weathering a storm in a hammock

[blisterbob]

1) Pitch your tarp low and tight.
2) Climb into your hammock.
3) Go to sleep.

Good advice, low and tight is the key.
I haven't had any problems staying dry.

[Demeter]

I've been through several storms, including snow storms. I have a cuben tarp with doors, and never had a problem in a storm.

Wind, OTOH, is a bigger problem. I learned my lesson a couple years ago on a Mt Rogers backpack. The wind was about 40 mph and ripped all my stakes out. I fixed the problem by using logs or large rocks in windy situations. Never had an issue since.

[Cadenza]

Too many times I have woke up in a tent with my head in a puddle of water and with everything inside soaked.
I switched to a hammock about 20 years ago and have never been wet again. The mere fact that you are off the ground is a big deal.

With that said,....extreme winds (60+ mph) scare me.
Knock on wood, but so far my cuben fiber tarp with shock corded tie-outs has not let me down.

[LesterC]

Best sleep I ever had was during thunder storm at Sassafrass Gap just south of Fontana Dam. Went to sleep that night without my tarp. Between 1 and 2 a.m. listened to approaching storm, which sounded majestic. Put my tarp up about 2, just before the storm. The storm was pretty violent (no longer merely majestic) but passed through in 30 minutes, I think, but don't know because I went to sleep in the middle of the storm. The strong wind and the cooler temps were welcome during June heat.
If storms are likely, camp in a low area, avoid crest line. You want to be removed from the highest objects in the immediate area, so try to find lower trees. That Gap described above fit the description, surrounded by higher ridges, and with taller canopy trees nearby my smaller trees. Lightening usually follows the shortest distance to the earth, which includes things connected to the earth.

[nuknees]

I happened to be on the trail when hurricane Irene and then Lewis (I think it was) came up east coast. Could not make a shelter - matter of fact I was kind of stuck on the only high patch of land between two swamps...but stayed high and dry in some of the heaviest rainfall I've ever seen. It was so intense the noise was deafening...like being in a 55 gallon drum and having ball bearings dropped on it all night long...have never seen/experienced anything close since!

[fastfoxengineering]

With the appropriate tarp you'll never get wet. Pitch it low for storm mode.

Swinging in my hammock when it's pouring out is surreal. I like when it's not a blowing rain too and I can setup my tarp in porch mode.. sit up in my hammock and look out. I Don't feel like I need to hunker down like when tenting. Usually during a rain storm im swinging in porch mode and my buddies are all hunkered down and zipped up in their tents.

If I was going to endure some serious storms on a regular basis, then a tarp with doors would be ideal.

[gunner76]

So far I have yet to get wet while sleeping in my hammock during a storm. While I have tarps with doors, I have not had to close them, have left them open during the rain.

[Busky2]

It may sound crazy but I sewed in zippers at the end of my tarp. All I have to do is pull out one stake and zip the end and that is it. It is a lite fast and easy guaranteed low and tight set. No doors or extra stakes or lines to deal with, no beaks to put on or carry all the time just some plastic coil zippers waiting for the wind and rain.

[pickNgrin]

I have never hammocked camped, but am thinking about it. Let's say I had a ENO Doublenest. What would be a good size tarp that would provide excellent rain protection, yet not be overkill? The reason I ask is because there are a somewhat dizzying array of tarp configuration and sizes available (from ENO and other companies). Many of them look like you'd get wet if the rain was driving in.

While I understand that it is a good idea to pitch it so the the side is facing the direction the rain is coming from, Mother Nature is not always so neat and tidy. I would hate to find out at 3am that she changed her mind and now the rain is driving in on my head!

[swede]

Some great advice in above posts. I use small bungees between my tie out and stakes lines to prevent the pins from pulling out. Works even in sand. Never been wet in my Hennessy, my main concern is my pack which I stow below my hammock in a big garbage bag. Learned the hard way from a northeaster while camping on barrier islands on NC coast. The high tide flooded the campsite and my pack but my buddies fared worse with their tents.

[Farr Away]

... I use small bungees between my tie out and stakes lines to prevent the pins from pulling out. Works even in sand. ...

Can you explain this a little more? I'm having trouble picturing it, but it sounds like an alternative to putting a rock on my tie out to keep the stake in sandy ground.

-FA

[fastfoxengineering]

Can you explain this a little more? I'm having trouble picturing it, but it sounds like an alternative to putting a rock on my tie out to keep the stake in sandy ground.

-FA

Alot of people use a length shock cord attached to their tarp tie outs, then the guyline from the stake is then secured to the shock cord. This guy line is typical nylon cordage. The shock cord acts as an automatic guy line tensioner. Works well with silnylon tarps, not so much with cuben.

[perdidochas]

I want to get out more this fall but I live in MO and for the next couple months can expect mostly wet, cold weather. Can anyone give me first hand experiences and tips about weathering a thunderstorm at night in a hammock?

