I heartily second that notion. My WBB feels SO much better than the HH I am passing on. Both are good products, but there's a quality to the WBB that's peerless.
I heartily second that notion. My WBB feels SO much better than the HH I am passing on. Both are good products, but there's a quality to the WBB that's peerless.
Whoa!! Now lets not get carried away and call this an epic fail, Mark!Originally Posted by resormar
Why not?
Because I essentially did the SAME THING, and I my already bruised ego (one of my first hammocks ripped and dropped me on my backside) isn't quite up to calling this an EPIC fail.
In fact, I just sorted out my taut footbox problem this weekend, and slept in my newly modified FrankenBird last night (after all of the screw-ups and patches I don't feel right calling it a WBBB clone any more).
For the sake of sorting out what looks like the same basic error, here's what I did, why it was wrong, and how I sort of fixed it.
For those in a hurry... just follow the directions that start this thread and you should be fine. For more detail than you care to read on what happens if you try to wing it... please continue.
What I did:
I made mine before I found the directions in this thread, so I have a couple of deviations that still remain (and several more that I've already undone and put back together properly):
1) I have a duplicate of the zipper side "stripe" on the footbox side. In short, I have never seen a real WBBB in person, and I thought I saw a full stripe on each side in the WBBB pictures I found online. What I was actually seeing was the little connector between the shelf and the footbox triangle.
2) Because of mis-identifying the connecting piece as a full stripe, the way my footbox side is built-up is different. I have the body, then a full length stripe, then the footbox triangle and shelf are attached to the stripe directly.
3) I WAG'd the dimensions of the triangle, based on the available fabric I had left after making the body and the full side stripes for each side. Turns out my triangle was at least 12 inches too short along the long edge. So, Mark, I'm right there with you, Brother. I had the footbox side taut against the ridgeline, and the zipper side hanging loose.
Why it was wrong
1) The body of the hammock is rectangular, with 90 degree corners. The stripes on each side are equal length to each other and to the body. No problems with any of this... except maybe the fact that I have two stripes. I'm currently thinking this is not negatively impacting anything... just effectively making the body 10" wider.
2) My footbox triangle is too short. I somehow neglected to even think about the fact that adding the triangle would effectively shorten the footbox side of the hammock by however much the long side of the triangle is shorter than the original side section that it replaces. To be honest, I still haven't gotten my head around the geometry involved.
There, I said it!
Are you happy now Ms. Kellogg!
You told me all through High School geometry class, however many decades ago that was, that I should pay attention, I would actually have a use for this knowledge at some point.
Dang! You were right. And I'm not just saying that because you were the second hottest teacher at the school.
...but I digress
3) I don't think that the extra stripe on the footbox side contributed to the problem. Actually, since I'm 6'4" tall, I kind of like having a few inches of extra width to allow me to lay a touch more diagonal.
How I sort of fixed it
It should come as no surprise that I only "sort of" fixed it. I clearly couldn't understand the dimensions of a paper bag if I were trying to punch my way out of it.
What I did understand is that the footbox side is too short, and this is because of the triangle being too short.
I measured the length of the zipper side, then measured the footbox side.
Wow! a whopping 13" difference.
Stop laughing Ms. Kellogg!
So I ripped out the seam on one side of the footbox triangle. Then I found a scrap piece of nylon from my Under Un-Quilt project (since I ran out of the fabric that the hammock body is made of) and made a triangle with a 14" side, and two sides the same length as the seam I just ripped.
It doesn't take a math major to know that this did not produce a straight edge along the top of the footbox, as the original footbox triangle is now canted at an angle to accommodate the added filler triangle.
... but it just about perfectly adjusted the length of the footbox side so that it is no longer taut.
It was dark when I put it up last night, and starting to rain when I came in the house this morning, so I didn't stop to get pictures of my hacked together FrankenBird Hammock. I'll snag some pics next time I un-skin it.
