Hi All,
I finally managed to get my first hang after many false starts, and now I'm utterly, utterly hooked. I can't wait until I can get back in my hammock. It's the first time in years I've actually looked forward to going to bed: no tossing and turning, no sore back, just a solid sleep like I haven't had in sooo long.
I took my mum (a very adventurous 70 year-old) to a rainforest in central Queensland, Australia and we spent a glorious three days freezing our bits off, getting soaked by dew, and generally having a ball.
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As you can see, it was so cold my camera lens was suffering condensation.
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We spent some time shivering by a rock pool in the hope we would see the resident platypus, but unfortunately, it was not to be.
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Perhaps he was a bit shy due to the recent heavy rains and high water levels in the creek.
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Being a rainforest, and having recent rains meant the dew was incredibly heavy each morning, and by the third morning even unworn clothes stored in a duffel in the tent were feeling damp.
We also found that because I'd forgotten to put a space blanket above the insulation layers, our bags and insulation were quite wet from condensation - there's a good learning experience!
I've attached a few pics of my HH Explorer setup in the hope the wise and good people ofthis forum can give me a few hints about how I can improve things for my next hang (don't worry, I won't forget the space blanket again!).
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As you can see, I'm using the ring buckle system, which has proven very easy and sturdy although the standard HH rope does seem a bit stiff for use with the rings.
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I've used snake skins for both my hex tarp and hammock and I pulled them down over the ends of the tarp and hammock respectively. I'm wondering is this a good idea or does it present a channel for water to run directly into the hammock?
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I tied the tree huggers as high as I could reach and still felt the hammock was a bit low for the BEEP. Does that mean the trees were too far apart? The ridge line didn't feel over tight and there was still a bit of sag. Could I have done something better?
I'm so glad mum sewed some longer tree huggers with 'D' rings on the ends - the trees were pretty big!
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We took along the tent to sit in in the evenings, and in case mum didn't like hanging but, I'm pleased to say, after a couple of not-so-comfortable nights, she had a great sleep on the third night. She was sleeping in the HH Scout that they sent me when I ordered the Explorer.
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I used some closed cell rubber underlay in mum's hammock as I didn't have an undercover for it and although it did a good job, it sure didn't stay put. Still, she stayed warm and that's the main thing. It got down to about 6 degrees celcius overnight. Mum slept on a syntetic bag with a down bag over her. I slept on a fleece blanket with my synthetic bag as a quilt and was toasty warm. In fact, I spent the third night half uncovered - the Super Shelter sure does work!
So, any feedback or suggestions on how I could improve my setup would be greatly appreciated (yes, I know, buy a Blackbird)
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