Ground pitching a hammock - ideas?
11-08-20, 02:27 PM
#51
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Posts: 15
Bikes: S2C Hub
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
11-08-20, 06:36 PM
#52
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173
Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Liked 115 Times
in
99 Posts
For what it is worth - my trip ended up being 12 days. As far as the ground pitching of the hammock goes - I never did it. I used the hammock 2 nights as a conventional hammock and the other days I used my Mountain Hardwear Hammerhead 2 tent - a cross between a 3 and 4 season. On the kind of trip I did - weather-wise (cool and wet) - the tent was a superior option, though speaking just of temperature my hammock set up is good to about -10deg F so thats not a problem - it just has a lot less protection from the elements than the tent offers.
In hindsight - I need a better way to pitch the hammock tarp, though. The tent poles do work, though I agree with an earlier post here in this thread that using the tent poles like that could damage them = not the best idea. The other problem I ran in to on my trip was, since I was using the tent, I needed the poles for the tent = no poles to use for the tarp. What I did one night because of that was I used a tree for one end of a ridgeline then I made a 550 cord Y to get an attachment point on the other end of the ridgeline at the top of my tent. The Y attached to the corner stake attachments of the tent/fly on the opposite side as the ridgeline then was just long enough - with a loop in the middle - so the ridgeline had a place at the top of the tent to attach to, and no way for it to slip down off the sides. I made it work for the particular night, but it wasn't a good solution. In this case, the tarp was a garage over-night and a cook shack in the morning = a place to cook, eat, and stay dry so I could get moving before the rain stopped that round. See picture below:
From this experience I think a dedicated pole set for ground-pitching is on order. For the time being I'll use trekking poles. Yea, it is more "stuff" but the option of their utility, when necessary, I think out-weighs the bulk. They are a much better way to make ground pitching work. The only other alternative on the trail would be to find a stick. In the particular place I camped pictured above - I wouldn't have wanted to mess with trying to find a stick that would work then cut it to fit. I guess another question is the height - I liked a pretty high pitch on my trip. The main criteria was to clear my antenna mast on the back of the bike when the bike was leaning over, but the higher it is the more straight up I can stand/stretch out. See post #24 in the 2nd link below for pictures to better describe what I'm getting at.
I won't re-post what has already been posted in other threads (links below). There is a post-trip gear video I posted in the first link:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...trip-pics.html
and some more discussion during and after the trip in the 2nd link here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...-rain-row.html
I'll keep the ground pitching idea in mind for warmer/nicer weather treks. That might be a good weight-reducing combination when weather protection isn't as important/not likely necessary.
In hindsight - I need a better way to pitch the hammock tarp, though. The tent poles do work, though I agree with an earlier post here in this thread that using the tent poles like that could damage them = not the best idea. The other problem I ran in to on my trip was, since I was using the tent, I needed the poles for the tent = no poles to use for the tarp. What I did one night because of that was I used a tree for one end of a ridgeline then I made a 550 cord Y to get an attachment point on the other end of the ridgeline at the top of my tent. The Y attached to the corner stake attachments of the tent/fly on the opposite side as the ridgeline then was just long enough - with a loop in the middle - so the ridgeline had a place at the top of the tent to attach to, and no way for it to slip down off the sides. I made it work for the particular night, but it wasn't a good solution. In this case, the tarp was a garage over-night and a cook shack in the morning = a place to cook, eat, and stay dry so I could get moving before the rain stopped that round. See picture below:
From this experience I think a dedicated pole set for ground-pitching is on order. For the time being I'll use trekking poles. Yea, it is more "stuff" but the option of their utility, when necessary, I think out-weighs the bulk. They are a much better way to make ground pitching work. The only other alternative on the trail would be to find a stick. In the particular place I camped pictured above - I wouldn't have wanted to mess with trying to find a stick that would work then cut it to fit. I guess another question is the height - I liked a pretty high pitch on my trip. The main criteria was to clear my antenna mast on the back of the bike when the bike was leaning over, but the higher it is the more straight up I can stand/stretch out. See post #24 in the 2nd link below for pictures to better describe what I'm getting at.
I won't re-post what has already been posted in other threads (links below). There is a post-trip gear video I posted in the first link:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...trip-pics.html
and some more discussion during and after the trip in the 2nd link here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...-rain-row.html
I'll keep the ground pitching idea in mind for warmer/nicer weather treks. That might be a good weight-reducing combination when weather protection isn't as important/not likely necessary.
Last edited by KC8QVO; 11-08-20 at 06:40 PM.
