3 Attachment(s)
Thoughts on suspending "The Incubator"
Thank you for your field report Fulminated. I must say that camo was looking good out there with all of those leaves! I am going to address a couple of things I noticed in the photos of your setup.
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First, let me say that this quilt is huge. It's gianormous and thick, but still light. The size plays a slight disadvantage for my setup, I think, because the quilt is butted up against the shelf of the blackbird, which causes the quilt to not come all the way up, leaves a gap between the hammock and the UQ and leaves the footbox of the hammock partially uncovered. I also noticed that the UQ shifts from side to side a bit, and I believe that this can also be attributed to the shelf getting in the way.
This full length under quilt was built to be shaped like the bottom of a standard gathered end hammock. So, by design, it wants to follow those long curves from end to end. It is not built asymetrically. However, this does not mean that it can not conform to someone who lays in their hammock in an asymetrical position (which the majority of us like to do).
Now, enter the footbox design of the Blackbird which many of us (including myself) have come to know and love. While it allows us to get even flatter, it presents a little more of a challenge to the full length under quilt user. That footbox design falls outside of the traditional lines of the gathered end hammock. So, even though it is just a small protrusion, it can have the affect of pulling the insulation away from the under side of the hammock in that area. Luckily, these are things easily overcome.
There are tie outs on the Incubator that allow the user to attach the quilt to a variety of anchors to alleviate these gaps. The ridge line and hammock suspension line can be used effectively to pull the quilt close to the footbox. There is some fiddle factor here but once it is addressed it is no longer an issue. Also, the foot box slipping out of the quilt would no longer be a problem.
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My solution, so far, is to lace some light shock cord through the tabs on the foot end of the quilt, over the top of the blackbird bug netting and ridge line and use a cord lock to tighten it up around the footbox and hold the quilt in place on the foot end. The shelf, I tucked into the space between the hammock and the UQ.
Awesome! Looks like you are heading in the right direction. In the future I will send specific directions for anchoring the Incubator to the footbox of a BlackBird user. I will also probably make a video..:D
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I should also note that the quilt appears to have a head-end and foot-end.
Nope, it is symetricallly tapered at both ends. There is not a seperate head or foot end.
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...I'm almost convinced that, with an open top-loading hammock, the right person could turn this thing into a semi-pea-pod.
It is definitely not as wide as the peapod but it does have tabs similar to the Snugfit which can be laced to bring it in around the user that much closer.
Another thing I should note on Fulminated's setup. I have to admit that when his was sent out, there was an error in quality control...:scared:. His end channel shock cord was not installed. I sent him all of the materials (and a little extra) to put it together but should have included instructions. We here at "ThePerfectTrees" are getting some things ironed out...:rolleyes:. Anyway, it appears as though the ends are cinched up incorrectly. if you compare you third picture with the one of me on the northern hang, you can see the how the end of your channel is not hugging the hammock due to the way the end channels were drawn together. I have attached the two pictures for comparison.
Thanks again for posting your report.
Stormcrow