I've done it twice now. I used a 12'x12' Guidegear tarp, and when expecting storms, I set it up in winter mode--search the forum for Kelty Noah's 12' tarp in winter mode. That gives me closed ends on each end. I don't much like tenting in storms, and don't like hammocking much in storms. I prefer the hammocking, because at least the chance of being flooded is lessened. I love hammocking in rain, though.

[kayak karl]

A hammock will always fare better in a storm than a tent.

i would like to say that is true, but location has more to do with it. i've seen hammock traps ripped apart and tenter doing just fine, because they knew where to set up.

[dhagan]

It may sound crazy but I sewed in zippers at the end of my tarp. All I have to do is pull out one stake and zip the end and that is it. It is a lite fast and easy guaranteed low and tight set. No doors or extra stakes or lines to deal with, no beaks to put on or carry all the time just some plastic coil zippers waiting for the wind and rain.

Do you have any pics of this? sounds interesting.

[Tarheel Hanger]

When I first started hammocking, I was using an Eno doublenest with a cheap 10*10 tarp in the diamond shape. On the 2nd trip I went on I woke in 40+ winds and rain coming in sideways. As others have said, I lowered my tarp and rode out the storm high & dry. The end of my hammock was a little wet (bad location) but was fine. My friends in a tent were floating in 2" of water. I have since bought a Clark NX-250 with the vertex tarp ( I know ,its a little heavy ) but I feel like I can withstand any thing mother nature throws at me. My tarp has velcro strips down the sides so I can make doors with it. I haven't encountered heavy winds with closed yet but it seems to help. If you are looking for hammock tips, Hammockforums.net is the best.

[Short Bus]

I want to get out more this fall but I live in MO and for the next couple months can expect mostly wet, cold weather. Can anyone give me first hand experiences and tips about weathering a thunderstorm at night in a hammock?

Wife and I are fairly new (past 6 years) to backpacking so we were lucky enough to come along when the hammock field started really picking up so we started with hammocks, not tents. I spent many years in the Marine Corps sleeping on the ground and do not have a fond memory of it. Last year we spent a particularly stormy/windy night north of the NOC WB Superfly held up very well The sides came in a bit but with the winds as bad as they were there is no way that was not going to happen (40+ mph with gusts higher). The folks in the shelter did not fare as well. hammocks are the only way IMHO

[Theosus]

I have never hammocked camped, but am thinking about it. Let's say I had a ENO Doublenest. What would be a good size tarp that would provide excellent rain protection, yet not be overkill? The reason I ask is because there are a somewhat dizzying array of tarp configuration and sizes available (from ENO and other companies). Many of them look like you'd get wet if the rain was driving in.

While I understand that it is a good idea to pitch it so the the side is facing the direction the rain is coming from, Mother Nature is not always so neat and tidy. I would hate to find out at 3am that she changed her mind and now the rain is driving in on my head!

I use an ENO singlenest in the winter (no bugs, why carry a hammock with a bug net?) and a hennessy expedition in the spring and fall. I use the HH hex tarp most of the time. Last june I was in Caesar's Head state park when a thunderstorm began approaching. I put the hex tarp low on my hammock and pitched the sides in close. The storm finally hit and was nasty. Poured rain, lightning, thunder, and the wind sounded bad. We were in sort of a hollow against a hillside under some pretty dense trees which slowed the wind down at ground level, but it sounded awful. I didn't get wet at all. I love the big tarp, although I'm looking at a silnylon version, because the HH poly version is a bit heavy and packs pretty large.

I don't worry much about lightning strikes. I'm off the ground, which saves me from ground discharges (where the lightning hits a nearby tree and runs along the roots or even over the ground and hits someone). I'm suspended by rope, which for the most part is a poor conductor. The tarp over me is likely wet, which means the lightning should go around me and into the ground. What I DO worry about is lightning destroying the tree I'm hanging from. I've seen lightning hit a tree thirty feet away from me (while I was stopped at an intersection in a car). The tree bark exploded off. Any suspension is probably going to be melted/cut off the tree. I've seen 18" diameter trees (two in my back yard) literally blown in half lengthwise and fall over. Again, a bad day if you're in a hammock OR a tent, provided you're underneath them.
But - there's not much you can do about it. It's all the luck of the draw, and if it's going to happen to you, there's not much you can do about it. So stay huddled in the hammock and try to sleep, or pray to jesus, allah, or the flying spaghetti monster that you will be okay tomorrow, and wait it out. I like to spread out when I camp, too. Not only because I don't like noisy people right next to me snoring or whatever, but if a tree falls or lightning gets someone, it's best if a single strike doesn't take out a bunch of you.

[ChuckT]

Getting up-close and personal with lightning (and I have 2 hammocks) is _not_ high on my agenda!

[ChrisJackson]

I'm in a rain storm right now a mile north of Dicks Creek Gap! Nice and dry under my JRB 11 x 10! Going to read a little and go to sleep. ��