Help! Lack Of Confidence In My Gear In Windy Environment

[DirtBee]

I've gotten to spend one glorious night in my hammock this year. The other 5 attempts have been stymied by weather, specifically high winds. I live in Western OK and late spring/early summer is marked by frequent afternoon/evening pop-up thunderstorms, from benign to severe, that are typically preceded by sustained straight-line winds ranging from 30 - 50 mph. Do you know what else Western OK has? A serious lack of suitable trees for hammocking. I purchased a Tato stand to counter the tree issue but unfortunately, I have zero confidence in my setup to hold up to the conditions I described. Even in the absence of "bad" weather, we can still have windy days with gusts over 20mph.

I'm running a WBRR suspended from a Tato stand with a cheap-ish Wise Owl tarp. My tie-outs for the Tato stand are the aluminium "Y" stakes and yellow zing-it that comes with it. The tarp is secured, with its stock cordage, under the Tato spreader bar to the existing zing-it loops (which I've already had to replace once) and its tie-outs are also secured to aluminium "Y" stakes. Our soil here is that red dirt that the country music scene here loves to sing about. I haven't had a stake pull out but I've also never put them to the test in windy conditions.

I guess my fear is that the Tato stand is the weak link and a good gust of wind will turn my tarp into a sail and just flip the whole thing over with me in it. To those of you that have put your gear up against high winds, am I just being a wuss?

If my set-up is an issue what can I do, if anything, to make it more resilient?

[cougarmeat]

Usually the “high wind” issue has the tarp - fully deployed - sailing around like an unruly kite and it’s solved by using snake skins so you only have to expose a little amount of the tarp to the wind as you get it guyed out. You don’t want your stand to blow over. given that it is a “portable” stand, if the wind behaves itself - i.e. comes from one direction - can you just orient the stand so your tarp is parallel with the wind? If you were broadside to the wind, even without a tarp, the hammock itself will catch it - especially if you are not in the hammock.

Every thing you described in your suspension seems really strong. I like to have a “weak link” in my setup; something cheap that will fail first, like a split ring, at least on the ridge line.

You are not being a wuss in being concerned that a broadside blast 20mph+ on your tarp might tip over a guyed Tato stand. However, you make have to make a “Not Today” decision if you have that much wind force swirling around - coming from all directions. As a Kayak Camper I’ve promised friends I won’t go out alone in winds over 15 knots. Even with others, if the wind is 20 knots +, we stay on the shore unless absolutely necessary.

Here’s the bottom line problem … I can imagine all sorts of ways you could securely anchor your Tato stand. But then the tarp itself would take the full blast of wind - if you were oriented broadside - and that tarp could be damaged. There was a line in the old movie, War Games. “The only way to win is not to play.” So, barring relief by re-orienting the position of the stand, the only way to “win” might be not to go out in 30-50mph winds.

[ibgary]

Your not being a wuss, it a valid concern. I've been in a lot of wind. I had a stake snap in half and launch threw the tarp.
I'm going out again tomorrow and I'll set up for high winds and take some pics. I'll be back wednesday and try to post them Thursday or Friday.

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[sigma_pete]

I have had a few trips where high winds (50+ mph) pull stakes and launch them 40-50 feet. Not much you can do to prevent that. If the stakes hadn’t come out, I’m sure the tarp would have shredded.

Since packing up and leaving wasn’t an option, I ran additional redundant lines from each critical spot (corners and mid points) and used the extra side tie outs which I don’t normally use in order to help secure and minimize movement since it’s the bursts of wind/no wind/wind inflating and declaring the tarp that slowly work the stakes loose.


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[creativeKayt]

I feel ya... totally. If you're feeling nervous, I'd say listen to yourself. I've also seen a buddy's stake rocket across camp (scary). As cougarmeat said, put in a weak link on all of your guy lines that will be the first thing to fail, so you won't damage or lose things you value. Hunker your setup down as close to the ground as you can. Some prefer a W I D E pitch to allow the wind to flow over or through, but I usually opt for pitching my tarp super close and tight. And, if it's really windy, I'll go to ground, using my setup as a bivy instead, which is not ideal, but it does work and keeps my gear safe.

Post a pic of your setup! Let us know how it goes, too! I'm sending good vibes.

[DirtBee]

Post a pic of your setup! Let us know how it goes, too! I'm sending good vibes.

https://i.imgur.com/s76N1rZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BiDoQZA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/c3bikNk.jpg


This my "no suitable trees and a chance of rain" set-up.

Winds are currently out of the south @ 20 mph. This is the upper end of a normal day in Western OK. I oriented my set-up foot end to the south and it's holding up well.

Stringing up a tarp on a Tato Stand is a bit of a challenge, the provided loops of zing-it on the spreader bar don't exactly fill me with confidence when tightening up the ridge. An actual ridgeline may be in order for this particular tarp as well as upgrading the zing-it to something more substantial. the tarp was like 40 bucks on Amazon, so it is what it is. I'm upgrading stuff incrementally, eventually, I'd like to have a cloudburst with panel pulls and some dutch bling.

I need to dig up some Shug videos on stakes to see if the aluminium "Y" stakes are the way to go for this red dirt.

[donig]

Regarding "upgrading the zing-it to something more substantial", Zing-It has a 500 pound breaking strength. Those little loops will remain long after your tarp shreds and blows away.

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[DirtBee]

Regarding "upgrading the zing-it to something more substantial", Zing-It has a 500 pound breaking strength. Those little loops will remain long after your tarp shreds and blows away.

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Maybe the loop that let go on me just came untied and didn't technically break. I'll have to remove the little piece of heat shrink on the other loop and take a look at the knot.

[jeff-oh]

I've experienced that kind of thunderstorm 4 times. The first time the wind and rain were coming straight through and I was holding on just trying not to be blown away. Since then I have developed my storm mode set up with my tensa stand. In this mode I will wrap the tarp all the way around the stand so that the back left corner is wrapped around the front right pole etc. This makes a tight little cocoon with angled and limited exposed sides for the wind and rain. Even rode out former hurricane Gordon in So. Ill. this way.
Don't knw if that helps with a tato stand, but perhaps it can give some ideas. FIY I use a 10' x 10' square tarp for this set-up.

Are you out near Clinton, Ok? I've have a good friend who owns a nursery there.
storm1.jpg
storm3.jpg
storm2.jpg

[DirtBee]

Don't knw if that helps with a tato stand, but perhaps it can give some ideas. FIY I use a 10' x 10' square tarp for this set-up.

Are you out near Clinton, Ok? I've have a good friend who owns a nursery there.

That's quite the cocoon you have there.

The spreader bars on the RR make getting a tarp into "storm mode" challenging. Then again, I'm not seeking out inclement weather. It just seems to seek me out...regardless of the forecast...on my days off.

Clinton is just a little ways down I-40 from me. Pass through there often for work and when I'm headed to the lake.