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  1. #1
    New Member Promotions's Avatar
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    Hammock Comfy Outside, Uncomfortable Inside

    Hello!

    I currently own 3 hammocks, a 11 ft Darien, a 11 ft wide Darien, and a 11 ft El Dorado. I have found that, outdoors, the wide Darien is the most comfortable of the bunch, but they were all very comfy. However, I recently built an indoor hammock stand using the ultimate hang calculator for reference, and suddenly they are all nightmares to lay upon. I am hanging them quite differently inside, but I'm not sure what is the main culprit for my sorrows.

    The major issue is that on the indoor stand, the middle of the hammocks are very tight and the sides are very saggy (see attached pictures.) This creates an odd situation where my back is suspended higher than my head and feet when laying diagonally, despite my foot end being hung higher. It is most exaggerated when laying straight down the center, its like riding horseback (of course I wouldn't normally lay like this in the hammock, just to illustrate the issue.)

    My first guess is that it has something to do with the distance. Outdoors, I usually have around 13 feet of space between two trees and use some webbing in a becket hitch. Inside, I've just been clipping the amsteel straight to the eye hooks with carabiners with about 10 feet of space between the attachment points. I feel like that shouldn't be the biggest deal though because its hanging at about 30 degrees and I followed the calculator almost to a tee.

    Any suggestions for how I can achieve some comfort?
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  2. #2
    cmc4free's Avatar
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    When outdoors, do you normally hang the head and foot ends of the hammocks at the same height? It looks like that's the case in your photo. Hanging the foot end higher helps with getting into and staying in the hammock's sweet spot. That's especially true for the Eldorado; Warbonnet recommends something like 12" - 16" higher at the foot end.

    How is the tension on the ridgeline when you're in the hammock?

  3. #3
    New Member Promotions's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cmc4free View Post
    When outdoors, do you normally hang the head and foot ends of the hammocks at the same height? It looks like that's the case in your photo. Hanging the foot end higher helps with getting into and staying in the hammock's sweet spot. That's especially true for the Eldorado; Warbonnet recommends something like 12" - 16" higher at the foot end.

    How is the tension on the ridgeline when you're in the hammock?
    When hanging the Darien's outside I usually do the feet slightly higher, but yea with the El Dorado I do go the foot or so up (picture is the wide Darien.) I played around with height, you can see my NRS straps kinda dangling there, but it didn't make much of a difference.

    Ridgeline when just sitting there is pretty loose and then once I lay in it, pretty tight. I could probably wrap it around a mini-carabiner one or two times before it became a bass string.

  4. #4
    Senior Member oldgringo's Avatar
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    I can't say why it's so, but the distance between hang points definitely makes a difference. There's more than hang angle in play.
    Dave

    "Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."~~~May Sarton

  5. #5
    cmc4free's Avatar
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    Yeah, fixed point hangs are tricky, too. I personally don't completely trust the Hang Calculator.

  6. #6
    Senior Member OneClick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldgringo View Post
    I can't say why it's so, but the distance between hang points definitely makes a difference. There's more than hang angle in play.
    The hammock somehow knows. I can't say why...I just knows.

  7. #7
    Senior Member rweb82's Avatar
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    I noticed the same thing back when I use to hang in my garage. I think part of it has to do with the length of the suspension. Even though most webbings used for hammocks don't stretch all that much, there is definitely a certain amount of "give"- where the suspension lowers a bit when loading the hammock. There is also some give in the webbing where it wraps around the tree. When you shorten the suspension and have a fixed hanging point, that "give" goes away (or is greatly reduced). I was ultimately able to play around with the hang points in my garage until it was comfortable. But I noticed that even then the hammock always felt tighter/firmer than when hanging from trees.

  8. #8
    Senior Member oldgringo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OneClick View Post
    The hammock somehow knows. I can't say why...I just knows.
    That pretty much sums it up.
    Dave

    "Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."~~~May Sarton

  9. #9
    cougarmeat's Avatar
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    Yeah but … sag is sag. If your hammock has the same sag inside as outside, the feel of the hammock should be the same. Despite claims that “The hammock knows…” (and I’m not saying it doesn’t), if you have a snug hammock ridge line outside, the hammock should feel the same if it has the same snug tension inside. If you don’t use a SRL - or even if you do - I’d measure the distance between hammock ends in your most comfortable configuration outside, then see how that hung hammock length compares to your inside configuration.

    Note that the online (web based) hammock calculator does not allow for “fixed height”. It assumes the trees are fixed (good assumption) that you can move the support contact point up and down the tree. But inside, often the distance and support connection height are fixed. So you can only change the suspension length (changing the angle and height above ground (floor). I believe the smartphone based calculator app (version 3), does allow you to fix any value and calculate the others.

    Also, if you measure your distances to give an 83% difference in hammock physical length to hang length (sag), I think the calculators base their designations on an 86% difference. So that would result in some slight difference.

    I haven’t put a support inside yet because 1) I like the fresh outside air (especially in the morning) and 2) I’m chicken to put a shear force on what ever is behind the sheetrock. I can just see that vertical stud pulling though the wall - a bit of a mess. As one of the great philosopher’s, Harrison Ford, said in “Six Days and Seven Nights" (circa 1998), “I’m not one of those guys.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3KMMvPa9U
    In the above scene, he doesn’t say it directly, but I think he does say it later in the movie.

    But then there are some things I can do.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C84amEercRc
    In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.

  10. #10
    New Member Promotions's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cougarmeat View Post
    If you don’t use a SRL - or even if you do - I’d measure the distance between hammock ends in your most comfortable configuration outside, then see how that hung hammock length compares to your inside configuration.
    I'll try this and see. Last night I ended up hanging the foot end from one of the bolt at the top of the stand which got rid of the tightness but then of course sleeping with my feet that elevated wasn't particularly comfortable. Going diagonal does add a little distance though, so I'm afraid the solution will likely be to increase the distance between the hang points.

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