continuous ridgeline for tarp

[Phantom Grappler]

I use zingit 2.2 for both tarp ridgeline and prusik hitches to adjust tarp from side2side.
Since both are 2.2, I use a six wrap prusik for sufficient grip.
And I build into prusik a pull loop to make adjustments easy.
If prusik is extra tight, I minimally adjust it by loosening prusik by bumping the bight with my thumb and pushing loose zingit into prusik, under the bight. Then I squeeze knot to distribute the looseness further into knot.

In spite of my extra words, I’ve probably not conveyed exactly what I do. Still it’s very easy.

I can see why many hammock campers avoid knots.
Use of hardware is perfectly ok, many times hardware adjustments are faster and hold better than knots. Lots of my friends use hardware.

Still knots have not let me down. I’m very careful in choice and finish of knots.

[cougarmeat]

With a continuous ridgeline - rather than a split line - you hang and secure your ridgeline once, then adjust your tarp as required. Because the tarp hangs on the ridgeline, if something falls on the ridgeline (branch, a stumble, etc.) it is not passed to the tarp. With a split line, the tarp absorbs the blow. With the single ridgeline, if situations suggest it - like in the winter with heavy snow loads - or the potential of snow clumps falling from branches above, flipping the tarp so the ridgeline is under it - for more support - is easy.

I’m currently using Nama Claws to adjust the tarp. They work best with 1.75mm line. That’s a little light for me - not strength-wise, more just general handling. But it works. I use a DutchHook at one end and Wasp at the other. But I’m thinking of moving to a metal mitten clip, with the gate removed, at one end, and a tactical toggle at the other. Just a little bigger hardware for easier handling.

Though I completely understand the lore and advantage - IN THE RAIN - of putting the tarp up first, I usually put the hammock up first because it seems the hammock position is more critical and once it is set, then it’s easy to center the tarp as required.

The Nama claws are okay - I wish they took 2.2mm line - but I’ve found that just hooking the rings on the tarp, they slip out when packing (or at night when left alone on the gear shelf). So I’ll fashion a small loop for the tarp ridgeline ring (D-ring) and that loop will have a cinch loop to tighten down on the Claw so notihing will slip off. Again, the tarp doesn’t slip off when deployed. It may happen as it’s stored back in the snake skin.

[HillbillyHanger]

I started with the continuous ridge line. After watching Brandon do the setup video on the Superfly I switched to a line on each end. After all, if the manufacturer of the tarp is using a line on each end it has to be okay. I did that about 6 years ago and have not gone back to a continuous ridge line. What ever works for you is best for you.

[Salt]

Thinking on this further, I usually am bikepacking and use bungees for one or both ends of the tarp to keep it taut. The ridge line is then attached to each end of the hammock, being fully covered by the tarp, avoiding the need for additional drip lines. It seems as though an improvement on this could be to "permanently" attach an ideal length of ridge line so that the hammock always has the desired dip. Has anyone explored this?

[SilvrSurfr]

With a continuous ridgeline - rather than a split line - you hang and secure your ridgeline once, then adjust your hammock as required. Because the hammock hangs on the ridgeline, if something falls on the ridgeline (branch, a stumble, etc.) it is not passed to the tarp.

It sounds like you are describing a single line suspension (SLS). That's a different beast entirely from continuous ridgeline or split ridgeline. Very few people use an SLS, and I don't think any vendor sells one.

[cougarmeat]

SiilvrSurfr, see: https://youtu.be/jpQLAqA5BpY Dutch showing the continuous ridgeline I described.
The “kit” is here: https://dutchwaregear.com/product/co...type-and-color

He’s using prusik’s instead of Nama Claws.

I do understand the ambiguity of “continuous” in that case. It certainly stops at both ends. So maybe Dutch is referring to any ridgeline setup that is not “Split” as continuous. Like it runs “continuously” - not split in to sections by the tarp - from one tree to the other.

In the past, I had what was probably more formally a continuous ridgeline by connecting to the tarp, going around the tree, down to the other tree, around it, and terminating at the D-ring on that end of the tarp. From above it would look like a long, narrow, oval with cord on one side and tarp on the other. Except I’d pull the cord over the ridgeline of the tarp by corralling it with a mini-biner. so I looked more like O=O. That worked okay and was easy to adjust because I didn’t have to move the tarp on the line. I just and to slide the line. I wouldn’t want to do that for long distances because of abrasion on the cord and tree. But a little tug to get the trap just right was okay. The problem I had with it was the tarp itself was still “loadbearing” The tarp’s ridgeline was still subject to forces put on that line if something should tug or fall on it.

A single (continuous - as in not split) line between the trees, would take the force should something or someone fall against the line or tug from the ends. It’s just a little kinder to the tarp. And though measuring micro grams would measure the cost of an addition 11 or so feet of 1.75mm cord, with a split line I’d have to have enough to go around some mighty Ponderosa Pines. So there be a lot of potential extra cord in that setup too.

It’s not a split line. Dutch calls it a Continuous line. You call it a single line. It’s just a name. As Paul Newman would say in, “Hombre”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4OmZID3_AY The first 15 seconds.

[SilvrSurfr]

SiilvrSurfr, see: https://youtu.be/jpQLAqA5BpY Dutch showing the continuous ridgeline I meant to describe.
The “kit” is here: https://dutchwaregear.com/product/co...type-and-color

Nothing there shows a hammock hanging on the ridgeline - only the tarp hangs on the ridgeline. When I hear someone talk about the tarp and hammock hanging off the same suspension, I just assume they're talking about a single line suspension (SLS). In other words it's basically like the Hennessy suspension, with the tarp attached to the hammock suspension. There are variations, like Jaxx's All in One, but it's still just tarp attached to hammock suspension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tid6OHkr0N0&t=21s

Dejoha thought that shock cord would help, but I tried it, and it doesn't improve anything.

https://theultimatehang.com/2014/01/...-hammock-tarp/

[peeeeetey]

I use a continuous ridge line and used to use prussics and have recently started using namaclaws because my prussics would get so tight I couldn't slide them easily and sometimes slipped back the wrong direction. If it is going to rain I will leave it on the outside of the tarp so no water tracks down the line into the tarp and in dry conditions I will run it on the inside.

[possum daddy]

I started with split, zing-it, Dutch fleaz at the tarp. Evolved to CRL, Lawson cord, knots. Prussik’s don’t jam with Lawson and knots to the tree are not hard. I’m CRL for reasons already stated - I can crank the ridgeline taut without wondering if there is stress on the tarp tie out, and I like the idea of cordage being between tarp and a surprise falling limb.

You will inevitably end up trying both for fun


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[JollyRoger70]

I use a split ridgeline with my backpacking tarp (Dutch asym), to reduce weight. I use a continuous ridgeline with my tarp with doors, in part because I keep experimenting with different lines, Nama Claws, prusiks, and so on, and in part because I like having my external tarp poles go over the ridgeline, rather than putting tension on the tarp seam. Like most of us, it’s a work in progress. I do find centering easier with the CRL, but not *that* hard with the tarp that uses split lines.


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