Multiple material hammock

**WVassello** · 04-25-2010, 18:44

This idea comes from being new to the construction of diy hammocks and a bit prone to overkill.
I made my first gathered end hammock with the Walmart digital camo. Plenty strong enough in single layer, but I felt compelled to put a second layer down the middle about half the width.
So that got me to thinking... Could you run a second layer of thicker material down the middle of say a 1.1 sil hammock? It may just solve the stretch issues. Not add all that much additional weight. And maybe help everyone get a better nights sleep in an UL hammock.

Crazy or Not?

**tomsawyer222** · 04-25-2010, 20:22

yeah its not a bad idea keep thinking out there

the only problem i see is it might add a ridge that you could feel thru the hammock

**tomsawyer222** · 04-26-2010, 20:54

how wide are you thinking to make it?

**WVassello** · 04-27-2010, 12:09

I made my first one around 24" wide. It's purpose is just to provide the support to center of the hammock. Even if you are an angle sleeper, your greatest load is still in the middle. So this should really only serve to keep your lower back/butt a bit more flat.
I picked up some real thin treated ripstop from the dollar bin. (don't think I found the mythical walmart sil) And I still have some of the digital camo material from the first hammock. So I just plan on trying it, and reporting back.
My hope is that it gives me a couple of things.... Support, a place to grab and pull myself up, layer for insulation/padding, and (maybe if I am clever) a couple of pockets for handy gear.

**WVassello** · 05-02-2010, 09:00

Built the multi-material hammock on Sat. As tomsawyer222 suspected, it created a ridge in the middle of the hammock and was a little uncomfortable. The big culprit on this one is my poor planning I think. I used two fresh materials with different amounts of stretch without accounting for that in my design. I should have either pre-stretched the material (not sure how exactly) or made the stretchier material a bit shorter.
I still like the concept. I may work a little more on it today.

WV · 05-02-2010, 11:23

Could you tell which way the material was stretching? I've heard that the problem with stretchy 1.1 oz. nylon hammocks is shoulder squeeze, but I'm not sure if that's caused by longitudinal or transverse stretching (or the usual suspect - stretch on the bias). I tried to solve a bias stretch problem with a loose weave kevlar fabric (for a stove table, not a hammock) by sandwiching two layers at 45° to each other. It sort of worked ... somewhat.