DCF Hammock Tarp

[Hoosier T]

Finally put together a DCF tarp since moving to a hammock. I wanted to make sure I was committed to using a hammock before dropping the $$$. Tarp is made with .51 DCF. I decided to do the beak at one end. I’ll just zip my rain jacket over the foot end of my hammock if shtf. 6.2 oz before lines, 7.2oz with lines. Reflective Z-line for ground and door tie outs with micro linelocs. Zingit UCRs for ridgeline with Dutch hooks. Dutch hooks on the door line also. Taped ridgeline seam and all reinforcements are taped on. Reinforcements were made with 1.0 osy black DCF.

This brings my fully zipped – bug netted hammock (11′ by 63″ W) and tarp setup to 22.7 oz. That includes all hammock and tarp suspension. Not bad for being off the ground!

[Matthew / BPL]

Very nice! That’s an impressive weight with a bugnet.

How did you do the ridgeline?

[Hoosier T]

Thanks. The actual tarp ridgeline is just taped with 1″ 3M 9482 PC. Normal overlap seam. No sewing. For guyline setup, I just sewed 1/2″ beastie d rings on. For adjustment, I spliced mini-UCRs (Utility Constrictor Rope). The tree end of the UCR has a Dutch hook spliced to it so I just go around the tree and hook the line to itself. The line is 1.75 Zingit. That answer your question? I know it’s a mouthful.

[Hoosier T]

And yes, thanks to dyneema this makes my hammock setup lighter than my ground setup was with that single wall tent I made last year. My 20* underquilt weighs within an ounce of a wide Xtherm so this is very competitive with a comparable 20* ground setup.

[Matthew / BPL]

Is DCF subject to creep when it’s only taped? I would think wind load and/or a tight pitch would put a lot of shear on the tape. 1” is pretty wide though so it might not be a factor at all.

[Hoosier T]

I don’t have a ton of use with dcf but many cottage manufacturers use only tape for ridgelines and I haven’t seen any reports of issues. I believe extreme cold can be an issue but I won’t go out below 10-20*.

[Ryan Smith]

Matthew,

Regarding cuben creep, it’s not an issue as long as the shelter design is sound. These tapes are very, very strong in shear. In peel, not so much.

[Author]

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