Give me some air!

[andante]

I plan to use a HH asymm for the warmer part of my AT thruhike, and tried it at home. VERY comfortable but quite stuffy in still air. Must be the fine mesh netting. My question: how do you breathe when you have the fly tied down tight right onto the netting, as on a stormy night? Just get used to it? Turn blue?

[deeddawg]

I plan to use a HH asymm for the warmer part of my AT thruhike, and tried it at home. VERY comfortable but quite stuffy in still air. Must be the fine mesh netting. My question: how do you breathe when you have the fly tied down tight right onto the netting, as on a stormy night? Just get used to it? Turn blue?

You shouldn't need to have the fly completely tied down tight to the netting.

For pitching in stormy weather, the trick is to tie out the sides of the fly first, then tighten up the ridgeline. Try this and see if it helps:

Initially have the fly ridgeline attachements VERY loose. Stake out the hammock sides a little bit closer than usual, and tie out the sides of the fly to these stakes. Clip the fly's side "mitten hooks" to the hammock side guy-lines. This is to help prevent the fly from acting like a kite and allowing rain in the sides. Tighten up the fly side guy lines a bit, not too tight but not loose.

Now tighten up the ridgeline attachments, lifting the fly off the center of the hammock a couple inches while still providing good coverage.

This should help a lot in allowing for some airflow while keeping the rain out.

-- Lew

[DebW]

I've also noticed how stuffy it is inside no-see-um netting. I've used a Bug Hut mosquite net that covers the top
1/3 of my sleeping bag and sweltered when there was a nice breeze without it. I went with the Speer Hammock because the bug net is removable and I prefer a breeze across my face while I sleep.

[tlbj6142]

You have hit upon one of the problems with an attached net. Either switch to a Speer-like hammock or deal with it.

I have an HH as well. Here is my setup rain or shine...

1. Site selection. If it is hot and stuffy pick a spot that is more open. If you are expecting blowing rain do otherwise. Rain with a light wind isn't really much of an issue. Try to put the head side tie-out into the wind if you expect blowing rain. A short (20 minute) summer thunder storm isn't much to worry about as you'll see only a bit of rain splash from the strom. A prolong blowing rain storm is something to worry about.
2. After you attach the hammock to the tree-huggers, hang the rest of the cord around the mainline as close the hammock body as possible with a simple half-hitch. This hanging piece of cord will act as a drip line to prevent water from running down into the head/foot of the hammock via the ridge cord.
3. Assuming it is not raining when I setup the hammock, I stake out the fly. And, then I slide one of the cords off of its stake and fold the fly over the other half. That way if it starts to rain, all I have to do is pull the fly over the hammock and tie it around the stake that is already properly positioned in the ground.
4. I attached wrist-rocket (aka sling-shot) rubber bands to the top of the fly tie-outs. See this thread for details. These allow you to keep the fly tight after you get into your hammock. Otherwise the fly will losen a bit from your body weight which causes the ends to get closer to each other. I strech out he bands about one-half to 3/4 of their max length when I setup the fly.

Step 4 is important on non-rainy but windy nights as well. It helps keep the fly tight so it doesn't "flop around" and bellow from the wind which can be quite noisy. Of course if you are not expecting rain, you can always remove the fly completly. After you have setup the stakes "just in case".

[andante]

Thanks for the tips everyone.

The wrist-rocket plan sounds like a way to take up the slack caused by sagging from body weight. I'm trying to visualize it better though.

Was also considering cutting flaps in the mesh up by the head end, with a way to Velcro them shut. But the mesh is the side wall that supports the bottom, so bad idea.

All the happy HH users out there have obviously adapted to a low-oxygen environment, so here I go.

Bob Nicholson
"Andante"

[tlbj6142]

I have added pics to the above thread.

[tlbj6142]

Also consider that stuffy nights are typically buggy nights. Your vent idea does some somewhat reasonable. If you are comfortable sewing it could be done with a bit of work.

[watertight]

Here's what I did to my HH. First, I was not sure if the bug net was intergral to the support of the hammock body. I asked Tom Hennesey about it, and he said it was not. So, I seperated the bug net from the hammock fabric along one side and sewed in a zipper. Now I can fold back the the bug net for ventilation, better view, etc. It adds about 3 oz to the wieght, but well worth it for me. You would still be in trouble in bug season, however.