Hammock and tarp (cheap setup)

[boneaddict]

Nice. 

[Kowsrule30]

Just don't fall out on a steep hill!!!!   

[ICEMAN]

Miles, ever consider tyvek house wrap for your tarp setup? Pretty light and very durable...

[Miles]

Miles, ever consider tyvek house wrap for your tarp setup? Pretty light and very durable...

I may try that next.   Seems like it will be more durable than the plastic, just not sure about the water proofing and weight?   Any advice?

[ICEMAN]

I used to hang out at a hammock/lightweight hiking site, and many loved tyvek. Some even made snow enclosures and tarps etc from it, but had issues with it holding a sewn edge...someone actually researched/designed a way to sew it...  The stuff is so slippery it does  not take well to the foot on a sewing machine. Others would lay in a bead of silicone as it is assembled to help seal sewn edges...  For a tarp is seems ideal thought. Definitely sheds water and will not rip in the wind...

[Alchase]

Or you could use just the water proof rain cover off an old tent.
I use 17' x 12' rain cover from my old Coleman Weather Master, it is extremely light and rolls up very well.

[madcow41]

You have too much pressure on the sewing machine to the tarp

[Hunter mike]

One more thing about the GT - I would change out the suspension system - it's really only good for absolutely perfect setup conditions as it's not adjustable.  I replaced the s-hook setup with two metal rings on each side (found mine at Home Depot but REI has much lighter ones for climbing.  I slide about a 10ft piece of webbing through the rings (think motorcycle helmet strap) so you can adjust the length on each side as much as you need to.  The other end of the webbing gets a lightweight carabiner to wrap around the tree.  The setup works awesome and will make it possible to use larger trees when needed.  The adjustment makes it much easier to make the hammock comfortable.  Check out hammockforums.com for more ideas -I think there are some sticky videos in the suspension section that show what I'm talking about as well as more options.

Very cool!  I'm going to give your method a try.  Thanks for the tip!

Here's a link to a tutorial - it works pretty slick!  I just added a structural ridge line to my setup and I think it's going to work out pretty good.  I'm trying to minimize my setup time and maximize hunting time!  I really want an underquilt or better insulation system of some sort - on my scouting trip I woke up and my pad was completely sideways in the hammock 

http://www.tothewoods.net/HomemadeGearRingBuckleSupports.html