30° Comfort Angle Calculator
Starting from a blank campsite: enter your tree distance and ridgeline length, and get the strap height that delivers the classic 30-degree hang.
Attach your straps at
Plan the hang before you climb the tree
Most hammock-hanging advice describes the 30-degree angle in the abstract, leaving you to eyeball the strap height and hope. This calculator works the geometry forward instead: you sit in the middle of the span, so a 30-degree line from each strap to your seat drops tan(30°) times half the tree distance. Added to your desired seat height, that gives a concrete number in feet — something you can measure against the trunk before you tie anything off. It is the same model as Derek Hansen’s Hammock Hang Calculator (The Ultimate Hang); heights are rounded up, toward a slightly steeper, lighter hang. Your ridgeline then sets how long each side’s suspension must be.
It shares its underlying geometry with the Hang & Sag and Tree-Friendly Spacing calculators; together the three cover planning a hang from any starting point — known trees, known straps, or nothing yet picked at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from the Hang & Sag calculator?
The Hang & Sag calculator is diagnostic — you tell it the strap height you've already used, and it tells you what angle you ended up with. This one is prescriptive — you tell it your target angle (30° by default) and it tells you where to put the strap in the first place, before you've hung anything.
Why 30 degrees specifically?
It's the angle most commonly cited across the hammock-camping community as the balance point: flat enough to lie fairly flat rather than folded into a cocoon, but steep enough that each strap carries about your total weight rather than a multiple of it (1.47 times at 20 degrees, 1.94 times at 15, rounded up; see the Strap Load calculator).
Can I target a different angle than 30 degrees?
Yes, between 20° and 45°. A steeper angle (a bit over 30°) gives a deeper sag with more fabric wrap and a lower load on each strap; a flatter one (a bit under 30°) gives a tauter lie and a higher load, which the result shows as a multiple of your weight. Targets flatter than 20° are refused. Whatever the angle, the manufacturer's rated capacity for your hammock, straps and hardware is the authority.
General guidance only, not a safety rating. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions and rated capacity, hang low and never over water or a drop, and check the trees and the branches above you before you get in.