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  1. #1
    New Member
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    Sep 2020
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    Minnesota
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    I spent my first night in a hammock and now I have questions.

    I take at least one long motorcycle trip with a few friends every year and I am not a fan of sleeping in a tent and every time we do one of these trips we all talk about getting hammocks and getting rid of the tents. After breaking one of my tent poles on the first night I started looking into getting a hammock. After scouring the internet and seeing several reviews from what appeared to be good Hammock related YouTube channels I picked up a ridge outdoor gear pinnacle 360 from amazon. last night I decided to hang it under my porch and sleep in it for the first time. It was cold and rainy and my wife thought i was an idiot but I’m used to that.

    I made a set of continuous loops and whoopie slings for the suspension. For the insulation I turned an old mummy bag into a top quilt by cutting the hood and zippers off and sewing it back together. I also made a underquilt from another old sleeping bag and sewing some channels for shock cord into it for suspension. Both of those worked great to keep me warm but I still had other issues.

    The issues I had were with the hammock itself. I think.

    First was that no matter how i changed things around there was a ridge at the side that made my butt quite a bit lower than my knees when I was sitting up. So for me to have my feet on the ground I had to have it only a few inches above the ground. I have seen lots of YouTube videos of people sitting comfortably in their hammock and putting on their boots or just relaxing. This also made it difficult to get in and out of.

    The other issue was that I kept sliding down towards the middle. I had the foot end higher than my head and was sleeping on a diagonal but no matter what I did I kept needing to pull myself back towards the head end.

    I was thinking that the sliding may have been caused by the ridge line being to short and making to much sag but today I pulled it out and discovered that it is actually to long. It is an 11ft hammock and completely stretched out it measures at exactly 131”, the 83% rule says The ridge line should be should be about 109” but mine was 113”.

    So my question is weather the long ridge line caused either of my issues or is there something else I should be looking at. or do I need to just bite the bullet and order the Blackbird?

  2. #2
    Senior Member kattdogg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Stockbridge, WI
    Hammock
    DH Sparrow
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    HG Dyneema
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    Becket hitch!
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    641
    Bite the bullet, you get what you pay for. Some people love their amazon hammocks (i think cause they do not know any better). But the vast majority of the time when people go from an amazon hammock to a better quality hammock they finally realize why the price is so much higher. Material being used also plays a big difference in how you are going to lay. most budget hammocks are a weight rating of 400lbs so they use a heavier material .
    Also need to ask what kind of straps where you using? I used ratchet straps in the beginning and they stretch which can throw your hang off, or you may just need to go a lot higher with your feet in that hammock.
    My foot end is way up in the air in my WBBB XLC, but in my Sparrow DH it is only a little higher then my head.

    I stand 5ft 6in and am no more then 18 inches off the ground when I lay in my hammock, as long as my UQ and UQP are not touching the ground I consider it a win!
    To only step where others have stepped means not to have your own adventures. Live, Love, and Adventure so you may leave your own foot prints!

  3. #3
    Phantom Grappler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Denton NC
    Hammock
    WildernessLogics 12x6
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    HG cuben 13ridge12
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    TopQuiltUnderQuilt
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    S and D
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    4,926
    You don’t have to be crazy to be a hammock camper....but it helps.
    If you go to two local group hangs, you will see a great variety of hammocks set up in all kinds of ways. Ask questions about their hammocks and ask owners permission to get in their hammock and get an idea of what type hammock you will want to get.
    Browse on Hammock Forums, research new and old threads. I use Google to search topics, and it usually finds exact topics right here on Hammock Forums.
    Watch Shug’s ten part YouTube series—How to hang a hammock, How to pitch tarp, Insulation, Suspensions...
    Shug’s videos are both entertaining and informative.
    Good Luck

  4. #4
    Senior Member sidneyhornblower's Avatar
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    Jul 2014
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    outside
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    Quote Originally Posted by UFO8MyCow View Post
    ...I picked up a ridge outdoor gear pinnacle 360...So my question is weather the long ridge line caused either of my issues or is there something else I should be looking at...
    Before you try to cure the issue by throwing money at it, maybe try some experimenting first. The specs on the Pinnacle 360 don't look too bad: 11 foot hammock with a 110 inch ridgeline. Though yours was apparently a bit out of spec, the longer ridgeline is not the primary problem.

