poncho over a hammock?

i've tried it out on my hennessy ultralight backpacker asym, and it is just a bit too short. needs to be about 11' on the diagonal, and it's only about 10'. that's cutting it might fine if the weather turns. if you buried yourself in a thicket so it didn't blow too much, you could probably eke out a rainy night. the ends are JUST barely where they need to be, but don't cover the knots, so they might be a source of seepage/drainage down into the hammock itself.

your hammock may be shorter.
 
Hey Seeker.

Thanks for the tips. It's a skeeter beater. not sure of the difference with the Hennessy. Weather looks dry tomorrow night. I'll try it out
 
Adahy said:
Thanks for the tips. It's a skeeter beater. not sure of the difference with the Hennessy. Weather looks dry tomorrow night. I'll try it out
Click to expand...

Skeeter Beeter I think is a little shorter; the Grand Trunk hammocks are smaller in length than many hammocks. I know a poncho isn't long enough to use over my Warbonnet Blackbird, but a poncho in an asym config is enough to give decent coverage over my Grand Trunk Nano 7. The Nano is a particularly short hammock though.
 
I used my BCUSA 10X10 tarp and no issues but the poncho might be too small for bad weather. From what I was noticing on mine, as long as you have 4-6" of coverage past the ends of your hammock you should be fine.

Ski
 
I don't sleep in a fancy hammock. I just use an inexpensive large fishnet hammock. I've slept many nights in the rain using nothing more than a GI poncho as cover. It's always worked for me. I do sometimes use a camo sylnylon tarp, which is only a little larger than a GI poncho. You may be able to find on-line info on the Army issue Viet Nam hammock, a flat sheet of nylon, which was rigged under a poncho when cover was needed.
 
Here is my grand trunk double with the GI poncho over the hammock. The poncho was short a little more than a foot on both sides. I now use the poncho for my floor mat under the hammock.

1001308m.jpg


As you can see it doesn't cover the whole hammock, I didn't try it on a diamond pattern.

Here is the BCUSA store tarp over the same hammock.

1001510.jpg


Here is the BCUSA store tarp over the same hammock with a diamond pattern.

1001404b.jpg
 
I've used the military poncho on a M1966 army hammock. The Mil hammock has 2 toggles on shock cord that are made for the grommets on the mil poncho. You need to tie out the corners and when in Panama, sling the hammock as high as you can and still get into it. I learned night one, that the rain in the rainforest splashes up into the hammock and on the underside of the poncho if you don't sling it high! Good army training :)

I will say that both are on the short side for someone over 6' and that M1966 hammock is too narrow also.
 
greyhound352 said:
Here is my grand trunk double with the GI poncho over the hammock. The poncho was short a little more than a foot on both sides. I now use the poncho for my floor mat under the hammock.

1001308m.jpg


As you can see it doesn't cover the whole hammock, I didn't try it on a diamond pattern.

Here is the BCUSA store tarp over the same hammock.

1001510.jpg


Here is the BCUSA store tarp over the same hammock with a diamond pattern.

1001404b.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks Greyhound. The poncho was definitely tiny. In the diamond pattern it did cover all of my body but not the hammock. It got the job done tho.

I'll have a bcusa tarp this week, I'm so excited to finally have a proper tarp.
 
I've used my swedish or swiss(not sure which) issue poncho over my hammock. It worked fine, though a bit short, luckily it didn't rain much.
 
Clarence Davidson said:
I don't sleep in a fancy hammock. I just use an inexpensive large fishnet hammock. I've slept many nights in the rain using nothing more than a GI poncho as cover. It's always worked for me. I do sometimes use a camo sylnylon tarp, which is only a little larger than a GI poncho. You may be able to find on-line info on the Army issue Viet Nam hammock, a flat sheet of nylon, which was rigged under a poncho when cover was needed.
Click to expand...

You must live in the only county in the state that doesn't have thunderstorms.

I've tried the net style hammock/poncho combination for years. and every time i ended up going to the tent with the kids when a storm popped up during the night. The GI poncho just doesn't cut it for hammock camping.


Get you a henessey or a war bonnet and you'll be amazed at what you've been missing out on.
 
if a hammock is short enough, the roughly 5 x 7 poncho will cover it... most of them seem to be about 11' long though. i've spent many nights in a pouring rain under the stock hennessy tarp, which is deemed impossible by many. if CD's hammock is short enough, the poncho would work. but it's just a little too close for my own comfort.

it's also possible that with a fishnet hammock, the rain doesn't pool in the bottom, but drips right on though. i'd find that irritating, myself.
 
In my personal experience it all comes down to the wind. A poncho is fine for shade or a steady rain with very little wind. But a KS spring thunderstorm ....no way.

And the main reason I didn't like the mesh type hammock(besides comfort) was that it grabs the belt loops when you try to move around. But it was super cool in hot weather though.
 
I dont use a poncho period. Ive tried them in the past, but im 6'3" and its not long enough to cover me. I use a 10x10 tarp when i use my hammock.
 
I use one on the diagonal when I go hammock camping. I need a bit bigger tarp but I am married with a kid on the way, money is a bit tight. It held up under a light rain and wind.
 
If you use a GI poncho you need to use it on the diagnal to make it longer. It is long enough but comes up a little shot on one side if I remember correctly.
 
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