sweat like crazy if you do.

[SilvrSurfr]

My first hammock was a Hennessy Expedition Asym Zip with the postage-stamp rainfly - works great in straight-down rain but not so hot in blowing precipitation. I quickly decided I needed a larger 4-season rainfly with doors and haven't really been wet since. Minimalist tarps just aren't my thing. Also, I've never needed an underquilt protector because I use a 4-season rainfly with doors. Underquilt protectors have never made any sense to me because a 4-season tarp provides equal, or better coverage.

I was not a fan of the Hennessy rope suspension - that lasted about three trips before I swapped it out for a whoopie sling suspension and a separate ridgeline for the tarp. Tarp should not hang off the hammock suspension, in my opinion. Derek Hansen from The Ultiimate Hang has a video where he adds shock cord to the tarp suspension and claims it's some radical improvement, but I tried it once and found little to no improvement.

Hennessy Hammocks are not that comfy - my Expedition was the most uncomfortable hammock I've ever used. I dislike zippers so I'm not a fan of hammocks with integrated bugnets. I prefer an 11 ft. netless hammock and Fronkey bugnet. However, I do have a Dutch Chameleon, because my beagle Joey tries to escape my hammock when using a Fronkey bugnet. The zipper keeps him in the hammock, and the Chameleon is a pretty comfortable hammock, despite the zipper.

Topquilts and underquilts are the way to go, in my opinion. I used a pad for two years, and when I finally got an underquilt, I was amazed at how comfy it was. No falling off an underquilt!

[gtownreb]

1 coverage/comfort

2 ultra-light weight

3 "affordable"

Pick 2 because nothing meets all 3.

The only thing that may hit all 3 is a DIY hammock&bugnet because you can find some very light weight material on sites like ripstopbytheroll but then again how much do you value your time? Also these very light fabrics lay totally different than their heavier counterparts and you may not find them comfortable. That said the length (most go 11ft)and fabric goes a long way towards comfort but what your buddy my like you may hate but that's part of the great thing about hammocks imo. Also don't forget a ridgeline.

As far as tarps, if price is no object then you can get a dyneema/cuben fiber tarp that's very light with lots of coverage. If price is an object but you can stretch on weight then something like a sil-poly from ugq would be great.

A TQ will be lighter, less bulky, easier to enter and exit but there is really nothing wrong with a mummy bag, I'd personally unzip it about 3/4 of the way and lay it over me with my feet in the bottom 1/4.

An UQ is typically considered more comfortable, though I have seen a few individuals say they prefer the pad. Personally give me the quilt any day. And again, it's up to you to decide what your limiting factor is, or if you have one. Synthetic quilts are heavier than down and don't pack as well but do better in wet environments and are generally cheaper, hammock gear has an econ line of down quilts that uses 800fp and a slightly heavier fabric or you can go to of the line from any of the vendors but it's not going to be cheap.

There are tons of suspension options, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Some are extremely light weight that can take some time to learn others are still really light but really intuitive. The possibilities are endless.

If you are going to camp in only fair/warm weather then you may want to dial in your suspension/ hammock first. If you are going to be in cold but mainly dry weather I'd look into insulation. You see where im going with this.

One last thing, practice your hang. I have taken a new setup out in the field without playing with it at home and it drove me crazy

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[TrailSlug]

Yep, I've heard this story more than once. If you've decided that you want to stay in the air then get a good 11 ft lightweight hammock from Warbonnet, DutchWareGear, SimplyLightDeisgns, etc. Then get a good quality top quilt/underquilt combination and a good wide 11 ft silPoly tarp and you should be set for years to come.

[zpamnor]

I have realised that I was just stupid lucky in my first attempt. A combination of eagerness to learn (youtube marathoning) and luck led me to my current configuration. It is not the lightest. By far. But it's bang/buck is pretty spiffy. And not to mention the comfort is out of this world.

Now I realise that I am a minority in this world. TQ and UQ seem to be the way of the masses. But I say: If you can stomach packing fown a Klymit Hammock V sleeping pad in the field, you will not regret it.
It stays put. It has no cold spots and excellent comfort.

in the end. You gotta find what's right for you. Buy used and sell what you don't like. You'll get there. Eventually.