    What you describe as a ridge at the side could be caused by a poor hang angle. That is, your straps were at a less than 30 degree angle coming off the porch supports or whatever you used to hang from. One sign of this would be the hammock ridgeline being extremely tight when you're in the hammock. While your full weight is in the hammock you should be able to bend the ridgeline a bit without super human effort. If you can't, your hang angle is probably too shallow.

    I'd suspect the hang angle also because of sliding. That happens to me when I have a bad hang, usually because the trees are too close together and I'm trying to shoehorn things in anyway. While I can physically fit the hammock a lot of places, there's a sweet spot where the hang works best, usually 15 or so feet apart.

    There's a large learning curve with hammocks that a lot of us don't want to admit is there. It's going to take you some time to find the comfort that's available, so I'd encourage you to try different hang spots and fiddle around a lot with higher or lower strap placement on the trees. When you find what works, maybe measure it or take photos so you can recreate it in a new spot.
    "...the height of hammock snobbery!"

  5. #5
    Senior Member MAD777's Avatar
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    May 2009
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    White Mountains, New Hampshire
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    For a more comfortable sitting position, double the hammock over before sitting. That puts the edge seams behind you and the fold under your knees.

    Have you actually measured the hammock length? I never trust printed specs on mass produced hammocks.

    If you're sliding toward the foot, raise the foot higher until you don't. Every hammock is different in that respect, even though you wouldn't think so.

    And, welcome to the world above the ground!

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
    Mike
    "Life is a Project!"

  6. #6
    Member Dunckelman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Haslet, TX
    Hammock
    Dutch Netless
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    DIY Hex
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    83
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    I encourage you to keep trying to make it work. I have an expensive Chameleon hammock, several Dutch netless hammocks, and many that I’ve made. The Ridge Outdoor hammock is well made and works great for me. I did replace the suspension, continuous loops and the ridgeline over time. Otherwise, it is as functional as the rest of them for me. The one set of zippers is somewhat annoying and I find it to be a little more stretchy than my other hammocks. Still is comfortable enough for overnight sleep. My 2 cents...

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Newnan, GA
    Hammock
    SLD Trail Lair & WB Ridgerunner
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    HG 12ft. Sil Poly
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    Quote Originally Posted by sidneyhornblower View Post
    Before you try to cure the issue by throwing money at it, maybe try some experimenting first. The specs on the Pinnacle 360 don't look too bad: 11 foot hammock with a 110 inch ridgeline. Though yours was apparently a bit out of spec, the longer ridgeline is not the primary problem.

    What you describe as a ridge at the side could be caused by a poor hang angle. That is, your straps were at a less than 30 degree angle coming off the porch supports or whatever you used to hang from. One sign of this would be the hammock ridgeline being extremely tight when you're in the hammock. While your full weight is in the hammock you should be able to bend the ridgeline a bit without super human effort. If you can't, your hang angle is probably too shallow.

    I'd suspect the hang angle also because of sliding. That happens to me when I have a bad hang, usually because the trees are too close together and I'm trying to shoehorn things in anyway. While I can physically fit the hammock a lot of places, there's a sweet spot where the hang works best, usually 15 or so feet apart.

    There's a large learning curve with hammocks that a lot of us don't want to admit is there. It's going to take you some time to find the comfort that's available, so I'd encourage you to try different hang spots and fiddle around a lot with higher or lower strap placement on the trees. When you find what works, maybe measure it or take photos so you can recreate it in a new spot.
    + 1
    ~ Rerun

    In 100 years it won't make any difference...

  8. #8
    Senior Member DocWatson's Avatar
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    Jun 2019
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    Merrimack, NH
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    133
    I have a cheap Amazon hammock and I sleep very well in it. I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on the 360 that you have. I find I get a calf ridge in my hammock occasionally and when that happens, I find that I have too much of the fabric on one side of me. If I shift to the left or to the right I can remove that ridge. That is if I move my body either closer or further away from the side that I get in/out of and then shift to the diagonal lay I can get rid of the calf ridge.

    - Clyde

  9. #9
    Senior Member
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    Jan 2015
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    CT
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    You can experiment with the ridgeline length by putting a small car beater on it and wrapping some of the ridgeline around it to shorten it until you are happy.

  10. #10
    Senior Member MAD777's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    White Mountains, New Hampshire
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    DIY, WBBB & Switchback
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    "car beater"... I love it. Gonna start carrying some in my pack. Actually, this is what I'm calling them from now on... Thank you!

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
    Mike
    "Life is a Project!"

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