Warbonnet - you pin the ends of the string and let it sag until it touches the pin. That sag is a curve.
You don't stretch it tight between the three pins.
Warbonnet - you pin the ends of the string and let it sag until it touches the pin. That sag is a curve.
You don't stretch it tight between the three pins.
“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” ~Judge Joseph Story
- My site: http://www.tothewoods.net/
- Designer, Jeff's Gear Hammock / Pack Cover by JRB
IMPOSSIBLE JUST TAKES LONGER
It has occurred to me that a good project might be to use this technique to cat curve the sides of my HH sil Hex tarp, which I otherwise love. If I ever get the nerve to start sewing, I'm going to need some basic sewing directions. When you say things like " double roll hems ............bias tape", I really have only the vaguest idea what your talking about. It's the same with other terms you guys sometimes use. Is there a web site or book to be ordered that has told you guys about these basics of sewing?
Shoulder squeeze seems to be a very individual thing. I was definitely not comfortable at 30" which is where I started corresponding to the Australian specs. I am very comfortable at my current spreader bar length of almost 42". As you found out the stability decreases as you increase the length. I found that I can compensate for this somewhat by keeping the footer bar length much shorter. But even for the feet, I find that I like wider. My foot spreader is set at 817 mm, 32"+
Glad you are experimenting with the Bridge. Let us know how it progresses for you.
tee dee, did you ever try full spread? i found that to be the best, shoulder squeeze wise, lots of compression forces going on there, don't think you could use a regular hp for that, my supplex fabric seemed to handle it ok though.
teedee -- i will try 40"+ for the header bar as you suggest. and thanks for all your work posting that article on the bridge. i can't seem to get beyond page 1 though. i get an error message when i click the link for page 2. any ideas?
warbonnetguy -- back in the summer i made one of these where i had sewn the ends of the hammock body back onto itself to form a tube through which the spreader bar passed. i guess that would qualify as "full spread", and there was no shoulder squeeze at all. but i was amazed at how much force was placed on the bar in this configuration. there was more than 6" of deflection in the bar under load (180#). the bar was an inch and a half thick dowel. scary! the high center of gravity was ok and comfortable to lounge in but too unstable for sleeping. that was before i discovered this forum and spent countless hours learning "everything i always wanted to know about hammock camping but didn't know who to ask". now i realize that the biggest problem was that the centerline of the fabric was not free to pull away from the vertical plane of the bar. still, i am sure those compression forces compound exponentially as the length of the bar increases. if not your hiking poles, what sort of material are you using for 50"+ spreader bars?
Full spread - nope.
The stability was getting really bad when I exceeded 42" or about 75% of the fabric width. For full spread, I would imagine it would be like taking a sheet of plywood, tying rope to the middle of both ends and suspending that. Trying to keep that sheet of plywood balanced and level would be impossible - it's not a stable platform. Of course, fabric isn't plywood and so it wouldn't be totally flat, so the the instability wouldn't be QUITE as bad, but I still don't think it would be usable. The only way to stabilize would be to suspend each corner independently. The Bridge Hammock triangular suspension would not work.
Beyond the really large compression forces on the spreader bars, you would have tremendous forces on the edges of the fabric, especially at the corners. Not enough to tear the fabric, but enough that the lifetime of the fabric would be severely limited.
no, it's not nearly as unstable as that, the farther you go from the spreaders, the less that portion of the hammock is effected by the wide spread, your hips are still well below the sides and ends, the regular suspension triangle still works fine, i, like you, would be most concerned about the fabric itself, but if heavier fabric were used along with sufficient spreaders, a comfy backyard model like this is totally possible without changing much else.
Just read this thread and wondered if i'm dong it the hard way. I take a piece of plastic conduit and run a length of paracord through it. I then tie the ends of the cord together. this way i can adjust the length and curve of the arch. I use this method either on the table or on the floor for bigger projects (tarps).
Erin
Scoutmaster T-325
i think i do it the same way, i tie a string to the ends of a tent pole, and make a bow basically, shorten the bow string to get a sharper curve and vice versa, and you can move it around or whatever, it's also really easy to make it a little sharper or flatter just by adjusting the string.
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