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  1. #1
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    kids and hammocks

    Does anyone else here backpack with kids and use hammocks? I need some advice. I have 4 small kids and I want to switch everyone over to hammocks. The only way that I can make this even feasible, with the weight, is to make my kids share hammocks. I need to be able to put all 4 of them under the same tarp and in the same bug netting. Does anyone have any ways of rigging hammocks so that they can be shared?

    I was thinking of hanging two hammocks from the same two trees. I know that this would make them lay quite close to each other but I'm not really worried about that. I could then hang a ridgeline above and loop a line over the ridgeline and under the hammocks and lift up the center of the hammocks a bit. This would effectively make 4 distinct areas where I could put a kid. The loop over the ridgeline would prevent the kids in the same hammock from sliding down into each other during the night. My ENO bugnet and tarp would go over the top and I'd have 4 people with very little weight and only two trees. Does anyone think that this would work?

    Has anyone tried any other unusual solutions?

  2. #2
    Senior Member Gnome77's Avatar
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    Can't help you with Ideas. But my 4yr old go hiking with me and we plan on sharing one of Brandons Blackbirds. Figure it should lay flat enough and support the weight. My boy sleeps best right on top of me but I should be able to get him kinda to one side. We've had four of us in my net hammock. Seems like kids together should work.

  3. #3
    Senior Member gargoyle's Avatar
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    Bunk bed style, hang one hammock above the other. Getting all four under one tarp may be a difficult chore...But a few folks have done two hammocks under one tarp. If you did the bunk bed thing, it may work.?
    Big tarp. 10x12.
    Ambulo tua ambulo.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by gargoyle View Post
    Bunk bed style, hang one hammock above the other. Getting all four under one tarp may be a difficult chore...But a few folks have done two hammocks under one tarp. If you did the bunk bed thing, it may work.?
    Big tarp. 10x12.
    I love it! The picture that you sent was great, too.

  5. #5
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    TruGracie poseted pics of how he hung two kids side by side from two fairly large trees at Hot Springs. He shared one of those trees and hung his other end from a third tree, so they all three were under one tarp. There are ways to share a tarp.

    Shared bugnetting may be more of a challenge.
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  6. #6
    Senior Member pgibson's Avatar
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    How young of kids? Last year my then 5 year old demanded he have his own hammock and his own tarp. He hung about 3-5 feet away from me with me under my tarp and he loved it, slept better than I did.
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by pgibson View Post
    How young of kids? Last year my then 5 year old demanded he have his own hammock and his own tarp. He hung about 3-5 feet away from me with me under my tarp and he loved it, slept better than I did.
    10, 8, 5, 3. 3 to 5 feet away from you under your tarp? What size is your tarp?

  8. #8
    Senior Member Just Jeff's Avatar
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    I think running a loop under the hammock like you're talking about will make the kids uncomfortable. Just get them their own hammocks...DIY is pretty easy.

    Your 10 and 8 y/o might be too big to share the same hammock, but it's possible if you do 10/3 and 8/5. I had my two kids in the same hammock when they were 8/4 and it worked out ok for one night...but I think they'd be grumpy if they had to do it several nights in a row, or if it was hot when they did it.

    It's pretty easy to hang two hammocks off the same two trees...I always do this when I hang with my 10 y/o. If you do two on top and two on bottom, bunk bed style, you can probably get them under the same tarp.

    If you camp with another adult, hang yourself and two kids under one tarp, then everyone else under the other tarp. That way an adult can keep an eye on them and fix any insulation or sweating problems that come up during the night.

    Search the forums...there are lots of threads on this topic, and pics posted in the threads, in the gallery, and on linked websites. I have quite a few of Joker and me under one tarp at http://www.tothewoods.net/HikingPictures.html.

    Let us know what you come up with! Pics, pls!
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  9. #9
    Senior Member pgibson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigwig View Post
    3 to 5 feet away from you under your tarp? What size is your tarp?
    Sorry did not word that well, he was under his tarp, and I under mine, but we hung on trees that sill kept us fairly close together.

    I did not get any pictures of that night but here is the next where we did not use our tarps at all, laid there and stared up at the stars through the branches till I drifted off.

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  10. #10
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    well i may get Ewkrified for this but myself i have opted for now that when i take my kids out we bring the light tents.for now my goal is to get them hooked on the outdoors and don't worry- the hammocks will come, but at least with my little fellas and for their mothers sake we go to the ground (for now) -just sayin it's ok thats all

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