Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
I went to join the hammockforums yesterday and they wanted way too much personal info for me to be comfortable, so I declined. Instead, I decided to see what I could learn here...
I've been playing with a tarp shelter for my hammock and was wondering if anyone knows what would be the smallest (sq ft of material) designs that will keep you dry in a hammock.
We get fronts blowing through here with strong wind and hard rain. Most of the designs I've seen don't appear to be up to handling that. The one I'm using now is 10ft x 12ft and formed into a tent like structure. I'll know after this current front passes through how well it keeps my hammock dry, but if there is something smaller that works I'd like to try it too.
Right now I'm having fun mocking up design protoypes with plastic sheet and duct tape. When I find the one I want, I'll sew it up out of silnylon.
Depends on the size of the hammock. I have a Blackbird - smallest tarp I would use would be the MacCat Standard. Having a few inches over the ends of the hammock and enough side to side coverage, you can pitch close down to the bugnet and stay dry.
Hennessy stock tarps will keep you dry enough, while you're in the hammock. If that's all you want a simple 8x8 pitched in diamond mode might do fine for a hammock of less than 8' length.
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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki
Registered: 01/22/09
Posts: 60
Loc: Texas Hill Country
Originally Posted By billstephenson
I went to join the hammockforums yesterday and they wanted way too much personal info for me to be comfortable, so I declined. Instead, I decided to see what I could learn here...
Under those circumstances I normally invent info for things I'd like to keep private. You know, birthday=12/07/1941, give the phone# to dial a prayer, etc... I don't think they're up to anything nefarious with your info, more likely a holdover from the days when such questions weren't considered as invasive as they are today. It's really a pretty good site, you might want to reconsider joining.
It also depends how close to the hammock you rig the tarp bill.
I have kept a hammock dry under a 5x8 rectangle, but you have to be pretty tight up against it if you get a sidewind and have the sides of the tarp down pretty good.
A square tarp witht he diagonal dimension a little longer than the hammock is your best bet for "minimal" coverage, and you rig the tarp diagonally over the hammock.
HAving said that I *usually* use an 8x10 square. it's light enough in light materiel, and one of the nice things about the hammock is I end up with acres of space to stand around underneath, sit in the hammock sling style, watch the rainy world outside, invite nice young ladies over to chat and stay dry while amusingly watching their male companions (who decline the same invitaiton to wait out the thunderstorm under my tarp) set up a crappy huge dome tent in an inverted bowl of a tent site full of water with rain sheeting down..
For me it's those little things that make a bit bigger tarp nice - at least by the time I'm hammocking.
I went to join the hammockforums yesterday and they wanted way too much personal info for me to be comfortable, so I declined. Instead, I decided to see what I could learn here...
I have been a member on HF since it started. I don't understand what kind of personal info are they wanting from you to be a member. Seems really odd to me.
To keep this on topic I have a Speer Winter Tarp. I take it all the time. To me it is a yr round tarp. Unfortunately it isn't made anymore but you can catch one up for sale every now and then
I am with phat. I like my 8X10. I have had it in a few storms with great success. I like to pitch it a little high to give me walking around room. I need to hike where phat is hiking so I can invite girls under it when it rains.
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Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
I've got plenty of material to mock one or two more up right now, so I'll make an 8'x10' next and play with it, and I guess I can just keep whittling it down until I find how small I can go.
Today I found an adhesive nylon "Patch" in the sewing dept at Wal-Mart called "Bondex Outdoor Restore". It shows tents, backpacks, and jackets on the packaging. It looks like it's pretty tough stuff. It might work good to reinforce the plastic sheet I'm using where the ridge-line meets the edges, the corner points, and other potential tie out points.
Geez bill if you're getting that clever, ditch the plastic, find some 1.1 nylon, a tube of silicone sealant, some white gas, give it a good dunking in the mix and squeegee off the excess..
Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
Is that the formula for making siliconize nylon? (silnylon)
Hmmm... That is really interesting.
Has anyone made a "Tied Dyed" one using different colors of silicon?
I checked my plastic tarp yesterday after some good hard rain the past couple days and the hammock was dry as can be. So was the ground under it. So, I at least know a little more than I did last week.
I'm suppose I'll end up buying some silnylon, but I kind of like the clearness of the plastic tarp, and if I can make one that is comparable in weight and durability to silnylon, I might stick with it for a bit.
I have a lot to learn yet. Tom just posted a link to some videos about hammocks and I haven't spent much time on the Henry Shires site either.
Bill buy a premade silnylon tarp on ebay, that way you do not have to figure out the catenary curve and it will come with grommets in it. So many do it yourself jobs cost more for materials than a finished product made by someone who already learned from their mistakes. Jim.
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These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.
Registered: 12/26/08
Posts: 382
Loc: Maine/New Jersey
Originally Posted By phat
(I would *kill* for a good ultralight tie dye hammock tarp)
That would be pretty rockin'!
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"To me, hammocking is relaxing, laying, swaying. A steady slow morphine drip without the risk of renal failure." - Dale Gribbel
Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
I hadn't thought about looking on eBay. I did check the hammockforums and they had nothing there except buyers.
I don't mind learning from my mistakes if I'm learning something I want to know. I bought a sewing machine a few years ago and stitching up a tarp would be fun even if it looks like I made it myself when I'm done
But... if I see a good deal on eBay, I'd probably snap it up. I can learn from anything I sew up right now
Bill I am stitching up a siltarp today. I should have it wraped up tomorrow. I like the idea of a sea through poly tarp. I was thinking the ultimate light weight poly for such a project,would be a plastic shrink style patio door storm window kit. That plastic is real clear light and strong. My wheels are turnin again!
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