Rapid Hammocks Kickstarter

[WV]

Agreed. We frequently get new members who have been hanging for years and are amazed that they never heard of HF. This may seem universal, but it's not the universe. I wonder how many research opportunities we overlook because we assume all the information is here.

[brino]

I agree this sort of thing is not cool... they are perpetuating misconceptions about hammocking. Personally I had to figure all this stuff out on my own. Only to find hammockforums.net afterwords ... and confirm all of my suspicions. But a "high end" hammock should be able to avoid such things. Just a little bit more research would have paid off.

[gtstricky]

I sent them a link to this thread so maybe they will come in embrace the community.

[GoatHanger]

I remember doing a facepalm when I learned that laying diagonally was how to lay flat in a hammock.

Maybe they only researched ENO ads. Hopefully they figure it out soon, they'll be much more comfortable.

[SilvrSurfr]

Packing wet suspension with dry hammock also doesn't appeal to me, but the permanently attached suspension seems to be the "rapid" part of the rapid hammock.

[gunner76]

there is always more to learn

all to true. I consider my self an advance beginner at hammock hanging as I am always learning something new.

[gtstricky]

Here is the email response I received:

I am happy to see that the Hammock Forums community is discussing my project.

I do not intend to be contributing to the forum at this time. However, if you would like to post my response, please feel free to do so.

I am familiar with the forum, and in the past have used set ups that I am sure many of the members are using today.

I originally designed the Rapid Hammock to be used by myself and my family. The Whoopies and tree straps I was using previously were just too complicated for them to figure out.

I guide youth wilderness trips in my spare time, and realized that hammocks were inspiring them to spend more time outdoors. Since then I realized that I wanted to design the hammock to be a tool to get more people introduced to spending time outdoors. It is by no means a replacement to custom setups, nor is it the hammock choice for everyone. It is a hammock that is fast, simple, easy to carry, and adjustable.

For the suspension I decided to use cinch buckles, not revolutionary to the hammock world, but a simple and adjustable solution. Instead of carabineer or looped ends, I integrated additional cinch buckles to the straps to be used when wrapping around trees. This proved to be very beneficial when hanging in urban environments, from overhead supports and other fixtures.

When designing the Stuff Sack, I went through many prototypes trying to figure out how to efficiently store the straps and hammock together. Some simple designs, some complicated designs, some with stretchable spandex pouches. At the suggestion of a close friend I made a dual compartment stuff sack with openings at either end, after the first prototype we realized that this was the winner. But I really wanted to make it more transportable, so I decided to add a shoulder strap, which I quickly realized I could design to double as a compression tool.

We do have some designs for accessories such as bug and weather protection. But we are waiting to see how the product performs post Kickstarter.
Our marketing campaign was designed to sell hammocks to people who were not necessarily using them before. We hoped that the video would inspire people to want to go out and hammock. We used models that spent the entire shoot hiking with and hanging in our hammocks. We did not give them any guidance on how to lie in, or use the hammock. We let them come to it naturally, the way most of our customers would.
I hope this communication has answered some of the questions that the forum has.

Hopefully when things calm down, and I'm not running a Kickstarter campaign, 3 jobs and a family, I will have a little more time to participate in the forum and hammock community.

Thank you very much,
Erik Pancy

[SilvrSurfr]

"We did not give them any guidance on how to lie in, or use the hammock." Like I said, making hammocks for people who know absolutely nothing about hammocks.

[gtstricky]

I would let some models hang in my hammock any way they want also. My wife would then quickly come over and tell them they were in it wrong and to get out of her husband's hammock.

There are 33,000 members on here and most of us probably own more than one hammock.

Just looked up a quick stat: in 2012 there were 13 million college students under the age of 25. (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372)

I also would hire cute young models and make them look like they were having a great time in the wilderness sitting in their hammock.

[SilvrSurfr]

I also would hire cute young models and make them look like they were having a great time in the wilderness sitting in their hammock.

Looks like they also hired a drone-mounted camera for their video - I thought that was very cool.