Tent vs Hammock - Solo Hunts

[Bert01]

I've always wondered how side sleepers do in a hammock. I can sleep on my back for about an hour and then it's side to side rolling probably every half hour the rest of the night.

If you set it up right you can side sleep it a hammock. Your ridge line need to be a certain length so that you alway get the correct angle on the hammock then you lay slightly diagonal and you can lay flat.

 

[larry_garcia68]

Prepare to freeze in the hammock unless you get an underquilt


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[PorterM]

I was keen on the hammock idea but after using one for a few nights I switched back to a traditional ultralight tent.
Cons:
Significantly heavier once you factor in an underquilt, quilt, tarp, and all the rigging vs an ultralight tent and quilt and pad.
I slept much worse, the slow swing all night made it feel like I was falling asleep I fell asleep.
Colder, cold butt, even with an underquilt it’s drafty on the bum unless it’s set up perfect
No floor space to organize gear at night
If you couldn’t tell I hated it and would not go back.

 

[Mike 338]

I got the whole hammock set up about 5 years ago. I found it tedious to set up. Clips and cords everywhere so I ignored it. Lately, I got interested again as a basecamp set up by a vehicle so I made a couple tripods and a metal ridgeline. I just set it up in the garage and slept in it the last couple of nights. It's extremely comfortable on the hips. Shoulders are a tiny bit scrunched but fine. Mostly slept like a baby.

Underquilt and Bugnet are still annoyingly tedious to set up with mini-bunnies everywhere. As a backpack option, it's really not any kind of weight saver and it takes up more space than a tent because of the under quilt, regular quilt and tarp, along with the scads of lines and connections required. Being proficient with the set up is about like learning a song on an instrument. You gotta practice practice practice.

All that said though, I'd say the quality of sleep is maybe 40% better in a decent hammock, once you've worked out the bugs. The ease of a 10 minute set up for a tent, pad and bag and fast break down still may trump all that though.

 

[North of 60]

FNG with much hammock experience who came across this thread.

With cervical and lumbar spine issues, I personally sleep worlds better in a hammock than on the ground or in a bed. If one hurt's enough on the ground, you will be looking for other options.

If you have spinal issues, or just hate tossing and turning on the ground and waking up in pain and exhausted, i wouldn't give up on a hammock until someone showed you how to optimally set it up. As with most things, how it is done is very important for a sucessful outcome. A few things to consider if interested:

1. Having a long enough and wide enough hammock to get a diagonal lay. The taller someone is the longer/wider the hammock needed for optimum comfort and vice versa. For example, I'm a little over 6'1" tall and a 11' long, 72" wide hammock is perfect.
2. Setting up a hammock to have an optimal sag to help with the diagonal lay.
3. Down is your friend and underquilts and topquilts are essential when it is cold. i was toasty in the coldest i've been out which was about 0 degrees at 8000 feet of elevation in late December one year.
4. The length of your hammock will determine the length of tarp needed. DCF makes for great, albeit expensive, light tarp material.
5. Have the foot end 6-12'' higher than than the head end and you will slide down less.
6. Bridge style hammocks are easy to side sleep in.
7. Doable with a very large bag on a wintertime pack, however definitely easier in wintertime if you have a vehicle to haul the gear. A decent size backpack will carry all one needs in spring/summer/fall.
8. There are multiple lightweight suspension systems available to choose from.
9. Tensa outdoors has some innovative cool lightweight setups that don't require trees.