Hi everybody,
I went out for a 5-day trip last month, and we experienced quite the deluge on the last couple of days. Supremely heavy rain, ground splash, some persistent mist; felt like the inside of a carwash. I know that you are all quite familiar with “tarping” in the rain (as am I), but I feel like I am still missing something here…
Miraculously, the crucial components of my shelter stayed fairly dry (the hammock body, sleeping bag, underquilt). However, the foot end of the hammock and the foot end draft collar of the underquilt were both damp, but thankfully head end was dry.
I did install 2-3 drip lines on both ends of the hammock suspension (polyester webbing tied with beckett hitch to continuous loops). But despite drip lines AND a makeshift trash bag “tarp beak” to seal the door gap at the foot end of tarp ridgeline, rainwater managed to find a way to travel down the hammock and UQ suspension at the foot end. Again, head end was dry.
I should add that there was at least 15-16” of tarp overhang at head end of hammock and 7-8” of overhang on foot end of hammock. Hammock is 11’, tarp is 11’x11.5’ (with doors at each end & two internal pole mods). I opted for more tarp overhang at head end of hammock so that upper body area of both hammock and myself remained dry.
Is 6-8” not enough tarp overhang for hammock ends? Should I opt for more? And how much more? Or is there something else that I am missing here?
Maybe I should have hung foot end of tarp at a lower angle, closer to hammock ridgeline? The wide tarp makes this difficult…
Also, the tarp is SO wide (138” total width), that it is difficult to close the doors fully; the door fabric practically touches the ground, which leaves gaps and floppy fabric, making it hard to pitch doors taut.
AND the wider walls seem to make it difficult to hang the tarp low closer to hammock ridgeline, leaving the tarp ends high and vulnerable to rain.
Maybe a longer tarp ridgeline for more overhang at hammock ends? People here often say that an 11 foot tarp provides more than adequate coverage over an 11 foot hammock, and I tend to agree, but it seems to leave very little room for margin of error, which leaves me to believe that I am doing something wrong…
Maybe less tarp width for a tighter pitch? 8-10’ in total?
Is there a “magic number” for tarp width and pitching it taut without touching ground?
Or will rain just find a way in eventually, no matter how well one’s shelter is set up?
For those that have experienced this, any insight you can offer is greatly appreciated and would help immensely.
Thank you!
TL;DR:
- Foot end of hammock and underquilt wet/damp because of less tarp overhang at foot end.
- Tarp is too wide which makes it more difficult to pitch lower to hammock ridgeline, thus creating more gap at tarp ends and doors.
- Tarp doors are too long and wide which leaves floppy fabric, making it more difficult to pitch taut and seal out rainwater and wind-blown rain.
Those are the perceived problems here, unless there is something that I am totally missing...
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