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  1. #21
    FLTurtle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snow Leopard View Post
    Probably for the best, yeah. I’ll just add more water breaks and drip lines. It can only rain so much, right?
    Yeah, unless you got wind driven rain I don't think your issue was not enough tarp.

  2. #22
    Member Snow Leopard's Avatar
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    Jul 2021
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    Dutchware Chameleon
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    Quote Originally Posted by FLTurtle View Post
    Yeah, unless you got wind driven rain I don't think your issue was not enough tarp.
    Exactly. All the more reason that I am trying to diagnose the problem that I experienced.
    I am almost certain that a narrower tarp would allow a more taut pitch, since it doesn't usually touch the ground when you lower it to hammock ridgeline.


    The information has been helpful, thank you all again.

  3. #23
    SilvrSurfr's Avatar
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    Jul 2011
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    When I first started hammocking, I tried a variety of tarps before settling on an 11 x 10'4" HG Winter Palace made from Dyneema (aka DCF aka cuben fiber). It's now called the Dyneema Fiber Palace tarp. It's a four-season tarp with doors. Boy, do you get a lot of coverage! And it's about the same dimensions as the most popular hammock tarp, the Warbonnet Superfly.

    But is it weatherproof? Heck no. If you like to go out in foul weather, then you're gonna see some things. I once went camping in a snowstorm, and despite having the tarp closed up completely, this stream of snow kept coming through a tiny gap at the doors. When I awoke, my top quilt was covered in 8 inches of snow. What could I have done to stop that tiny stream of snow from dumping all over me? Velcro?

    I once went camping in a Nor'easter. The forecast called for five inches of rain in five hours and 60-70 mph winds. Boy did that storm deliver. We had maybe 30 campers at this group hang and probably half ended up sleeping in their cars. I hung in there in my hammock, but had to wake up every couple of hours to restake my tarp. The winds were brutal. Did I stay dry? Maybe not, but I was warm! Which is all that counts in my book.

    Hammock camping is tough, but so is tent camping. So far in my 12 years of hammock camping, I always prefer looking down at the ground, knowing that even huge amounts of precipitation won't really affect me. I've woken up to a river of water under my hammock, then went right back to sleep! But if I had been in a tent, things would have been quite a bit more dicey.

    So for me, an 11 x 10 tarp is about all I'm willing to try. I could get a wider tarp, or a longer ridgeline, but that just adds weight, and I don't see the point.
    "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson

  4. #24
    Senior Member Rolloff's Avatar
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    On rare occasions, I've had the ends of my hammock get a little damp taking water from the suspension, using whoopies/marlin spike hitch as well as cinch buckle suspensions. Using both 11' and 12' tarps/11' and 10.5 gathered end hammocks. The 30 degree downward angle of the straps provides a pretty steep ramp for the water to roll down and sometimes even with hardware or other drip line breaks positioned well under the ends of the tarp it eventually under the worst conditions just seems to seep through all of that.

    Going down in weight I switched to an Asym hammock using the Bonefire Deluxe suspension. This is a pair of pretty much conventional hammock suspension straps terminating in Dutch Ti-buckles to which the tarp is attached to the buckle with a pair of Dutch tarp hooks. The hammock is then hung from the same suspension using Amsteel spliced onto the buckles terminating with Dutch hammock hooks. This allows for a near 30 degree hangle from the tarp suspension, no matter how far the trees are apart and while it does sag the single set of suspension straps once the hammock is loaded, the angle of the straps themselves stays more level and just don't seem to pass as much water. My water problems pretty much went away.

    My hammock being Asym I was able to shorten my total length w/o losing what I consider to be usable space to 10'. I know everyone can't do this due to body sizes and comfort levels. One advantage I discovered immediately, was that my UQP that was designed to only cover the bottom Insulation on an 11' hammock now swallows my 10' Sheltowee Whisper completely up. The ground might even get a little wet underneath me, but I stay warm and dry under an 11' HG DCF Hex. That's not a lot of coverage but the rest of the kit is 'tuned' pretty well around it. The result of a lot of practice and thought going into design.
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  5. #25
    Member Snow Leopard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr View Post
    When I first started hammocking, I tried a variety of tarps before settling on an 11 x 10'4" HG Winter Palace made from Dyneema (aka DCF aka cuben fiber). It's now called the Dyneema Fiber Palace tarp. It's a four-season tarp with doors. Boy, do you get a lot of coverage! And it's about the same dimensions as the most popular hammock tarp, the Warbonnet Superfly.

    But is it weatherproof? Heck no. If you like to go out in foul weather, then you're gonna see some things. I once went camping in a snowstorm, and despite having the tarp closed up completely, this stream of snow kept coming through a tiny gap at the doors. When I awoke, my top quilt was covered in 8 inches of snow. What could I have done to stop that tiny stream of snow from dumping all over me? Velcro?

    I once went camping in a Nor'easter. The forecast called for five inches of rain in five hours and 60-70 mph winds. Boy did that storm deliver. We had maybe 30 campers at this group hang and probably half ended up sleeping in their cars. I hung in there in my hammock, but had to wake up every couple of hours to restake my tarp. The winds were brutal. Did I stay dry? Maybe not, but I was warm! Which is all that counts in my book.

    Hammock camping is tough, but so is tent camping. So far in my 12 years of hammock camping, I always prefer looking down at the ground, knowing that even huge amounts of precipitation won't really affect me. I've woken up to a river of water under my hammock, then went right back to sleep! But if I had been in a tent, things would have been quite a bit more dicey.

