portaledge

Anyone employ a portaledge in their tree camping endeavors? I can imagine instances where a portaledge would be nice to have.

You could deploy a portaledge in many places where a treeboat wouldn't work. For example hanging right off the trunk. Or directly off of a branch.

Some of the downsides include, they cost about 3 times as much as a treeboat. They seem to all be in bright colors versus a greens or browns.

coonrad

The Fish Econoledge is often mentioned as a low cost portaledge option:
Fish portaledges

One the reason the Econoledge is so "low" in price or the other portaledges seem so expensive is that portaledges typically include a rainfly in the total package (among other additional features). The Econoledge does not. As they say in the product description, without the rainfly you'll probably die of exposure in an overnight rainstorm unless you're in a bivy sac.

Once you add accessories like a rain fly (or tent) and mosquito netting to the Treeboat the prices are similar to the portaledge packages. It comes down to which you like to use. Treeboats weigh much less and pack smaller since there is no frame structure. Portaledges offer more possibilities for attaching to the tree.

The Fish ledges feature fabric that drains water through. Hmm...maye a few drainage grommets would be good on a Treeboat.
-moss

the time i long for a few portaledges is when i have 5 or 6 tree boats to set up. But they are so much money. shame new tribe do not do a double tree boat.

lizardman said: shame new tribe do not do a double tree boat

They don't make one because there isn't a market for it. 2 people laying side by side in the same boat wouldn't/doesn't work in any comfortable way. Both people come right to the middle. (I'm not addressing any other configuration you might want in a treeboat.) There is a bunch of discussion about this on the listserv that is associated with hammockcamping.com .

If you look into double portaledges, even with their rigid frames and tighter surfaces than a treeboat, climbers still tend to roll to the middle. That's why most double ledges have vertical fabric panels in the middle of the bed. It helps keep the bed tensioned, and, as one website puts it: "Helps keep your fruity smelling buddy off ya."

Patrick

some of my customers would not mind rolling together in the middle of the hammock, although this can be minimized if the hammock is set up so it is as flat as possible.

I've got a single PL with a fly. The fly is made from heavy nylon and is yellow, red and blue. Besides being heavy it is too obvious.

Eureka makes a decent single wall tent called Zeus or Zeos that fits onto my deck. The one that I have is made with the door in the end. The 2006 models have a side door which could be a problem for a PL.

PLs come up for sale on eBay and similar sites. You might contact Fish to see if they have seconds or used ones too.

I would not recommend buying any climbing gear from eBay or from anyone over the internet. I have a friend who bought a "new" climbing saddle on ebay, after 3 climbs, the stiching started to come undone. Thankfully he always checks his gear before climbing.
Stay away from used, second hand or auctioned gear, your life is more valuable than the $$ you save.

Buying a used PL from Fish would not be an issue. The company has high standards.

The issue of buying used life-dependent gear will be discussed perpetually. A while ago someone pointed out to me that we all have purchased much more complicated gear that we trust our lives too. by educating ourselves and inspecting the gear we survive, or have the best chance of surviving. How many of us have bought used cars and flown on used airplanes?

I flew on a used airplane once. I was wayyyy nervous. It was totally safe, though. The pilot told me so...

You should be tied in to a separate tie in point when you're in a hammock, PL, or any other in-air lodging. If the PL just blew apart, you'd be fine.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new PL or tree boat, or anything like that.

love
nick