My First Hammock Hang

[Danalex]

Goodies I bought here are starting to show up and I'm tickled pink

So, I've been playing around in the basement since last night and getting the whole thing sorted a bit in my mind.

I like the straps and buckles on the BlackBird 1.7 Dl just fine, easy to use and I don't see a need to change for something 2 oz lighter that involves knots. I'm trying different tensions but sticking close to the 30 degree hang angle.

I tried the hammock with no pad inside but found some pressures on my back and my left calf from the fabric as it's stretched from suspension to suspension.

Not too bad but thought I'd experiment so I inserted a Thermarest Prolite 20" pad. Not very good, too narrow.

Then it was a Thermarest Neo Air Large. Not bad at all.

Next my Exped 7 DLX. Didn't like the way the longitudinal baffles folded up.

Back to plain hammock again with some tension adjustments. Still feeling some pressures.

Back to the Neo Air with some minor adjusting. Actually sits really well in there and because of the horizontal baffles it flattens the lay nicely and takes the pressure off my left calf and back from the stretched fabric. Neo Air is a touch narrow but I tossed in a small pillow and WB Mamba top quilt and spent a few hours contemplating life.

No pressure points anywhere and I can really feel the heat radiated back from the Neo Air, very nice feeling like an electric blanket.

Next I fumbled around trying to get the underquilt to fit right. Off to Home Depot to find some strap clips to attach along the edges but they don't work, as soon as I sat down they all popped off. Tried shock cord to no particular avail and finally took it off and left it on the floor. I'll ponder the quilt for a while. (edit: fixed the quilt problem, see below)

So far the Neo Air, even though it is only 24" wide, and the WWBB and the Mamba top quilt are keepers and all in all it's really, really comfy in there

Anybody want to buy some tents??

[flatline]

cool stuff man.
i'm looking forward to taking delivery of my WBBB 1.7DL and SF. i received the shipping notice today.
i'm completely new to hammock camping and i'm am very much looking forward to similar testing, tweaking and fine tuning very soon.
thanks for sharing your experience.
hang in there.

[Roundtrip]

Congrats Dan! It's a brave new world...

-jeff

[Law Dawg (ret)]

Let the festivities begin...atta boy Dan! My worst comfort moments in the hammock still beat the snot out of a (shudder) tent on the (shudder again) ground.

[finskie]

It's all looking up from here brother! Including the people laying on the rocks, envying your BB. lol

[Bomber]

Welcome to the enlightened dark side mate!

/Bomber

[Danalex]

About 5 this morning I got out of bed and headed for the basement and back into the hammock. Since it's hung not so far from the furnace it's pretty warm. I got a lighter cotton blanket and snuggled in. Woke up and wondered what time it was .. turns out it was 10:30. I never sleep that late! I don't toss around hardly at all and it's weird getting used to sleeping on my back but it's so comfortable and natural I'm sure it won't take long.

The Neo Air wasn't as hot as I had previously stated as I'd had the UQ loosly hanging. Now it was just fine. I did get a couple of cold shoulder monents as it's only 24" wide.

I'm heading out today to get an Evazote pad from MEC to lay under the shoulder area or to make some wings for the pad.

I was laying there this morning thinking about that thread on people who don't have a bed and hammock full time

Since this hammocking thing was an expiriment last month I bought a Luxury Lite cot that people really rave about. I've not been able to spend more than two hours in it at a time and I tried morning and night every day to get used to it. Tried all my different pads on the top. Nada. I'd toss and turn every ten minutes and finally get up aching.

The seller gives a 30 day guarantee and it's definately going back tomorrow.

[OutandBack]

Excellent report, thanks for sharing your trial and error and successes on the pads. This time of year I think we are all adjust our UQ/pads to keep the cold spots at bay.

Please keep us informed on how it all works out.

[Danalex]

I did my first DIY today!

I coundn't figure out how to attach the JRB MW3 to the underside of the BB so it would stay tight. I watched Brandon's video of him attaching a Yeti using the shock cord suspension it comes with.

Bingo, that is what the MW needs.

There is a cord line in the foot and head ends that run through the hem and has toggles on each end. I snooped around looking at the long side edges and figured I could run some shock cord in there. There may be a couple of sewn through spots but I figured I could make it work.

Off to MEC to buy 8 feet of shock cord and toggles.

I straightened out a wire coat hanger and after about 3/4 of an hour I had the shock cord run through both sides. I left enough at the top end to hang over the bound end of the hammock material like Brandon does in his video, slid the quilt to where I want it and snugged up the toggles I had installed so it won't move up or down the cord. Did the same at the foot end and tied some kind of knot where the two lines are parallel and looped er whatever you call it and hung it on the foot whipped end.

Next I used the existing cords lines that run in the centre of the foot and head end to attach to the suspension lines with a biner. That snugged up the whole end around the hammock perfectly with no open areas.

I'm very happy with how this worked out, the shoulder is covered and the foot box is covered. Quilt is snug everywhere.

This is just like a full length Yeti would be.

Wooo Hooo Buddy!!

[WV]

I like your willingness to experiment and the way you report all the things you try. You have the makings of a true DIY hammocker and a real addition to the forum. Do you speak "thread injector"?