I had asked Neo the above because I had been pleasantly surprised with the camouflage diamond shaped stock tarp that came with the Claytor jungle hammock. It seemed to cover the extra long jungle hammock pretty adequately. But not having yet been able to test it in rain, that's why I decided to ask Neo a little about how it had worked for him. But I had another idea on my mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyBob58
Neo, did you ever get wet with that stock Claytor diamond tarp?
never have not yet other than a little minor wind driven mist the did not really matter neo
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I have always been sort of torn between the stock Hennessy hammock approach and using a big honking tarp, preferably a rectangle shaped tarp, tied to the trees. The reasons for the larger tarps are obvious and well known to everybody at this forum. On the other hand, at least for Hennessy hammock users, there's just something simple and attractive about the stock set up. First of all minimal weight, and also only needing two stakes or tie out points is very attractive and very simple and very light weight. The trouble is feeling confident in wind driven rain, especially if tied to the trees. And I have always also had a theory that the asymmetrically cut tarp contributes to the problem. It seems to me that using various tricks, I can get what seems like adequate coverage with the Hennessy tarp attached to the suspension as is designed, but things are always a little questionable on the (I believe) left head side and right foot side. And of course there is always the problem of the loose tarp after you get in, but that can mostly be dealt with with various tricks, once you know what they are. But the coverage is the problem, especially when tied to the trees, even though many a person has reported getting through a deluge successfully. A few others have reported getting wet. So it can be tricky.
To get to the point, I just took the Claytor diamond tarp (which weighs 6 ounces more than the tarp that came on my ultralight Explorer) and tried it on the Hennessy hammock. This tarp is 13 feet long, compared to 11'5" on the stock Hennessy tarp and 11 feet on my JRB, and it is not light weight Sil-Nylon. But, like I said, another major difference is that this one is a symmetrical cut.
I started out with the tarp tied separately to the support posts. Coverage was much better than I had ever achieved before with a diamond tarp (not surprisingly I suppose considering the length), even after I laid in the hammock and hammock sag occurred. Even then rain coverage was adequate it seemed to me, whereas normally I would feel pretty unprotected with the stock tarp tied to the trees. Then I attached the tarp to the Hennessy hammock suspension. ( I bought this Claytor hammock and tarp from Mule. There are elastics on the lateral tie outs, but I don't know if these were added by Mule or if they come with the stock tarp from Claytor.)
With this tarp attached in a normal Hennessy hammock way (to the suspension) rain protection was obviously equal to or better than with any tarp I have ever used so far. And the elastics between the tarp and the ground stakes did a fine job of compensating for the extra sag in the tarp that occurred once I laid in the hammock. It was fairly breezy out but the tarp seemed at least fairly stable. So the feeling I got from these two trials was that this diamond shaped tarp would provide adequate coverage from windblown rain when tied to the trees, and would provide pretty much bombproof coverage when tied to the suspension. Although, even with the elastics, the pitch of course might not be as tight and stable in the wind as it would be if tied to the trees. I didn't have time to try it with one end tied to the tree and the other in attached to the Hennessy hammock prussic.
I don't know if this tarp is available by itself, but here is yet another option that would probably work quite well with most hammock's. Personally, if I was wanting to use a diamond shaped tarp rather than a rectangular tarp, with my Hennessy hammock Explorer, I would most definitely lug the extra few ounces to carry this tarp. But then it would become a tossup between this 17 ounce tarp and the 18 or 19 ounce Silnylon rectangular tarps, which would obviously have their own set of advantages and disadvantages, compared to the diamond tarp. But I am not certain they would provide any better rain protection even with both tied to the trees, though they would probably provide more living space and better ability to close the ends to block wind. This would have to be weighed by the individual against the advantages of only two stakes or lateral tie outs, and the unbeatable rain protection when tied to the HH suspension. I'll try to get some pics later.
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