    So for me, an 11 x 10 tarp is about all I'm willing to try. I could get a wider tarp, or a longer ridgeline, but that just adds weight, and I don't see the point.
    Thank you for the anecdotes, SilvrSurfr. Your experience with the snowstorm reminds me of when I ground camped in a snowstorm with a cheap poly tarp pitched in an A-frame. I could not for the life of me seal the damned thing at one side, so I used an SOL emergency blanket as a "door" cover.
    I am hoping that I can one day find the "magic seal" for full weather protection in a snowstorm, rainstorm, any storm...and find the "sweet spot" in a tarp for hammock camping in tough weather conditions.


    I am fine with exposure to the elements (one of the reasons that we go out into the wilderness), so long as the essentials remain dry (or relatively dry). But I just feel like I can always do better and improve my current system, and learn more as well.


    Are you able to pitch your tarp fairly taut? The doors also? There isn't floppy fabric when you stake them?
    I find that my wide tarp can make it difficult to pitch it low and taut when I need it closer to hammock ridgeline for more protection.
    I wonder if 8-9" less on each side of tarp would make it easier to pitch tautly.
    Last edited by Snow Leopard; 09-08-2022 at 01:09.

  6. #26
    Member Snow Leopard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rolloff View Post
    On rare occasions, I've had the ends of my hammock get a little damp taking water from the suspension, using whoopies/marlin spike hitch as well as cinch buckle suspensions. Using both 11' and 12' tarps/11' and 10.5 gathered end hammocks. The 30 degree downward angle of the straps provides a pretty steep ramp for the water to roll down and sometimes even with hardware or other drip line breaks positioned well under the ends of the tarp it eventually under the worst conditions just seems to seep through all of that.

    Going down in weight I switched to an Asym hammock using the Bonefire Deluxe suspension. This is a pair of pretty much conventional hammock suspension straps terminating in Dutch Ti-buckles to which the tarp is attached to the buckle with a pair of Dutch tarp hooks. The hammock is then hung from the same suspension using Amsteel spliced onto the buckles terminating with Dutch hammock hooks. This allows for a near 30 degree hangle from the tarp suspension, no matter how far the trees are apart and while it does sag the single set of suspension straps once the hammock is loaded, the angle of the straps themselves stays more level and just don't seem to pass as much water. My water problems pretty much went away.

    My hammock being Asym I was able to shorten my total length w/o losing what I consider to be usable space to 10'. I know everyone can't do this due to body sizes and comfort levels. One advantage I discovered immediately, was that my UQP that was designed to only cover the bottom Insulation on an 11' hammock now swallows my 10' Sheltowee Whisper completely up. The ground might even get a little wet underneath me, but I stay warm and dry under an 11' HG DCF Hex. That's not a lot of coverage but the rest of the kit is 'tuned' pretty well around it. The result of a lot of practice and thought going into design.
    Good point. When the hammock is weighted, the suspension angle would increase more, causing a favorable angle for water to slide down straps. Not a lot that we can do about that, I guess.

    I'll have to fine tune my kit and setup more, but that is part of the fun!

    And I used to connect one of my old tarps directly to hammock suspension when I was using daisy chains. It was simple and effective, and somehow it worked!

  7. #27
    Senior Member cmoulder's Avatar
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    Were you using a split ridge line for the tarp? Or heaven forbid a single-piece 'CRL' under the tarp?

    Sometimes a drip line is also needed for the tarp cordage.

    But, as others have said, sometimes it's so damm wet that eventually something will get damp, and while it's really annoying it's not the end of the world. Usually.
    Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
    “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton

  8. #28
    Member Snow Leopard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cmoulder View Post
    Were you using a split ridge line for the tarp? Or heaven forbid a single-piece 'CRL' under the tarp?

    Sometimes a drip line is also needed for the tarp cordage.

    But, as others have said, sometimes it's so damm wet that eventually something will get damp, and while it's really annoying it's not the end of the world. Usually.

    No, I don't run a CRL under the tarp, especially since I am using UHMWPE Zing-It, which hardly absorbs water. When I used nylon paracord or polypropylene cordage years ago, it seemed to inhibit the flow of water drops along tarp line, EVEN when I ran the CRL under the tarp (probably because it is more absorbent). I definitely wouldn't do that now with UHMWPE lines and a silpoly tarp.

    I use a split ridgeline now, which makes the tarp nice and taut at the ridgeline.


    And you're right, I guess that I should be happy that only the hammock and UQ ends are damp. As long as things do not become saturated with rainwater.



    I would like to know how others have managed to stay "bone dry" in torrential rain (or so they claim). Maybe bone dry means 90% dry in central, more critical area of shelter and 10% damp in the extremities of shelter?

  9. #29
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
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    It is best to center your tarp on each end. Of course lowering it helps in rain. Depending on the rain and wind I prefer to pitch my tarp a bit wider for work space and to see splash out a bit. It is a bit of an art and requires some practice. And fails. And success.
    A lot of the damp is just rain mist.
    Shug

    Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven

  10. #30
    Senior Member tlfillingim's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snow Leopard View Post
    I would like to know how others have managed to stay "bone dry" in torrential rain (or so they claim). Maybe bone dry means 90% dry in central, more critical area of shelter and 10% damp in the extremities of shelter?
    You might have hit on something there. The difference might not only be in how fastidious a camper is to having their setup just right, but also what they consider an acceptable amount of dampness.

    The hardest rain I've ever camped in was in the Sipsey Wilderness where we were not prepared for the thunderstorm that hit us overnight. It was a torrential rain but only lasted a couple of hours. I had my Hennessey Hex tarp up and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get wet. But if you pressed me, I'd have to say that I was happy I didn't get TOO WET. I'm sure there was some level of moisture in my sleep system that night, but it didn't impact my trip at all. Especially since this was Memorial Day weekend in Alabama so the heat and humidity kept us all some level of "damp" all the time.

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