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  1. #1
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    OK, It's JRB Bridge time!

    Well, guess what the mail man brought this AM? A shiny new JRB Bridge Hammock! I am down with a bad cold and it's cold and windy out, but I'm dieing to set it up! I may have to suck it up and layer up, hang the hammock and put my pad in. ( No UQ available! ) My wife just left to go shopping after having a fit about me getting another hammock! I don't know what her problem is! But I think I will go up into the attick(sp?), drag down the Christmas tree and decorations which she wants to start on today, and then see about playing with my early package from Santa.

  2. #2
    Senior Member headchange4u's Avatar
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    How's it feel to be the first? That's awesome. Congrats.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett



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  3. #3
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Thanks! It feel's great, I just hope my illness doesn't delay my testing, in which case I won't be the first in that way. First thing, it weighs a tad more than specified, at least including the stuff sack which contains everything-hammock, net and spreader bars: about 35 oz on my low tech kitchen scales.

  4. #4
    Senior Member angrysparrow's Avatar
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    I got mine in the mail today, also. It looks to be a very well made piece of kit.

    Sadly, I won't get a chance to test it until at least Monday, though.
    “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

  5. #5
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Any suggestions?

    Well, sick or not, I got it up. I have great news and bad news. Flat as a board,great comfort in all ways but one. SHOULDER SQUEEZE! Not a lot, but enough that I am afraid it will distract from the overall great comfort.

    So with this hammock, should I hang it a little looser, as with my Speer, to get rid of this problem? Or is there nothing that can be done with this type of hammock? I am a big guy, but not THAT big. I'm a fraction under 6'1", 205lbs. I am 45" around the chest and 49" around my shoulders. Is this too big for this hammock?

    The posts I am hanging from may be part of the problem, causing some extra sag ( good or bad with this hammock?) once I get in. Before I get in, the outer rings are 9'3" apart. I will try to get them a little closer to the recommended 9'6" ( less sag if I do that, right?) Or I may be doing something wrong with the spreader bars. I followed the directions as best I could.

    PS I just put my 25" wide thermarest camprest in the bottom. That helped a lot, but not completely. And of course, it's a pad. Ideas? I also got closer to the 9'6" spread reccomended.
    I must be doing something wrong. It is rated for 6'3" 250 lbs. Surely this hammock should be big enough for me? I could just e-mail the jacks, but I figure they will see this, plus there are experienced Bridge hammockers here.

    Any ideas?
    Last edited by BillyBob58; 11-23-2007 at 18:19.

  6. #6
    Senior Member GrizzlyAdams's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BillyBob58 View Post
    Well, sick or not, I got it up. I have great news and bad news. Flat as a board,great comfort in all ways but one. SHOULDER SQUEEZE! Not a lot, but enough that I am afraid it will distract from the overall great comfort.

    So with this hammock, should I hang it a little looser, as with my Speer, to get rid of this problem? Or is there nothing that can be done with this type of hammock? I am a big guy, but not THAT big. I'm a fraction under 6'1", 205lbs. I am 45" around the chest and 49" around my shoulders. Is this too big for this hammock?

    The posts I am hanging from may be part of the problem, causing some extra sag ( good or bad with this hammock?) once I get in. Before I get in, the outer rings are 9'3" apart. I will try to get them a little closer to the recommended 9'6" ( less sag if I do that, right?) Or I may be doing something wrong with the spreader bars. I followed the directions as best I could.

    PS I just put my 25" wide thermarest camprest in the bottom. That helped a lot, but not completely. And of course, it's a pad. Ideas? I must be doing something wrong. It is rated for 6'3" 250 lbs. Surely this hammock should be big enough for me? I could just e-mail the jacks, but I figure they will see this, plus there are experienced Bridge hammockers here.

    Any ideas?
    The squeeze you get in a bridge hammock depends on the width of your shoulders, the spreader bar length, the width of the fabric between the spreader bar endpoints, and the horizontal distance of your shoulders from the spreader bar. Of these, for the BMBH I know only that the spreader bar is 30".

    I have no shoulder squeeze in my DIY bridge with a 36" spreader separation, a fabric width of 51" under that spreader, and my shoulders 18" away from the spreader bar. So shoulder squeeze is not endemic to the bridge design.

    TeeDee, Scott, WalkingBear, and I have all built ours with spreader widths in the 34-40" range, and have tended to start with the full 60" width of a roll of fabric. Maybe the other bridge engineers will weigh in with their experiences. The 51" I have under the spreader bar is due to the bar being recessed along the suspension curve, at a point where the fabric was cut narrower because of the curve.

    Sag does not affect shoulder squeeze.

    Should not be a problem either for side-sleepers.

    Finally, laying in the bridge hammock is definitely a different sensation. Could be that "squeeze" is more a matter of "sensitivity to the hammock walls swooping up past your ears, touching your shoulders along the way." In short, with time perhaps you will not notice this.

    Then again, maybe BMBH truly squeezes your shoulders. Good for the Jacks to have this data.

    Anybody ever mention that it isn't that hard to make your own bridge hammock? How's your sewing skills? Shoot, I learned to sew making my first one. (and that one has long since been retired....)

    Grizz

  7. #7
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    My sewing skills do not yet exist. And I do have this one now, so I would prefer to get it working right. That seems to be a pretty good difference in spreader bar width between yours and JRB. It may be a sensitivity issue, and they mention something about the netting being a little to long until some hammock stretch occurs. Maybe some stretch will make a dif. Does yours touch your shoulders at all. Of course side sleeping solves the problem, and that is wonderfully easy to do, for the first time.

    I think I will go ahead and contact the Jacks.
    Bill

  8. #8
    Senior Member GrizzlyAdams's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BillyBob58 View Post
    ...
    Does yours touch your shoulders at all.
    Bill
    no, by my deliberate design (on the 4th version!) I was getting a little squeeze on earlier versions where the spreader bar was 34", and out in front of the hammock by a couple of inches.

    Grizz

  9. #9
    Senior Member schrochem's Avatar
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    I would say that 30" at the head end (at the tips, not like Grizz') is a bit narrow. However, this is only if you are on your back or fully on your stomach. Besides my other bars, I typically put the 42" 1X2 on the head end. However, I am a side/stomach sleeper, so all this really isn't an issue for me. Actually, thanks for the reminder. I think I'll chug along with my 36" tent poles....
    Actually, I have a lot of updating to do to get my bridge where I want it. Grizz has come up with some swell ideas. I just need to do them. Another hobby kinda dethroned the bridge mods.
    Scott

    "Man is a stream whose source is hidden."
    RWE

  10. #10
    Senior Member schrochem's Avatar
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    Hey Grizz, i thought the main reason you did the recessed pole was to reduce the compression forces on your hiking poles. Are you saying there is another reason I somehow overlooked....
    Scott

    "Man is a stream whose source is hidden."
    RWE

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