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  1. #1
    New Member
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    Jun 2021
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    Nashville TN
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    Need Tips for setting up for rainy night

    Hello all, I'm fairly new to the hammock world and have no plans to sleep on the ground again. I recently had my 1st experience with a hard rain all night. My setup (Chameleon, HG 11ft dyneema tarp) did pretty good but I got a ton of splash back or blow in. My tyvek sheet that I keep under hammock for shoes and stuff was soaked as well as my shoes. I was using a UQ protector (1st time using one so not 100% was set perfect) and got just a small spot on UQ was damp. My wife was on her 1st ever hammock trip and was in WB BB with superfly tarp. She had no slash back and was dry under her hammock

    That said, my tarp was set about eye level and pitched at a more straight down angle (narrow at the bottom, doors almost overlapped) My thinking for doing it narrow was to keep the sides lower, closer to the ground. Now I'm feeling that maybe a wider pitch would be better to give more distance from the edge of the tarp to the hammock to help with splash back. The down side is there would be a little more height in the bottom of the tarp to allow blow in.

    All-in-all, for hard, hard rain from around 11pm till 6am I was pretty happy with how dry we stayed.

    Anyway, when you know it's going to be hard rain, what are some tips for pitching the tarp to help prevent splash back and blow in?

    Thanks for any tips you may have.

  2. #2
    Senior Member WV's Avatar
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    Feb 2008
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    southeast WV
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    Good information about your experience. I'd guess you are right about the tarp width limiting bounce back. I don't have any specific tips, except look further at possible differences between your wife's setup and yours. Were the hammocks angled differently to prevailing wind or more protected by nearby vegetation?

  3. #3
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2021
    Location
    Nashville TN
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    Blackbird xlc, Dutchware Chameleon
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    Quote Originally Posted by WV View Post
    Good information about your experience. I'd guess you are right about the tarp width limiting bounce back. I don't have any specific tips, except look further at possible differences between your wife's setup and yours. Were the hammocks angled differently to prevailing wind or more protected by nearby vegetation?
    We were set in a V sharing a tree at foot end of hammock. She was actually upwind of the side of my setup that had most blow in. I think the biggest difference is the superfly just had more coverage that the HG tarp and might have been staked a little wider.

  4. #4
    Moderator
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    Aug 2012
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    VA, Oh, and FL
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    HH Expedition, HH Explorer Dlx
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    Check out this thread. Lots of good info there. https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ng-in-the-rain
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  5. #5
    cougarmeat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Bend, OR
    Hammock
    WBBB, WBRR, WL LiteOwl
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    These days I try to set up the tarp is parallel to the wind instead of broadside (as I used to do). My reasoning is the end of the tarp presents less surface area to the blowing rain, and the tree supports provide some blockage too. The couple of times I tried it, I found in that configuration the wind blowing over the tarp was giving it some lift - rather than pushing it into the hammock. So I had to put my stakes in at a greater angle to compensate for the upward pull.

    I understand your dilemma - staking out wider keeps the rain splash further away but gives a larger opening for wind-blow. We have a tendency to think things need to be set up level. Imagine if you will, a tarp parallel to the wind, with a tree someone blocking that wind at each end, and the tarp angled so the low end is facing the wind, and the low end of the hammock is on that same side. That way, you can get the tarp pretty close to the hammock at that point while having more clearance in the middle and far end for entry/exit.

    Of course, the available trees and wind direction have to cooperate in that experiment.
    In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    Jan 2015
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    CT
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    518
    FYI, your tarp is narrower than your wife’s so it has less coverage on the sides. (The dyneema fabric it is made from is not as wide as sil fabric, like a little over 50” wide on the roll compared to a little over 60”.)

  7. #7
    New Member
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    Sep 2017
    Location
    Allentown, PA
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    Whatever I'm in :)
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    For gear storage, I would entertain the idea of a gear hammock. Make one yourself with some cheap rope and a large pillowcase (gather the end, then use a double sheet bend) or a trimmed down bedsheet, or buy a childs hammock, sling that puppy under your setup to keep it off the ground away from the sideways wind.Of course, you have the same issue from water ingress via the lines and such, bumping into it etc. Personally, I'd really prefer to have a large tarp with doors if i knew i was in store for sideways rain, taking everything into consideration (location, what im hanging from etc).

  8. #8
    Phantom Grappler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Denton NC
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    WildernessLogics 12x6
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    HG cuben 13ridge12
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    If rain forecast, I carry a large garbage bag, maybe 45 gallon size.
    It’s heavier than experienced backpackers want to carry.
    I use it inside my pack while hiking.
    At night I hang pack from hammock suspension with amsteel rope. The garbage bag is then placed around outside of backpack. I then secure top open end of garbage bag to a closed position, held very tightly with a short length of 2.2 Zingit.
    I wrap the Zingit around tightly squeezed garbage bag top several wraps around (a round turn with one or two extra wraps) then it is cinched tight and a simple knot is tied with two bow bunny rabbit ears.
    There is no base knot, as is tied when tying shoestrings, that way everything is easily released when I pull the ripcords.
    The amsteel rope has a fixed loop on one end. That loop attaches to pack hang loop with cow hitch also called bale sling hitch. Amsteel rope goes up through cinched garbage bag top to securely tie to hammock suspension.
    Everything stays dry and does not wander off with critters.

    A gear sling with a zipper along its entire length would be much faster than the method I use.
    One day I’ll learn

  9. #9
    cougarmeat's Avatar
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    Aug 2012
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    I tried a separate small (5 ft) gear hammock made of waterproof material. But I could get the local sewing services to see my vision and twice they got the dimensions - though they were in writing - wrong. The important part was having a waterproof cover flap. These days I have a smaller gear "bag" suspended from a ridgeline strung between the suspension hardware on the older RidgeRunner.

    So nice to reach something standing up rather than rooting around in a pack. I figure if I need something once, I'll need it twice. So once it comes out of the pack or drybag, it does in the mini-gear hammock.
    In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.

  10. #10
    Phantom Grappler's Avatar
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    Mar 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by cougarmeat View Post
    I tried a separate small (5 ft) gear hammock made of waterproof material. But I could get the local sewing services to see my vision and twice they got the dimensions - though they were in writing - wrong. The important part was having a waterproof cover flap. These days I have a smaller gear "bag" suspended from a ridgeline strung between the suspension hardware on the older RidgeRunner.

    So nice to reach something standing up rather than rooting around in a pack. I figure if I need something once, I'll need it twice. So once it comes out of the pack or drybag, it does in the mini-gear hammock.
    Mini gear hammock could have a full length zipper sewn on to close gear hammock during rain or when away from hammock.
    I dunno, maybe it would work

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