Originally Posted by
SweetLou
Not quite the same though. On my tents, I can put up the fly before the tent, but it is much more difficult and I usually don't put the tent up as well. It takes some fussing to get it taut. I also find it kind of cumbersome to do. It is very easy to put my tarp up first, then the hammock. I can do it in a relaxed careful manner. Once the tarp is up, my gear goes underneath it to stay dry as I prepare my hammock.
I hang my tarp high so I can easily walk underneath it while I get everything else ready. Well, that is unless it is a strong blowing rain where I need the sides lower. But even then, I can set up the wind side low and the lee side high to make it more comfortable. Either way, my hammock and quilts don't get wet. They stay in their waterproof bags until under the tarp. They get put into their bags under the tarp when getting ready to leave. At no time are they exposed to the rain.
The hammock/tarp system is much better than the tent/fly system for keeping things dry.
My sleeping bag and pad stay inside their bags too and they stay dry but that has nothing to do with balindamood's question. The question isn't about set up but about taking down and packing following rain. Even your tarp and hammock system is going to have some kind of water on it following rain.
Originally Posted by
X-LinkedRider
But hammocks don't just float in the air by themselves.
And therein lies a fatal flaw with hammocks. Try and find a place for a hammock in the picture below...dare ya
Originally Posted by
X-LinkedRider
The trees used to attach the hammock to, almost always provide you with enough coverage to minimize water from above. Granted if you are going to be a real hammocker, most likely you will be using a hammock with a rain cover. (ie. Hennessy Hammock, ENO (Eagles Nest))
There are plenty of areas that are wet enough just from the ground to saturates a tent whether it rains or not. Hammocks dry incredibly fast compared to a tent as it is hanging and there is only a certain amount of moisture that it can absorb to begin with. Some hammocks come in mesh bags which will let you dry as you ride. So there are plenty ways a hammock could/would help as long as he is camping alone.
The dryness under a tree is going to depend on the tree and the amount of rain. If there is enough rain, under the tree...actually under the two trees
...is going to be a dripping soggy mess. And then you are going to be back to the same issue as a tent, i.e. packing a wet hammock.
Let's also assume that someone in a tent is smart enough not to set it up in a bog, shall we? I, and I'm sure anyone who has stayed more than a few nights in a tent, look for areas that aren't swamps to place my tent in. I also don't set them up in creek beds, rivers or lakes. I even look for places where there is good drainage so that I don't end up in a river during a rainstorm.