[Snaps]

I started with the HH Explorer UL Asym with bottom entry. I'm 6'1", 175lb with a slim build, and I found the shoulder squeeze to be more than I could tolerate for long. I didn't run into issues with the teensy rainfly, but then I didn't find myself in any substantial rain, either. I bought & sold a few times to get to my current setup... much longer, slightly heavier, but WAY more comfortable.

[slugbait]

I started with a Hennessy Ultralight (17 years ago!) 1. The suspension cord frayed and broke after a while so I replaced it with webbing, cinch buckles and carabiners. The velcro started coming unsewn so I removed it entirely which proved to be a successful mod. 2. The fly I found to work better when pitched separately from the hammock suspension, with its own lines. That said , I have moved on to DIY larger tarps. 3. I used my old down mummy bag as a top quilt for 7 years before DIYing a top quilt- it worked fine. 4. In short, you would do well to get out and use your hammock and in time you may wish to upgrade, or not.

[cougarmeat]

First of all, you didn't make a mistake - you got started. Second, there are a few tweaks that will make your setup a bit better. Third, it sounds like your hammock was comfortable - just not as weather secure as you'd like - so if I were you, I'd use it for a while to learn stuff. Later, you will have gained the experience to make another decision for your specific style and environment. You can keep the ultra lite for a friend or sell in in the For Sale forum. Note that several times a year REI sells HH at a 20% discount for New, so don't plan on getting a lot for the used one.

1) Suspension: Forget about that "Hennessy Knot" It's not that the knot itself is bad; it's that you will probably be making adjustments with suspension height on the tree while getting the setup dialed in. You can swap out the line suspension but another way is to keep it and use webbing around the tree with two climbers repel rings. You wrap the line through the rings so they lock it. Easy to adjust, easy to release. YouTube is your friend.

2) Tarp:If you bought the hammock direct from Hennessy they may let you swap the tarp that came with the UL for one of their larger models and just pay the retail difference. But with addition shipping charges, It might be better to keep the small tarp and just get a larger one for "Weather". There are numerous threads discussing "best tarp". Blowing rain is best thwarted by using a tarp with doors on the ends. The smaller tarp can be used to cover gear, a picnic table, used on a day hike to keep the sun out of your eyes, etc. Some may mention ultralight dynama (cuban fiber) tarps. I think there is much more you could do with the money you'd spend one of those. And they have Cons and well as Pros.

3) UnderQuit: It's important to understand how heat works. Your body produces the heat, not the bag. If there were nothing to take away the heat, you would be very uncomfortable. Problem is, sometimes too much heat is removed. How does this happen. There are about four "gates" that allows heat to escape. To be warm, you just have to close the gates. When you are on the ground, your loss is usually by conduction - contact with something cold (the ground). Your sleeping pad provides insulation from the ground, stopping conduction heat loss. When you are in the hammock, your heat lost is mostly by convection - air currents under/around the hammock. Your sleeping bag will provide insulation above, but the part you are sleeping on is compressed so you only have a few layers of nylon between you and the heat robbing air currents.

Note that you can use your sleeping bag like a top quilt - unzip so only the bottom 2 feet or so provide a footbox for your ... 2 feet; lay the open sleeping bag on top of you like a blanket. Much easier than trying to wriggle inside. If you do want to use it completely zipped up, it might be easier to get into before you get into the hammock, then sit in the hammock and swivel in.

For the bottom insulation, you can use a sleeping pad in the hammock - that can be a bit uncomfortable as it shifts around. With a double layer hammock you can put the pad inside the layers and it will stay put better, but might not give you the coverage you need.

A next step - without the cost of a dedicated underquilt - is to add an underquilt protector (UQP), a nylon layer that hangs below the hammock and is usually attached to the hammock ends by bungee cord. Note that it doesn't have to cover the whole bottom of the hammock - but it usually does - it's job is to cover the area of an underquilt. If you don't have an UQ, the UQP will still block air currents. And you can put your pad in the UQP so it's sort of like a double layer. If you order the UQP from 2QZQ, you can specify heavier bungee to better hold the weight of the pad.

Hope that helps a bit. Just read the forum posts and watch the YouTubes. And get outside and try things. But better to try them closer to home than to "experiment" two or three days out with no alternative if things don't go as planned.