Valhalla, it just dawned on me that if you are using your XLC’s original suspension, you probably don’t have suitable continuous loops to hang your hammock directly onto the Tensa, thus bypassing using your webbing straps or whoopies. Thinking back, I just remembered that I long ago added secondary continuous loops to my XLC that had whoopies and to my daughter’s Blackbird that had buckle straps. When hanging from trees, I prefer Dutch’s Spiders over Warbonnet’s Amsteel whoopies or webbing buckles, so I’ve larks-headed continuous loops around the knobby ends of my Warbonnet hammocks. You don’t have to even remove the original straps or whoopies to do that. It’s cheap and easy to do and then you can use either the continuous loops with a different suspension set up (Dutch’s spiders from trees; directly onto the Tensa with no suspension straps) or you can use the original Warbonnet suspension. Simply adding continuous loops gives you more options!
I’m posting pics of the end of my daughter’s Blackbird with a blue continuous loop added in addition to its current buckle straps (actually those are Dutch buckles rather than the original Warbonnet buckles) and of my XLC with a silver continuous loop added in addition to its original whoopie sling. If you made or bought a pair of 12-15 inch
continuous loops from Dutch or from
Jared and larks-headed them over the knobby ends of your XLC and then hung the continuous loops directly over the ends of your Tensa, your hammock would be higher off the ground without having to narrow your base up as much. I’d go with the longer version of continuous loops, not the shorter. You WOULD have to use the Tensa tarp extension set, then, though, if you were going to hang your tarp on your Tensa.
Below is a picture of my hang last weekend. I was using my 11 foot Trail Lair (which is MUCH stretchier than my XLC, so it always tends to hang lower to the ground than my XLC would if hung from the same place). Because I WANT my hammock at comfortable sitting level and I’m short (4’ 11”), I have the base of my Tensa spread really wide—much wider than I’d need to spread it to still avoid bumping into the frame when stretched out diagonally in the hammock. I posted this photo, though, to show you how HIGH the ends of the hammock are when you hang directly from the continuous loops. If you zoom in on the red circled areas, you can see how the fabric of the ends of my hammock comes right up to the top of the Tensa poles. That’s how you can gain another three or four inches of height off the ground for your hammock without narrowing your base. Hanging straight from a pair of continuous loops will shorten the ridgeline length of your Tensa set up…thus you WILL need to use the Tensa tarp extension set to use your 11 foot ThunderFly…OR you could do what I did this last trip and hang your tarp between two trees and just set your Tensa up underneath. YES… I DO prefer hanging from my Tensa EVEN when I have suitable trees on hand!
Looking again at your hammock hanging from the Tensa and comparing it to mine hanging from my Tensa, I think you could easily get your hammock about four inches higher off the ground by adding continuous loops to the ends of your hammock and hanging the loops directly into your Tensa frame. This would not require you to narrow your base…just require you to shorten the Tensa ridgeline (if you’re even USING the Tensa ridgeline—you don’t need it with your XLC since it has its own structural ridgeline). So, your hammock would sit higher without your head touching the Tensa frame. No one wants their head rubbing the frame!
Your hammock:
My hammock:
BTW, I use a ThunderFly with my Tensa, too. Great tarp!!!
Bookmarks