If you care to make yourself feel better, Mark. Go read some of the other "innovations" that I was rather proud of in this hammock... and have since disassembled... like "Jeff's peak pockets". Those were incredibly poorly thought out.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=24127
At least I had the sense to rip out the seam where I had sewn the strip on the zipper side directly to the body. I was originally going to put the zipper on top of that stripe, connected directly to the bug net. I quickly found that it put too much pressure on the top edge during hammock entry and egress.
I've worn through one, and am on my second seam ripper on this project.
However, I've learned a ton and really enjoyed my almost completed hammock last night.
I still have to sort out the ridgeline length before attaching the bug netting. Right now, it my ridgeline is so tight that I can barely deflect it at all.
On the "stuff I added that hasn't proven to be an utter failure...yet": I also added two internal pockets near the head end along the sides, a segmented pouch/pocket to the top of the shelf for little things that I don't want to slide to the bottom of the shelf, and a ridgeline organizer to hold my water bottle, glasses, phone, flashlight, etc.
Last thing, Mark. I didn't understand your comment about putting the footbox on the wrong side. I put mine on the same side as yours (although clearly that is not evidence it is the right thing to do). Shug mentioned in his WBBB review that WarBonnetGuy ("his name is Brandon, Brandon is his name") will put the footbox on which ever side you want.
Last edited by rjcress; 11-16-2010 at 11:42.
"I keep telling myself that if I make perfect seams, nobody will believe that I made it... " -JohnSawyer
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The way I measured and fitted the bugnet was to pin it on where I thought it should be, then get in it and note where it is tight or loose and re-pin. I loosely pinned the bunnet fabric to the ridge line so I could isolate one side from the other. Once I got it where i wanted it I sewed it on, got back in it and checked for loose or tight places. I think you MUST have your ties outs on and in use to see where to pin for the pocket. In fact, once I got that pocket side done, I simply transferred the location of the tie outs on the zipper side by folding over the pocket side.
I think I see on your video that your footbox and pocket side was way too wide. That may be why it is looking tight. It should only be no more than four inches in the center section. Once I got it right, I reinstalled my ridgeline after making it one inch shorter than it was to insure that the tension would not be too much for the bugnet. I checked the one Brandon made for stretchyness on the bugnet and his didn't stretch much, so the stuff I used from WalMart works fine as long as it's not under too much tension.
Hope this helps.
Mule
Last edited by Mule; 11-16-2010 at 10:12.
Predictions are risky, especially when it comes to the future.
I have googled every possible variation on "Sclittlefield's $3 1.1 ripstop" and not gotten a cogent hit. What was that a reference to?I scored some ripstop over a year ago, now only 2 WM's in San Diego (of 6) have fabrics, and I've never found ripstop again.
I just need to get off my butt and order some more of Sclittlefield's $3 1.1 ripstop...
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“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy
Thanks, just bought it up. I appreciate it!
J
It would have worked on that thread--but it was mentioned here. I'm still not as smooth as I should be with the forum format. HF is rather cumbersome in that regard--and there's a lot of valuable FAQ type info buried in threads. I'm wading through now. I want to build this hammock this weekend.
If I were going to do all the work it takes to make a BB I wouldn't use Nylon. I would use polyester due to the stretch Nylon is famous for.
Predictions are risky, especially when it comes to the future.
First let me start by saying I love this project and it is teaching me a lot of new stuff but it is also driving me insane.
Ok I think i have a flawed idea about how this should work. I am working on the foot box side and after trying like four different combos I have now realized that you can not possibly put a foot box in without shorting total length of the foot box side.
My question is how much is the right way. I my trials it seems as though it can go form 8-10" all the way to 15-20" shorter. I have never actually looked at a real blackbird so can anyone tell me how much sorter the foot box side is then the other. I assume that the issue is corrected by sag and the ridge line as well as the pullouts.
Any information would be helpful and I want to be respectful of Brandon in that I don't want to like put out the blue prints of a blackbird but I think I am real close to cracking this one.
Mark
It wouldn't be disrespectful to use a great design as long as you own a WBB (I do) and never intend to profit from making one. The only way to reverse engineer something is to take the bull by the horns and do it. There's no reason to skirt the issue on this one. It's a great design that is elegant in its simplicity. I'd love to see a PDF of the pattern.
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