What do I need to consider before hanging my hammock?

Setting up a tree tent or hammock isn’t as hard as you might at first expect; with all tents, it takes time to get to grips with how to perfect their set-up and a Tentsile is no different. It all starts with finding the right trees.

In this guide we’ll look at where the best locations are for tree tent and hammock

camping, and what you need to look out for to make sure you choose a site where you will feel safe and secure. One of the best things about elevated camping is that it causes minimal disruption to the environment, suspending you over the ground so you don’t disturb flora and fauna below, leaving less of a footprint. Even with that in mind, always do your research and make sure you’re wild camping in permitted areas, which are not restricted due to presence of protected species of plants, insects or wildlife.  In this guide:

1. What do I need to consider before hanging my hammock?

2. Choosing trees

3. Protecting trees

4. Aligning a Tentsile Tree Tent or 3 point Hammock.

What do I need to consider before hanging my

hammock?

Anchor points. The type of hammock you have will inform where you set up and how many anchor points you’ll need to suspend your tent. You’ll need two or three sturdy trees or columns to attach to – more on how to select strong healthy trees later!

Weather

Think about whether you want to be in the sun or in the shade or if you need to create your own shade with a tarp or any other covering set up over the hammock. Is it likely to rain? In this case you will want to set up a rainfly or tarp to keep you dry. Fortunately, fully waterproof rainflies come provided as standard with Tentsile Tree Tents!

Location

Don’t hang your shelter too close to water. As tempting as it may be for the relaxing sounds or picturesque views, remember that most bodies of water attract bugs and mosquitos, and may come with the risk of flooding. Leave No Trace principles also state that you should camp no closer to a water source of any kind than 75 metres / 200 ft as it is easy to disrupt or pollute the delicate ecology, flora and fauna around water.

When you are wild camping, make sure you have your bearings and always check

before you go that you are permitted to camp in the area. Take note of the ground

beneath you. Soft grass is ideal but, unlike ground tent camping, you don’t need to worry if it’s not flat.

Finding Trees!

We’re often asked whether you need ‘three perfect trees’ to pitch a Tentsile, meaning ‘do they have to be in a perfect triangle?’ The answer is, no they don’t!

What you do need however is healthy trees to anchor your tent:

1. Make sure that the trees you intend to anchor to are healthy and strong. Visual

signs on this are easy to spot. No leaves? Usually, this would indicate a dead

tree—do not use! Also, signs of decay, including fungus and mushrooms growing

from the trunk, are a clear sign of rotting wood and should be avoided. If in doubt,

choose another tree.

2. Ground conditions are also important. A healthy tree may not always be rooted in firm ground. Make sure your trees are fully rooted in good, solid ground, and that the tree is strong enough to take the load.

3. We recommend that the tree trunk should be no less than 15” / 40cm in

diameter—this is a good, strong, mature tree.

To help you visually assess trees for a hammock camp, we’ve put together this guide of what to look for, what to avoid and how to know your trees are going to be a safe choice for your set-up. Click here to see the Visual Tree Assessment and Anchor Selection

Guide. 

For a traditional hammock, the same assessment applies - the trees will need to be approximately 15ft apart. For multiple occupancy Tree Tents and hammocks the trees will need to be able to take a greater load.

In order to protect the trees as much as possible, ALWAYS use protector straps

/ wraps which will protect the bark from the abrasive ropes. Where possible, opt

for straps instead of ropes. Every Tentsile comes with wide fabric protector

wraps.

Alignment. The alignment of your three straps is key for a good night’s sleep - the closer you are to

getting the under-floor straps (aka anti-roll straps) and your orange ratchet straps on your Tentsile to line up perfectly, the tighter the tent or hammock will be and the better it will feel.

To help you achieve the best set-up you have two options:

1. You can download the ‘Tentsile Triangulator’ App for iOS or Android which has

been developed by a genius Tentsile owner. We’ve been out and tested the app

ourselves, which works brilliantly at providing you measurements for how long

each strap should be to provide the perfect pitch.

It’s really easy to use too. All you have to do is select the model or tree tent or hammock you’re pitching, provide the distances between your trees and input these into the app.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to take a measuring tape out into the forest with you, I used my stride to provide me with an approximate metre measurement.

Once you’ve inputted these measurements, the app will tell you how long each strap needs to be from the tree to your tree tent or hammock. Follow these measurements (and again, the don’t need to be absolutely precise) and use your sight line tags to check you have the right angles and you’ll get an almost perfect set-up!

2. The other way is to lay out your tree tent or hammock between the trees you

have selected as shown in our set-up videos. Once you have each corner

pointing in the direction of the corresponding tree you can attach the ratchets and straps to the trees at your desired height and then ratchet the tree tent or

hammock so it becomes suspended off the ground.

Once you’ve got some good tension you can check your sight-line tags to inspect

whether you’ve got the right angles. If not, all you need to do is either pull more tension though one or two corners, depending on what your sight line tag is telling you, or take out some tension and play with the length of each strap depending on where your sight line tag is pointing.

Follow all of these tips to make sure you have a comfortable and safe camping

experience, with minimal disruption to the environment you are sheltering in. Have a great trip!