we are looking to make a couple bridge hammocks. one for me and one for each of my two kids (age 9 and 6). i am generally following grizzlyadams and his stuff on youtube. it seems like there has been some evolution in his designs over the years. i'm mostly interested in the design in the video "conting the grams". mainly i'm looking at that design because i like the spreader bars being in further for a couple of reason: 1. the comfort factor grizz mentioned, 2. it makes the overall minimum hang distance lower, 3. it is going to be easier for the kids to "grow into". i'm gonna make the ones for the kids full sized (or at least bigger than they need). with the spreader bars pulled in a bit, it will give them a guide for getting into the middle of the hammock but will also allow them room to grow.
anyway, i have a couple questions before i get started:
1. does a bridge hammock need a structural ridge line? it seems there is one mentioned in the write up grizz did on here, but i don't see one in the "counting the grams" video. are they necessary and if so, what do they do for a bridge hammock?
2. the hammock in "counting the grams" had 48" material and 36" spreader bars... as i understand, the closer those two numbers, the more tippy the thing will be (we have a flat rope hammock in our back yard that is a head injury waiting to happen). i definitely don't want a tippy hammock for the kids who toss and turn all night while sleeping.
3. the suspension triangle affects the tippyness too as i understand it. it also affects compression on the spreader bar and affects minimum hang distance. if i work for an angle of 50 - 60 degrees, that should be a fairly stable bridge, right?
4. i want to allow one of these to be setup as a tent (or a bivy sack -- see this thread: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...son-tent-combo)... for this, i'm thinking of putting a small aluminum piece on the ridgeline similar to the one for the spreader bars then connect the ridge line to the suspension with a buried loop over a diamond knot. then when in tent mode, the suspension triangle, etc just sits idle on the ground (rolled up) and the ridge line is by itself with guy lines. does this seem like it would work? what kind of pressure (other than the weight of the tarp and the bugnet) is on the ridge line?.
5. i was planning on making the side suspension out of amsteel so i need a channel just like the ariel grizz bridge and the one in the "counting the grams". in the ariel, he used an extra strip of the same material to create a type of bias tape and made the channel out of that. in the "counting the grams" he used 1.9 silnylon as the extra reinforcement for the channel and did some folding. in the comments of the ariel video, someone said the bias tape approach wouldn't work if one didn't seal the edge of the hammock body from fraying. would a rolled hem on the hammock body before sewing in the bias tape do the trick or do i need a hot knife as he has.
6. with bridge hammocks do you still shoot for a 30 degree angle off the tree like in other hammocks or do you hang them flatter?
thanks all for the help.
john
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