Topic

Rainy weather – hammock or tent preference?


Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Home Forums General Forums Hammock Camping Rainy weather – hammock or tent preference?

Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1326651
    Phillip Asby
    BPL Member

    @pgasby

    Locale: North Carolina

    I've been weighing the benefits of a tent versus hammock when rain is forecast. It seems to break down for me like this:

    Hammock Pros – if it gets really soupy you're up off the ground! No worries about puddles low spots, etc… as long as you suspend all your stuff (boots included). If it's not just pouring with wind you can setup your tarp in porch mode and have a nice dry spot to sit.

    Hammock Cons – I don't use a top quilt so I have more success if I can get into my bag outside the hammock then lay down – so I need a dry spot on the ground i.e. a groundcloth of some sort which needs to be secure and not blow/wash away. If its raining and windy unless you have a supershelter type tarp (I do not – I have an Arrowhead Toxaway tarp) you risk getting a bit wet.

    Tent Pros – I have the option of bringing a light two man tent or one man – for inclement weather the space in the two man is welcome with plenty of room for me and my gear to stay nice and dry. Even in a downpour with wind the fly on all my tents is sufficient to keep me dry.

    Tent Cons – have to be thoughtful about site selection and depressions, etc… the two man setup is light (under 4lbs) but still heavier than my tarp and hammock setup (or the one man tent for that matter but it is a snug fit if i'm spending any time in it).

    What are other members preferences? Do you ever go to the ground even if there are sufficient trees?

    #2181351
    Lori P
    BPL Member

    @lori999

    Locale: Central Valley

    With adequate tarp space, the hammock is superior in comfort.

    Sit up, make tea. Use a trash bag as a ground sheet – once the tarp is up, everything under it can be set up dry. Read a book. You can take off rain gear standing up before you touch anything else. Hang damp socks on the ridgeline. Invite friends with leaky tents to come play cards with you. All the things you can't do in a tent and still have headroom.

    With a tarp that can be staked down to the ground and shut on the ends, even wind is trivial. One trip it was the only way we were able to use stoves – the gusty wind kept blowing out even the stove with a full windscreen. You can add doors to a tarp that doesn't have them.

    What keeps you from using the bag like a quilt?

    #2181360
    john Tier
    Spectator

    @peter_pan

    Locale: Co-Owner Jacks 'R' Better, LLC, VA

    Ref the con posted above…Get a top quilt or use your bag as a TQ with your under quilt and all the cons of getting in a bag before getting in a hammock are eliminated…

    Have not been on the ground since 2003… Never been wet, even in the worst of weather.

    Pan

    #2181363
    todd
    BPL Member

    @funnymo

    Locale: SE USA

    Hi Phillip,

    I spend more nights on the ground than in the trees. I haven't found a hammock setup that I really like that doesn't take up more pack space than a ground setup for comparable conditions.

    A good, properly hung hammock is 'da bomb for comfort, though!

    #2181366
    Phillip Asby
    BPL Member

    @pgasby

    Locale: North Carolina

    To clarify – my 20 degree bag is a Golite Feather – which has a half zipper right down the middle rather than a side zip – so it is configured in a way that makes it very difficult to get into even trying to use it as a top quilt (which I have done with my 40 degree bag – but as a cold sleeper I only use that above 50 from experience).

    golite

    #2181381
    Stephen Barber
    BPL Member

    @grampa

    Locale: SoCal

    For me, there are theoretical advantages to a hammock, but two real life problems:

    1. I could not get a hammock setup, when all the ropes, ti biners, etc, were weighed, that weighed less than my tarp/bivy setup.

    2. I simply could not sleep in a hammock. Yes, I tried all the angles, different hammocks etc, just could not fall asleep.

    So for me, I'll stick with my Duomid and bivy, which gives me a sheltered area in most any rain, plenty of room to spread out, and a very low weight.

    YMMV.

    #2181413
    Dale Wambaugh
    BPL Member

    @dwambaugh

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    I like a hammock in rainy weather. Your tarp will be tied off to trees, so no fears of poles falling over in the wind and you always have a nice taut pitch. Of course, mud and running water are moot and camping under the trees is drier anyway. Hammocking opens up campsites that you wouldnt dream of with a ground shelter. Although hammocks tend to be a bit heavier, you do get the effect of the most luxurious sleeping pads to help offset the weight.

