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  1. #1
    Senior Member nwmanitou's Avatar
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    Unhappy The Bear Taco is Dead, may it rest in pieces.

    So, we took our scouts out on a last moment camp this weekend. I won't go into the details, but though we intended to camp up in the mountains, we ended up in the desert. Anyways, there weren't many options for hanging a hammock. The juniper in the area are fairly small. I did manage to find a pair that I thought would work, and they did for a few hours. Just after I had started to drift off to sleep I felt something poke my hip. The trees had slowly bent enough for me to touch the ground. Now the rocks in this area are as sharp as broken glass. Something about the way they erode leaves the surface of the stones covered in razor sharp spines and ridges. I immediately began to fear that the rock now pressing into my right cheek was going to abrade through my hammock and ground pad. I carefully exited my hammock to discover that indeed it had abraded a 5 inch hole in the outer layer of my hammock. Now frustrated I kicked the rock out of the way and figured that the hammock should hold the rest of the night and that I could patch it up at home. I raised and tightened the hammock suspension and climbed back in. All seemed well. However, just as I was drifting off to sleep again my hammock split from edge to edge with a pop that sounded like a gunshot and birthed me out on the hill.


    I spent the rest of the night under a juniper tree where the duff was thick enough to cover all the rocks and thorns.


    Time to order new and heavier fabric for the Bear Taco v2.0. One nice thing about making my own hammock is that at least it wasn't a $350 clark jungle hammock. These rocks would eventually wear through cordura let alone most hammock fabrics.

    My buddy, and fellow scout master, slept comfortably in his home made mesh hammock. He didn't miss the opportunity to rub it in.


    sorry for the crappy photos, all we had was a cell phone camera.

  2. #2
    Member jbehun's Avatar
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    Sorry to hear of your loss

  3. #3
    swampfox's Avatar
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    Not a thing wrong with the pics. They sure tell the story.
    Wish it could have had a better ending though.
    He is your friend, your companion, your defender... he is your dog. You are his life, his leader, and master. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of that devotion.

  4. #4
    New Member bowguy's Avatar
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    ...birthed, what a vision!
    sorry about the hammock.
    ...still tryin to look like a 300# leaf...

    primitive michigan website...
    http://www.webjam.com/primitivemichigan

  5. #5
    Senior Member RTR's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bowguy View Post
    ...birthed, what a vision!
    +1 Yes perfect word choice after seeing the pic. All joking aside sorry about your lose, hope the 2.0 Ver brings many comfy nights.

  6. #6
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Bummer, I hope this wasn't your 1st hammock night, and I hope you didn't hit the ground to hard! I'm sure that there is no fabric tough enough to overcome those sharp rocks. You just need some trees thick enough to keep you in the air.

  7. #7
    Senior Member gargoyle's Avatar
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    I thought it was a mod...into a porta-potty hammock.
    Ambulo tua ambulo.

  8. #8
    Senior Member nwmanitou's Avatar
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    I tell everyone it is the emergency escape function of my hammock. It didn't hurt too much when I dropped as I was only an couple inches from the ground. I'm just glad my pad wasn't punctured. Good thing I kicked that rock out of the way before climbing back into the hammock.

    Sigh, that hammock lasted nearly a year and has been on nearly a dozen trips. I just made it too light, 1.1 oz ripstop.

    The next hammock will be 1.9 oz DWR ripstop, possibly double layered with a 1.1 oz inside layer for sliding in a pad. I'm also going to be converting to a whoopie sling suspension. I have the amsteel on my desk.

    I am also curious about a mesh hammock. Perhaps made from super thin amsteel like rope. And what about a ripstop liner sewn to the edges of the mesh hammock? It would cut down on buttons and such snagging the lines.

  9. #9
    Senior Member sclittlefield's Avatar
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    +1 for using Pads... nice to at least have the backup.
    DIY Gear Supply - Your source for DIY outdoor gear.

  10. #10
    Senior Member thorwren's Avatar
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    I am so sorry for your loss, but you gave me the best laugh of the week! Great pic

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