I’m travelling without a computer at the moment, so i haven’t done the drawings but I think the concepts are there.
I know going to ground isn’t a popular idea here! But for me, the difficulty in doing so keeps holding me back from investing in a hammock set up.
I travel by bike or hitchhiking where I’m usually wildcamping. Discrete spots are often hard to find and often I see potential hammocking spots that I couldn’t put a tent (and vice versa).
I also do most of my backpacking above the treeline (UK and the Pyrenees, though currently in Corsica) which means for at least 1/3 of a trip I sleep above it too. I wouldn’t want to change my trip objectives too much to accomodate camp sites. The latter means a simple flat tarp is not a great choice for a tarp, I need something designed better for high winds.
So a hybrid set up appeals. I want to get them out of my head to stop obsessing and get some more hammock experienced feedback.
idea 1
8’ ridgeline, set up in an a-frame with oversized doors on one end, regular superfly type doors on the other. The oversized doors would overlap so that they extend the ridgeline to the required coverage length when “opened up wide” - so they overlap along the ridgeline. On the ground, they would need one stake each, as the overlap would possibly be quite significant. But it would allow for a good ground pitch without the excess ridgeline length of a Superfly type tarp for ground purposes, saving weight, and giving a better angle into the day for the ground.
The width could also be tapered toward from the oversized end. The small “regular” door end would have the extra coverage from the “regular door” to make up for the smaller width (let’s aay it tapers from 10ft to 8ft). A taper would save weight, and make a better shape for ground.
Obviously a lot of trigonometry to workout here! Perhaps the size needed of the oversized doors would be cumbersome, heavy and awkward. For hammockong The end result is a kind of diamond-ended hex tarp, with hammock doors on the foot end.
Idea 2
A regular a-frame type tarp (see Trekkertent stealth for reference). 8’ish ridgeline. Both ends open up and close down with overlapping doors for ground mode.
Opened up, there would obviously be a “v shaped” hole 3ft into the ridgeline! So, taking advantage of the fact we need a groundsheet if using a hammock as a bivvy, we could use a specially made ground sheet that attaches along the ridgeline (assymetrical rectangle? Pentagon? Optimal shape needs experimenting) to cover the hole. Attached grizbeak or detatchable door style.
This is more faff when setting up the hammock, but provides better end coverage, and less compromises on the ground, means one doesn’t *need* a groundsheet, and means that on ground you have no real compromises for a reliable storm worthy design of a classic a-frame.
Like the former, it could be tapered.
Hopefully this makes sense without drawings. Thoughts?
Bookmarks