12ft hammock for a shorter guy pros and cons

**flkpm** · 10-14-2013, 15:37

What are some pros and cons of having such a long hammock. I'm making a diy hammock taking alot of ideas from my friends clark and a few others ive seen around this week its my 4th diy hammock actually and wanted to done out of 4 yrd of fabric I'm more concerned about the cons of this size just before I start. I'm 5'9 and 240 so wanted to know if this will be too big or have some downfalls?

**Mountnman** · 10-14-2013, 15:44

Will your tarp cover a 12 footer? And it will add a lot of weight. I am 6'1 and use an 11 ft DIY that is very comfy. I tried it at 12 and was no real difference worth carrying the added weight.

**gmcttr** · 10-14-2013, 15:53

Originally Posted by Mountnman

...And it will add a lot of weight...

While I agree that a 12 footer starts causing tarp issues for minimal comfort gains and may not be the best choice for a backpacking hammock, I'd hardly call the ~1 oz it adds to an 11 footer "a lot of weight".

**flkpm** · 10-14-2013, 15:55

Originally Posted by Mountnman

Will your tarp cover a 12 footer? And it will add a lot of weight. I am 6'1 and use an 11 ft DIY that is very comfy. I tried it at 12 and was no real difference worth carrying the added weight.

Hands down ultra lite guys are awesome but that's deff not me don't mind the extra weight because if I do camp its usually by boat to an island on the river or kayak or motorcycle so weight usually isn't a big thing as I have the means to carry my stuff and if anything this hammock and my tarp will be the heaviest since I usually take little to no non essentials

**flkpm** · 10-14-2013, 15:59

Also tarp issue was not thought of until now I dont even have a good quality tarp yet but will keep this in mind

**Mountnman** · 10-14-2013, 16:03

Originally Posted by gmcttr

While I agree that a 12 footer starts causing tarp issues for minimal comfort gains and may not be the best choice for a backpacking hammock, I'd hardly call the ~1 oz it adds to an 11 footer "a lot of weight".

Got me there, I was thinking length and width of mine, a tablecloth hammock

**SilvrSurfr** · 10-14-2013, 16:26

The hammock hang calculator tells me you'll need trees 15 ft. apart, and the straps will need to be six ft. up the tree to get a 30 degree hang angle.

http://theultimatehang.com/hammock-hang-calculator/

What it doesn't tell me is how high off the ground your hammock ridgeline will have to be in order to stay approximately 18 inches off the ground. When I moved to 11 ft. hammocks from shorter ones, I immediately noticed that my hammock ridgeline had to be higher off the ground, which meant that my tarp also had to be pitched higher.

Some math wizard would have to explain the exact formula, but it makes sense to me. The standard recommendation is that the hammock ridgeline be 83% of the length of the hammock, so a 10 ft. hammock should have a 100 inch ridgeline, 11 ft. is 110 inches, and a 12 ft. hammock is 120 inches. If you think of the hammock and ridgeline as a half circle, then of course the area of that circle will increase as the length of the ridgeline (and diameter of the half circle) increases.

Therefore, you'll have to hang the tarp higher to stay off the ground. This can cause coverage problems because the sides of the tarp may be too high to keep you dry in blowing rain, or warm when there's a cool breeze coming under the tarp.

Additionally, you'll need a tarp ridgeline of at least 12 feet to give you 1 ft. of coverage on each end.

Something to consider.

**Rolloff** · 10-14-2013, 16:30

ummmm. i care about an ounce

11' is fine for me. I'm 5'6" and will eventually add a 10' to my kit, just to see if it will fit.

No 13' tarps that I care to own atm.

**flkpm** · 10-14-2013, 16:53

Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr

The hammock hang calculator tells me you'll need trees 15 ft. apart, and the straps will need to be six ft. up the tree to get a 30 degree hang angle.

http://theultimatehang.com/hammock-hang-calculator/

Additionally, you'll need a tarp ridgeline of at least 12 feet to give you 1 ft. of coverage on each end.

Something to consider.

MIND BLOWN!!!! Thanks for this ill probably make an 11' one then. I made a 9 and it just didnt feel right felt very very small

**SilvrSurfr** · 10-14-2013, 17:30

I was still bothered by the math, so I called my son in college. He correctly pointed out that a hammock/ridgeline is not really a half circle, but more like a football. If it were a half-circle then we'd be using a 50% rule instead of an 83% rule for the ridgeline.

But let's assume it was a half-circle with a diameter (ridgeline) of 100 inches. Then the radius of that circle would be 50 inches (distance from ridgeline to bottom of hammock). Therefore, the ridgeline of a 10 ft. hammock would need to be 50 inches, plus 18 inches to keep your butt off the ground (68 inches).

An 11 ft. hammock with 110 inch ridgeline would be 55 inches plus 18 (73 inches), and a 12 ft. hammock ridgeline would be 60 inches plus 18 (78 inches) off the ground.

If you take a Warbonnet Superfly, which has 132" ridgeline x 120" width, then you can see that the longer the hammock ridgeline, the less coverage you get from the sides of the tarp 'cause they'll be higher off the ground.