I made my first trip to BWCA last September, solo and fully outfitted. Loved it, although the outfitter weighed me down with way too much equipment and food! (The canoe, however was a joy, Northstar Magic)
Anyway, I am returning this September as part of a group of 7 including my Father, 3 brothers, and 2 of our sons. We are going to rent only canoes, a tarp and some portage packs. From my experience, it seems that some campsites might not be well suited to having 3 four man tents, or a large enough pad for a larger tent. Before I even planned a trip to BW, I purchased an ENO Doublenest for lounging while car camping. So I am considering using my hammock for the trip.
My question is what are your thoughts/suggestions for me to try before we leave in September.
Currently, I have the ENO DN hammock with the Atlas suspension straps. I also have a Kelty Noah's 9 tarp, a thermarest pad, and a 55 degree summer bag.
I set this up yesterday, and slept in it last night. Temps only dropped to 68 degrees, but until 3 am, the bag was wadded up between my legs to keep me cool. After that, I pulled it over me loosely. Last year during my trip it got down to around 35 degrees at night, with highs on the 50's I believe. Problem is, I probably won't have any more nights that cold to test this out...

Here are pics of how it was set-up last night:



The trees were a bit large and too far apart, so the hammock was too high for my liking, and the tarp seemed a bit low. Maybe an addition to the suspension, or a different system? The tarp pitched as I did gave good coverage lengthwise, and I think it would do ok if oriented properly to the wind. Unfortunately, the predicted rain overnight never materialized.
Overall, I had a very comfortable nights sleep, so I'm sure I will be fine as far as comfort in a hammock goes.

Thoughts/suggestions appreciated!

Could be a close call. September can bring big shifts in temp and rain issues. You can beef up you insulation with a military poncho liner and wearing some warm long johns or wool sleep gear, a stocking cap, and even gloves. Consider realigning the tarp more like a tent to capture more of the heat and yes lower it, but not too far as you can get condensation and drip. And maybe a larger tarp.
Scan some of the other threads on this forum and you will get lots of specific input regarding pads vs. underquilts and tarp set up. Rigging can help, but mostly in fine tuning your hang and making adjustment easier. Basics are insulation above and below and weather protection.

Others may call me out on this, but that hammock is designed for lounging, not camping. Bring it along for others to take a nap. September can get pretty cold at night, and if it's rainy I would want all of the protection possible if I'm hanging. Personally I would be going up with an asymmetric hammock like the Warbonnet Blackbird and a larger hammock fly like the Superfly or the Cloudburst. For insulation I recommend a bottom quilt and top quilt.

Looks like a decent summer setup. Probably keep you dry in the summer. In my experience, the shoulder seasons are another animal. Wet, windy, nasty cold weather. I think you stand a chance of getting wet with that tarp if the wind comes sideways or changes.

Perhaps bring it and use it, but if the weather gets real nasty, jump in one of the tents? For cold, a layer of thermals and a hat with some loose socks works very very well. You can also put some boiling water into a nalgene and sleep with it....

I will try to set it up with the tarp not on the diagonal, but my feeling is it will not have adequate coverage.

quote unshavenman: "Others may call me out on this, but that hammock is designed for lounging, not camping. Bring it along for others to take a nap. September can get pretty cold at night, and if it's rainy I would want all of the protection possible if I'm hanging. Personally I would be going up with an asymmetric hammock like the Warbonnet Blackbird and a larger hammock fly like the Superfly or the Cloudburst. For insulation I recommend a bottom quilt and top quilt."

Well I'll call you out! ;) I agree it may not be the best option out there, but I've spent a number of nights in a double nest and found it a lot better than a tent. The hammock game can lead you down the rabbit hole very quickly and you've spent hundreds of $$ before you know it.

You may want to consider a structural ridge line so you have a consistent hang. That way once you're dialed into what you like you can reproduce it every time. You can also find lighter options than the Atlas straps, but like the hammock you already have it so no big deal.

Great suggestion above to supplement your sleeping pad setup with a poncho liner. It's easy insurance against the cold.