    In "porch" mode, you have a dry place to cook, sit, eat, put your clothes and shoes on. There is nothing like swinging in your easy chair with a hot cuppa while the rain pitter-patters on the roof overhead.

    I use a Z-seat CCF pad for insulating my feet and that can be used for a doormat; a chunk of tyvek and a couple rocks would work too. When packing up, all your gear can be packed in the dry cover of your large tarp, stowing the wet tarp in an outside pocket as the last item.

    I do use a side-zip mummy bag like a quilt unless it is cold. A quilt is big on my wish list. A left hand zip makes entry easier in my zip Hennessy, but there is still a wiggle fest getting it completely under me. With your center zip bag, it looks like the hood is the problem. Can you tuck it in and wear a beanie or balaclava?

    I use my trash compactor bag pack liner as a pack cover when hammock camping. Suspending your boots is a good idea anyway— keeps them away from chewing varmints.

    Cons: you do need trees and hammock kits are heavier than most UL tent setups.

    #2181514
    BlackHatGuy
    Spectator

    @sleeping

    Locale: The Cascades

    Unzip the bag fully, then fold the top under the bottom so that your bottom opening is clear. Swing into your hammock and slide your feet into the bag. Sit up straight, and coax the top half out from under you and spread it back up (normal). Lie down into the top half of your bag. With a bit of practice I think you'll find it not that hard to do in your hammock.

    As for me, if there are trees and it's not winter, I'll be in a hammock. I suspend my shoes from the hammock ridgeline over my knees or thereabouts. I suspend my pack from one end of the hammock, under the tarp. A stuff sack with pretty much everything else that's not in my hammock with me (I have a Blackbird and use the inner 'ledge') is suspended from the other end under the tarp. My tarp has doors for nasty weather (zPacks cuben hammock tarp with doors).

    #2181603
    Kevin Babione
    BPL Member

    @kbabione

    Locale: Pennsylvania

    I had a trip in November where I realized, much to my chagrin, that my previously successful process of leaving my boots under my hammock isn't always a great idea.

    To get in my hammock I sit down on the left side of the hammock, slide my boots off and line them up under the hammock. When I get up in the morning my boots are right where I need them to be to slide them on and begin my day. Sounds great, right?

    In November, after drinking the better part of a pint of Scotch around the fire, I went back to the hammock and climbed in. As often happens after drinking a fair amount of anything before going to sleep, I had to pee multiple times during the night. I've perfected the process of peeing from my hammock: I lean to the right, point "it" down over the edge of the hammock and my UQ and pee. It's always worked flawlessly for me until that night…

    Apparently in my haste to get into bed I kicked left boot so that it was under the right side of my hammock. Murphy played a role and it spun around with the sole nice and flat on the ground. When I woke up I could only find my right boot. I panicked thinking that a critter had run off with one of my boots and that I was going to have an impossible walk to the car. Not the case…I found my boot under the right side of my hammock placed exactly where my pee stream hit all night long! Not only was the boot soaked but there was about 1/2 inch of liquid inside the boot. It was 20 degrees that night and I think my first piss froze in the boot and all subsequent pisses just worked on filling it.

    My friend Mark gave me a new trail name: Piss in Boot.

    From now on I'll be hang my boots from my ridgeline near my knees.

    #2183430
    Bob Moulder
    BPL Member

    @bobmny10562

    Locale: Westchester County, NY

    Piss in Boot

    Gotta love it! ;^)

    Was that the last night of MST? I never caught a whiff of it.

    #2183529
    Kevin Babione
    BPL Member

    @kbabione

    Locale: Pennsylvania

    Yes – it was the last night of our MST trek. I was standing around the fire with Steve after everyone went to bed and finished my Scotch. I probably pissed 6-7 times that night and, with uncanny accuracy, in the same spot every time! I told Mark when he came over to my hammock in the morning and he laughed hysterically. I don't know if you heard me, but I confessed my error to everyone at the top of that first climb on that Sunday and looking at my boots you could easily tell which one was soaked and which one was relatively dry.

    That was a fun weekend…I don't even mind reliving it this way.

