How can I speed it up? - Putting up my hammock and tarp and taking them down takes too long

[Semiuseless]

There has been a lot of great advice in this thread....so, I am certainly at risk of repeating an idea or two.

First, practice, practice, practice. And the best kind of practice is consistent practice. Do things "the same" way every time - shine or (more importantly) rain. Tarp first is my preference....I hate to get everything up and find that I need to move the hammock a foot to get it centered under the tarp.

Second, leave all the lines in place when you pack up. Wrap up the guylines if you prefer, leaven them dangling if you prefer. I prefer to wrap up the lines...but it is really personal preference. I only remove any extensions to the lines I have added - and put those into their usual spot. I prefer knots to hardware, so my guylines are straightforward.

Third, use stuff sacks that are 1.5-2x the size needed. It is MUCH easier and faster to stuff everything into a bag that is larger than needed. As an added bonus, these sacks remain somewhat moldable when going into your backpack. I find that in the net, these sacks do not take up more space than a compressed gear nugget, in part because you can work them into the nooks & crannies of the pack.

Forth, stuff the hammock and UQ together. If you prefer, also include the TQ in the same bag. My TQ is wearable as an outer layer - so I keep it separate. This tends to really help both the setup and teardown time. I ALWAYS stuff foot end first - so the head end is first our of the sack.

Sixth, have a consistent way of packing everything into your backpack. Have an order and a place for everything. This helps you to keep organized as you are packing up and unpacking.

Seventh, use color to your advantage. Colored stuff sacks, colored straps, colored ribbons - whatever it takes so that you know your guylines from your ridgelines, and the head end from the foot end.

Eighth, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Practice until you can accomplish everything you do smoothly.

[BiskitznGravy]

Good question, just harder to find a concise answer too. I enjoy an occasional hammock camping trip but admittedly because I am not out there every single weekend or even every month (Texas heat) I'm almost always out of practice and thus my setup probably mirror's your own experience.

A couple things I did early on that helped were the following.

1. I did get a snake skin. Its faster...it keeps the tarp wrapped up with the line organized and easy to find. It doesn't give me back 10 minutes but it simplifies the experience. Nothing more irritating to me than pulling out a tarp and having it flapping around in the wind while I'm trying to control one of the business ends and a tree.

2. Variety of commercially available tree straps make connecting around a tree pretty quick.

3. Line control systems...I switched out a lot of my stock line control systems for whoppie slings. Another simplification that made it easier to set up.

3. Early on when I figured out the best tree distance that worked for me I simply "walked out the distance' and committed it to memory. When I see a set of tree's that look promising...I walk them out to make sure. Before I did that.....I would guess and then end up wrong and have to move my setup. I'm a big fella at 6'3" so the lay has to be right or I've got problems.

Pack your hang system last into your pack so its first to come out when you land at camp and just keep it simple. So many "doodads & gadgets" out there designed to provide options or improve speed while hammocking. Some are really good but I do think you reach a point where its just "noise" in system and pack. Hell I've picked up "this and that" over the years....forgot to take it with me....and then down the road during garage cleanup day's.......picked those very same things up and wondered "What the heck is this thing supposed to do again?".

Stay safe on the trail. Even if you don't practice.....a couple of days on the trails and you snap back into fitness regarding pretty quick. Even when I was in the Army.....those crappy diesel GP medium tent heaters took one night of freezing frustration and choking fumes before we figured it out....after that...nice and toasty in the winters of Germany's Baumholder.

-Brandon.

[Orthofingers]

[QUOTE=litetrek;2091840I spend the most time neatly putting away all of the lines and straps. I use an 11' hammock with a 12' hex tarp, 15' straps with dutch buckles, a quilt and an underquilt. [/QUOTE]

Leave all your cords attached to your hammock and tarp. When you pack your hammock and tarp, kind of roll it up to minimize any tangles. I leave my whoopies attached to the hammock. When setting up, I walk between two possible trees, hold out my trekking poles to judge the distance between them, if distance is good, place my tree straps, look for a small stick to tie the marlin spike hitches on the tree straps, then place my whoopie adjustable loops onto the marlin spike hitches and adjust the tension on the hammock. IÂ’d say that whole process takes a minute or two, longer if I canÂ’t find a suitable stick.

My tarp has the ridge line and all tie out lines attached and the tarp attached to the ridge line with prussicks. I tie to the first tree with a quick evenk hitch and to the opposing tree with a truckers hitch keeping the ridge line taut and adjust the position of the tarp over the hammock. I usually attach the tarpÂ’s tie out lines to small branches or roots close by so as not to need ground stakes.

