The ultimate, ultimate hang hammock set up

For a lot of years I tried and failed at hammock camping. I just couldn’t get it right. I kept hearing and reading that hammock camping is the most comfortable night’s sleep ever and that people would never go back to sleeping on the ground, no matter how thick or comfortable the air mat. 

This was quite frustrating as I always got cold, got hyperextended knees, slid to one end and just generally couldn’t get comfortable.  

Sometime in 2021, after a particularly rough sleep on a log bed I had to make to get something resembling level to sleep on, I decided to put some research into hammocks and make it work. People make it work and rave about it so I must have simply been missing the trick.

The problems I faced 

My three problems to solve where:

1. Cold sides 

2. Sliding to one end

3. hyperextension, specifically of knees. 

Cold sides 

Being cold was easy to solve. I used to use a closed cell foam sleep mat inserted into my hammock. This was fine for my back but when the hammock wrapped around me and compressed the sides of my sleeping bag I got cold easily, especially with a breeze. That was the easy one to fix, I got an under quilt, sorted.

Sliding to one end 

This was equally simple to fix but also, as I found, very closely linked to the hyperextension issue. As a rule, I used to set my tarp up first, so I got that level and used that as my reference point for getting my hammock level, setting it the same distance below my tarp line on each side.  

Hyperextension and sliding to one end

My research led me to the standard discoveries of get your set up level and don’t make it too tight as you need sag to sleep across the hammock not in line with it.

This research gave me my requirements for my setup:

• Get the perfect setup and sag up every time no matter the distance between trees without having to work it out every time.

• To get a level setup every time to stop me sliding to one end. 

• Storm loops (loops of metal that water runs onto and drips off instead of down the rope on your hammock) under my tarp to protect the hammock side from direct rain. 

• I wanted a ridge line I could reach when in the hammock so I could hang gear and coats on it.

• Fixing points for my under quilt so it's in the right place every time. 

Setting up a hammock with the right sag and the maths and science behind it turned into a bit of a rabbit hole which concluded, for me at least, at the https://theultimatehang.com/hammock-hang-calculator/, created by Derek Hansen. An amazing site. You basically input your parameters and it gives you the best set up dimensions. BUT, read on before clicking as this is where I went one step further and a bit outside the box.  

The solution 

When setting up a hammock there are some variables that you can control and some you can’t, e.g. the distance between two trees is never the same. 

To achieve this I applied a bit of theory and came up with a bit of a work round when using the ultimate hang website. 

The theory 

The hang points are two locations that are intended to be level in relation to one another. Now imagine you tie a line between two trees which will inevitably have sag and may not be level. If you hooked a long weight with a hook at each end to the line, the centre of the weight would try to find the lowest point and you would see the line between the two hooks straighten out between them as it is being tensioned and become level. 

 

When using a hammock, the two fixing points don't slide and are fixed in the line. This means the weight can't slide to find the lowest point if there is height difference in the line anchor points, or if the fixing points of the weight aren't an equal distance from the line anchor points. What it will do is kind of split the difference and the two weight (hammock) fixing points will be at different heights. 

The calculations 

The clever bit was my approach and how I used my theory in the ultimate hang calculator.   

I knew I wanted to use a ridge line but put into the ultimate hang calculator as the hang distance. I set it to 2.8m (9’2”) long so the storm loops would be under my 3x3m (10x10 foot) DD tarp. My storm loops then became the fixed points for the weight, like in my theory. Next I set the other constants like the length of my hammock and the distance from the ground I wanted to hang and hit calculate.

I now knew if i set the ridgeline and suspension lines (now actually the rope between the hammock and the storm loop) I would get the required 30⁰ angle every time based on 2 provisions A) the storm loops / fixing points are equal distance between the tie out points B) The tie out points and ridge line is level.

One point to note when playing with the numbers and the calculator is to remember the line for the hang distance is in fact your ridgeline and you need to subtract the set height from the hang height to find out the ridgeline distance from you. They are dependent on the hang distance so you need to change this to change its height but  

Practice 

Now to test the theory and the maths. The calculator then told me the other key dimensions, specifically the length of the suspensions and how high to set the anchor points. 

So, I got myself some rope, specifically Marlo 4mm thick, 8 plait pre-stretched polyester rope for my tie outs and 2mm Marlo excel racing dinghy rope (which I doubled up) for my ridgeline. DON’T USE PARACORD, it's designed to stretch, and you will wake up in the middle of rh knight doubled up and scraping off the floor. Next, I added loops and cheap light carabiners to my under quilt and I also use a line level to make sure I'm level.

When putting it up I set it at my head height as the whole thing will sag another foot or so depending how far apart your trees are. this seems to get the right sit height. The only thing I have to estimate is getting equal distance between my trees, which isn't too bad.

You may be thinking ‘why go through the effort, I will just get it central and level any way’. The difference is that you are back in the hands of the variables and so things like hang height, ridge line and suspension length etc. all have to change (and you have to work it out) every time depending on the hang distance, or the distance between the trees. Also, measuring a 30⁰ angle in the woods reliably without an aid is problematic at best. 

Summary / TLDR

It worked! I haven't had a bad night's sleep in this setup and in fact it is absolutely my preferred way to sleep in the woods.

And so that’s it. Once you get your set up dimensions sorted and have set your hammock up to the dimensions you want, the only thing you have to worry about is getting central and level between two trees and you have the perfect hang every time. You only do the hard part of working it out and measuring everything once. 

Sign off

Well, I hope you enjoyed this article and try this method out. Even if you are a seasoned hammock camper you won't be disappointed as it can only improve any set up and if nothing else hugely speeds up the set up too giving you more valuable time to do what you set out to do in the woods, confident in a good comfortable night's sleep. 

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Take care and have fun outdoors.