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Dryad Saddles

A really cool-to-have feature would be 2 or 3 tight molle loops on the back of the deployed hammock here on this strip. For the guys that do ascend in a deployed hammock they could clip their platform to it, a stick, etc.
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Dane, this is a great idea!!!
 
Just watched a 40 minute video on this saddle, and it’s going to be very difficult to convince myself I don’t need one.

I keep picturing myself taking a nice nap before daylight and early afternoon on an all day hunt…


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Exactly, my main climbing method is SRT with various presets where I hunt, and then come rut I like to be more mobile to hunt over sign and this year I will be using one stick for that.

The main problem with srt/one stick with the hammock deployed already is:
1/ I have to transfer my main bridge and hammock bridge from Belay device over to my actual tether when I get to height. I’d rather not have to deal with this transfer at height. I suppose I could pack an additional LB to do this but it’s just one more piece of gear I need to bring.
2/ breaking the prusiks after load can be tedious and if I can streamline a way to avoid that I will.

So what I am doing for now is climbing in just the harness with the short bridge pictured below. Then when I get to height I can deploy the hammock and clip into the tether just like you would with standard sticks.

So if I could get some extra cushion to make the climb a little more comfortable in the harness I would be right in the $$$.

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Dario, forgive my ignorance as I am brand new at this. I only one stick’d and SRT’d 1 time. Is there any reason you can’t just hook the carabiner from the ascending device straight to the belt loop without a bridge at all?
 
I think you could probably do that but there could be some metal on metal noise when there is slack in the system. I stealth stripped the quick link in my picture in that spot on my short bridge. If you stealth strip a carabiner in that spot it could interfere with rotating your hips in the saddle easily. You want that portion of your carabiner as frictionless as possible for the bridge to move freely. I haven’t tried it but it may also be a little crammed having the safeguard that close to the belt but not sure. Something to definitely look into.

So for now I am planning on using the drey combined with the mission platform for all day rut sits. I have it sitting on a beat up phantom with the retrofit kit. I am replacing the utilibridge on the saddle with a longer one this way I can let my hammock bridge hold me up and have my longer utilibridge just barely tensioned, but still clipped in for backup since you don’t want to run the hammock by itself.

Kind of unrelated but the underquilt may be necessary to use this saddle in cold temps since you will be compressing your insulation on your back and legs. I learned that lesson the hard way the first time I hammock camped with a sleeping bag and no underquilt on a mountain biking trip.
 
Dario, you're spot on about cold temps. Compression of clothing means loss of air trapping which allows body heat to escape. The idea with the underquilt is to create that pocket of air beneath you that gets lost when your clothing gets compressed. Also comes with the added benefit of cutting wind around your whole upper body which is pretty major in my opinion/experience.
 
I figured I’d mention it here since @colic touched on onesticking with the drey previously. @JoyRyd i know you expanded on what you thought was going to be an issue…..


I wrote this in another thread. I’ll bring it here for further discussion. Thank you @Bigterp

The lineman's loop access is not an issue while one-sticking. When moving the tether around a limb, or up the tree,....there is no load on the saddle! At which time the lineman's loops are easily accessible and fully functional.
 
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I was curious about the drey for a few months now and after reading through these post and seeing how genuinely interested the owner/creator was about providing a high quality product I decided to purchase the retro fit kit to put on my h2 saddle and give it a try. I predominantly one stick and figured the retrofit kit allowed me to keep my usual set up for one sticking while adding the comfort of the hammock. I just recieved the drey this week and I havent hunted with it yet but I've tested it out several times in the woods close to my house. I have plenty of room in the pouch for my tether / rappel line and could throw in a few other things if I needed too. I keep the majority of my gear in my pack to keep the saddle light but I have my linemans rope attached with a fishermans knot to the linemans loop and use a web dominator to hold the rope and carabiner to the saddle for quick / easy access. So far I can't say enough about how well designed and comfortable the retrofit system is. The only mod I can think of so far is to maybe replace the regular g hooks with the g hooks that latitude sells which have the retainer. It's most likely overkill but im a fan of redundancy. Speaking of redundancy a bonus feature of this system I really like is that I have a back up bridge when I clip in the hammock at hunting height. This weekend I'll take it out and see how things go with a full 3-4 hour sit but im pretty confident im really going to like this set up.
 
After some testing at home I decided to move the retrofit drey hammock to my latitude saddle because the bridge was a bit longer and easier to adjust. I have some lower back problems from a prior injury so I was shooting for a 3 hour min sit and ended up sitting 5 hours with no problem it was so comfortable. I really liked having it on a saddle I was already used to and the added security / piece of mind I got from having the secondary bridge. You dont need to practice with it but it does help cut down the fiddle factor as there is a certain way to pack it that helps make it easy to deploy in the dark. This thing is so light and so comfortable that I dont see myself saddle hunting without it ever again. Even if I didnt use it the added weight is so minimal that its worth always having it. I could not be happier with the build and design of the retrofit kit.

in terms of mods I ordered the latitude g hooks with a retainer to be 100% sure it wont come off, I had no problems with the current set up but just want the piece of mind. I also retied the prussics on the top to be about 4 inches shorter as im not a big guy (5'9 /145) and the stock set up was a bit too long. The only other thing I might do is have some ghillie leaf material sewn on the outside of the hammock to function like my ghillie jacket when its deployed.
 
Here are some pucs of the retrofit drey on my latitude method 2 panel saddle
 

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I finally made a dedicated kite/drey combo. I made a few wraps of vet wrap over the ghooks. I got setup a bit early this morning & took a 40min nap until showtime. A couple observations, this is my second one (we gave the original away as a raffle at the meetup ) this is the multicam one I don’t have any issues with noise on stand. this one fits better (is longer thanks @colic ) looking forward to a bit colder temps to try out this under quilt. Overall I find if it’s all the way to my knees it’s less comfortable, I just fold that section back on itself & it makes a great seat. I basically use it as a giant backband that’s attached to my saddle. Looking forward to some more sits. Shot a doe this am, she was pretty keyed up at 25yds this system was as smooth as my others, great addition!
 
Here are some pucs of the retrofit drey on my latitude method 2 panel saddle
How was this for comfort on a 2 panel? I have a method as well and am debating whether to get the complete kit or retro adding it to this saddle but it seems like the bulk isn’t worth the reward when using a 2 panel.
 
I have some lower back issues so the extra back support from the 2 panel really comfortable for me with the drey retrofit. Ive done 6 sits so far between 3-5 hours each with this set up and had no back pain or discomfort at all. I also find that it helps me stay very still for the full sit once I get set, I had a tendency to move around a bit without the drey. My favorite position is to sit with one arm inside and my bow arm outside, seems to be the most comfortable but still able to grab my bow when I need to easily.
 
I finally made a dedicated kite/drey combo. I made a few wraps of vet wrap over the ghooks. I got setup a bit early this morning & took a 40min nap until showtime. A couple observations, this is my second one (we gave the original away as a raffle at the meetup ) this is the multicam one I don’t have any issues with noise on stand. this one fits better (is longer thanks @colic ) looking forward to a bit colder temps to try out this under quilt. Overall I find if it’s all the way to my knees it’s less comfortable, I just fold that section back on itself & it makes a great seat. I basically use it as a giant backband that’s attached to my saddle. Looking forward to some more sits. Shot a doe this am, she was pretty keyed up at 25yds this system was as smooth as my others, great addition!

So how did the retro fit work in conjunction with a full saddle setup? Did the Dryad squeezed the original saddle into you and cause any comfort? My worries is the Retro fit pushing the hard molle loops on my Recon to my hip and causing discomfort.
 
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