I did try to rotate the tarp to a more tent like arrangement, but it is too small to be used that way, didn't cover the ends of the hammock. I did change the setup, and put the tarp ridgeline lower than the hammock tree straps. That allowed me to get the ends of the tarp tighter to the hammock ends.

Consider strongly a larger tarp. (Amazon is selling a 12x12 Noah for $70. A great intermediate grade tarp, you can spend more and less.) Any wind and rain will get you with inadequate coverage and that is not good, especially if the temps drop.
See the thread on tarps on the gear forum for some ideas.

Yup. I say go with a bigger tarp. And you may want to get a 3-4 ft piece of ccf to put under your shoulders. In Sept your going to need something to keep that area warm. Put it crosswise underneath to the pad you already have.

You may want to consider a structural ridge line so you have a consistent hang.

I did a quick set up with a structural ridge line. I used the yellow line that Dan Cooke sells, tied a bowline attached to one carabiner, then used a taut line hitch after running it through the carabiner on the other side. Gave me adjust-ability to figure out where I wanted it. That is a nice mod, allows me to change the height without affecting the sag! Of course, everyone but I already knew that!

Do you guys think that line is adequate for the job? What about the knot? Is there a better way than the way I did it?

Thanks for all the comments so far!
*edited for spelling*

quote gymcoachdon: "

You may want to consider a structural ridge line so you have a consistent hang.

I did a quick set up with a structural ridge line. I used the yellow line that Dan Cooke sells, tied a bowline attached to one carabiner, then used a taut line hitch after running it through the carabiner on the other side. Gave me adjust-ability to figure out where I wanted it. That is a nice mod, allows me to change the height without affecting the sag! Of course, everyone but I already knew that!


Do you guys think that line is adequate for the job? What about the knot? Is there a better way than the way I did it?


Thanks for all the comments so far!
*edited for spelling*"

That line will work just fine. I use zing-it with permanent loops, and it is much smaller.

Yesterday the family was over for the holiday cook out, and brought our camping gear to set up and decide what to take for our Labor Day trip. We had seven tents set up in the yard ranging from a 2 man to a nylon hotel! It was quite a sight. After everyone set up the tents, I started setting up my hammock. Just as I was putting up a ridgeline for the tarp, the skies cut loose. I finished, but didn't quite get the tarp centered. The storm was a pretty good one, including pea sized hail, and was over in about 20 minutes. All the tents withstood the winds fine, several leaked, but we were able to determine that we had 4 good options, other than weight concerns.

But now to the hammock. With the small tarp on the diagonal, I did have some rain blowing in to the foot area. Not bad, and for a summer trip it wouldn't be an issue. If I had gotten the tarp centered properly, I'm pretty sure I could have pitched it tighter and even stayed dry. With that said, I am thinking about using this, or a, hammock and tarp as my set up for my solo trips in the future. My thoughts are that I should get a CCS tundra tarp, and it could be useful on tent trips and used as the hammock tarp.
I like the tie out and pitching options that would give me. My questions are do you guys pitch a tarp in porch during the day, and snug it down overnight, and what size would be best? I think I would want it to be my only tarp on a solo trip. Maybe some pics of your set ups in different configurations would help, or tell me I should have "x" amount longer than my hammock, or "I wish I had bought this size..." before I make an order. Or maybe I should look into a complete hammock/tarp set up instead of just getting a tundra tarp.

Again, I appreciate your thoughts.

I love CCS products and just bought my third Tundra tarp recently for an upcoming Quetico trip in a few weeks. That being said, a CCS tarp could work for you, but I really encourage you to look at a fly that's designed specifically to be used with a hammock. Check out hammockforums.net to research anything and everything you ever wanted to know about hanging. It can cost some money to put together a complete hammock/fly/underquilt/topquilt package, but it can be done piecemeal over time and you can buy used gear as well. Have fun with the process!

quote unshavenman: " "

Is it an illusion of perspective, or how in the world did you get your straps that high on the tree???