If itÂ’s rainy, the tarp goes up first. I leave my top quilt zipped into my hammock when IÂ’m on the trail. And all knots are quick release to save time in the morning while packing up.

Using these methods, I am consistently able to setup and take down my hammock and tarp quicker than my ground dwelling colleagues.

[Bob-W]

Did a bit of bikepacking this weekend. I was using my hammock setup while my mate was ground based.

Not rushing, I.e. We weren't trying to be fastest, setting up and taking down took pretty much the same time. There may have been a minute or so either way but nothing too different than if we'd both been ground based.

Neither site was "perfect" for either of us so no advantage either way on that score.

I had everything packed in the order I needed it:- tarp, hammock, underquilt, top quilt, so items came out of the bag and were immediately deployed rather than getting in the way. Similarly when striking camp, the items were packed away in the same order ready for the next night.

The tarp has all lines attached, the underquilt has a "red for head" mini-carabiner attached so it's easy to deploy the right way round. All those little things help and add up.

[mattnin]

Another thing to try to speed things up is to use a large double ended stuff sack for the hammock, UQ and TQ. I've recently just started using a double ended stuff sack for these items and it definitely speeds up both deploying the hammock and storing it. I have a clewed UQ and I used soft shackles made of shock cord to tie up the clews and have yet to get a tangle with them while deploying the hammock. I also use a longer soft shackle to tie up the middle belly of the hammock+TQ+UQ to make it easier to put it away and it helps hold the TQ in the hammock while deploying. Before I started attaching this center soft shackle, when deploying the hammock sometimes the TQ would fall out on the dirty ground.

Also, another thing I would spend too much time on during tear down is disconnecting my hammock continuous loops from the tree straps after spending a night in it. I use a beckett hitch and attach them directly to each other and with all the sap on the tree straps they would get stuck pretty good every time and would sometimes take several sharp tugs to get it to release. What I ended up doing was larkshead attaching a small loop at the very top of continuous loop above the beckett hitch knot and using this loop to pull the continuous loop up towards the tree while holding the beckett hitch with the other hand. This loosens the knot. Now it's easy to release (or adjust) every time and is a small time saver.

Also I feel snake skins are a time saver while putting away the tarp. I made mine out of cheap tulle from walmart. I think I spent a whole $4 on it. I was concerned about their durability because of the low price but so far they seem to have held up nicely even when trying to deploy/stow the tarp during high winds. What I really like about it is I don't even bother wrapping the side guy lines any more, I just wad them up and stuff them in the skins. However, the guy lines that attach to the trees, I do a figure 8 wrap on those though because they are so long and I want them to deploy nice when I get to camp. I just stuff those in the skins too. Very fast to put away. This last week the wind was so high I had to gather the tarp inside its skin several times because I was worried about all the stress the tarp was getting. You can't do this if you don't have skins so in a way, it can also protect the tarp. Also, when the tarp is wet, it's just easier to stuff in a snake skin.

[Carbon]

I’m usually the only one with a hammock when I backpack or bikepack with friends. And I’ve backpacked with a group as large as 20 or more on several occasions. I’m always able to set up my WBRR and tarp quicker than anyone else setting up tents.
As mentioned, using a snakeskin cuts down on setup time. I also run a continuous ridge line, no hardware, knots and prusiks only, if that matters. Beckett hitch on suspension as well.

[swoody126]

#1 i'm knot a hoofer

#2 i don't intentionally camp in foul weather

SO ... some of my thoughts and behaviors are not necessarily all pertinent

i eliminated the stock tie outs for both my hammock and fly replacing them w/ stainless steel rings(Hobie trapeze rigging) on short dynema dog bones larksheaded to the original attachment points and in the process slid the dogbones thru the snake skins so only the ring was left proud

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this keeps snake skins in place for both and only requiring one beener on each end

extra long 2" tree straps double/triple wrap smaller to medium trees and single wrap around the larger trees back thru their sewn end loops to the beener that attaches the whoopsie slings for the hammock while the smaller line for the fly utilizes one of those cute little DutchWare cleat/hooks to secure it

IMHO the rings on the dogbones reduced the setup/breakdown times the most

the loose end of the whoopsie sling gets loosely fastened at the rings for drip lines

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on the underside corners of my fly there are factory installed triangular pockets that holds the tie out strings and the ridge line tie outs are left loose

i made my own parts specifically sized for my hammock

if you do make your own make sure the locked brummels on the ends of the dogbones will allow you to larkshead to the rings

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also ... if your stock suspension tie outs are attached to the hammock ridge line like mine was take pictures as you disassemble the knottage so you can replicate it going back together to keep your hang angle the same

i do carry an extra pair of beeners(all climbing rated) in my kit for the unexpected ...

BON CHANCE

sw