    BTW – Soaking your trail runners in a tub of Oxy Clean and water and then vigorously scrubbing them under running fresh water (including the insoles) can restore them to their pre-piss state…

    #2183660
    Bob Moulder
    BPL Member

    @bobmny10562

    Locale: Westchester County, NY

    Another for the "Don't Do That" file! :^)

    And a good tip!

    #2184521
    Phillip Asby
    BPL Member

    @pgasby

    Locale: North Carolina

    I shared that tale with the guys on our trip last weekend with the scout troop (did not share it with the scouts although they would have enjoyed it I think) and much jocularity ensued. I'm the only one in a hammock so I don't think they fully appreciate getting in and out of a hammock rather than a tent to take care of natures call.

    I have to say I admire your ability to manage this at all – I'd have likely ended up on the ground…

    #2184523
    Phillip Asby
    BPL Member

    @pgasby

    Locale: North Carolina

    and it rained a fair amount on the way in. Dried out for the afternoon and evening setting up camp, day hike and cooking etc… but then rained that evening.

    I opted for the hammock and was generally glad I did – I had a nice sheltered spot and had hung my pack with a pack cover on it so I was pretty snug.

    However I am glad I pitched my tarp relatively low and well as the wind really picked up all night – both during the rain (thankfully my Arrowhead Toxaway kept me dry) and post rain all night long. It is a different experience in a hammock in higher winds and that is one condition where both the cold and openness is a disadvantage versus a tent… I survived just fine but did wonder several times if my tarp lines were going to hold. I can see the benefit of a small bit of shock cord to provide some flex.

    I was using for the record cheap texsport full size groundhog knockoffs and they held really well – didn't budge.

    #2184905
    Kevin Babione
    BPL Member

    @kbabione

    Locale: Pennsylvania

    I'm glad you were able to share my tale. It was actually foul weather (with my tarp pitched low and near the hammock) that led me to try this technique. Getting in and out of a hammock with the tarp right at the ridgeline isn't fun. After my second "trip to the tree" in a pouring rain I decided to try peeing to the right (my boots were safely to the left that time). I use a wide (52") hammock so even on my side I never feel like there's a chance of flipping the hammock or falling out. I probably had 30+ nights without an issue until that fateful November trip!

    #2189473
    Joe L
    BPL Member

    @heyyou

    Locale: Cutting brush off of the Arizona Tr

    I've hung in my hammock for a couple of hundred nights in Arizona.

    Sleeping in my hammock is as comfortable as in my bed at home. I laid in my hammock for 14 hours in a snow storm (getting up as needed since I don't have Kevin's techniques). When I laid down, the hammock seemed okay, then 14 hours later, it still felt just as comfortable–no sore spots on my shoulders or hip bones, or on my back. I can't do that laying on the ground, regardless of what pad is carried. My hammock serves as a sheltered camp chair too, pretty nice for dual purpose. As a retiree, that comfort in camp helps me continue to backpack.

    If you get wet or cold in a hammock, that is not a hammock deficiency, you just need better gear, or site selection, or technique, same as being cold or wet on the ground. If pack weight is more important than the benefits of hammock hanging, then don't hang.

    #3779522
    Kent W
    Spectator

    @skipkent

    You can really enjoy the rain in a hammock when your tarp is set up and you can even look out and enjoy the view.  If it’s a monsoon blowing sideways things can get hectic, but by their nature your hammock is going to be among the trees at least so that’s not usually the case.  Rain is nice in a well set up tent too, but I just love being able to under the tarp, sit on my hammock and take my boots off at leisure in the midst of a hard rain.  No scrambling on all fours, no wet clothes on your sleeping bag.  As others have noted, you pay for it in weight, and as comfortable as they are, hammocks take getting used to before you can flop in and crash for the night with ease.  Getting used to them and tweaking your set up is part of the fun, but if you’re strictly business on a through hike, that may not be what you want.  I’m a weekend warrior and in my late 50’s.  For me the extra weight is nothing compared to enjoying the site and the outdoors in any conditions and sleeping well (and late, as I am wont to do).  Make sure your setup has a ridge line, and if things get super hectic you can drape the tarp super close and stake it down with the walls right next to you in ‘storm mode’ and ride out just about anything.

Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Get the Newsletter

Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light!

Gear Research & Discovery Tools


Loading...