Before you even ask, HAAB is an acronym for Hook And Attached Bag hammock. It's a term first used in my TTTM Hammock review and it refers to hammocks like TTTM, Trek Light, ENO, Bliss hammocks, etc. All of these hammocks are constructed of the same material and almost identical construction techniques with only minor differences between them, besides the brand labels. HAAB is a general term used to describe hammocks constructed of 1-3 (usually 3) panels of fabric, have a storage sack attached to the side of the hammock, and sewn channels on each end where the suspension ropes pass through.
When testing my TTTM double hammock on a 2 night 3 day outing at the Red River Gorge I noticed that there was a lot of extra fabric on the sides of the hammock. I am holding the extra material up on the left side in this picture:
In the winter I normally use either a hammock sock/travel pod or a top cover to enclose the hammock to increase warmth. I didn't use anything on this outing and believe me I was really missing that piece of gear. Areas of exposed skin, like my face and hands, got really cold when not covered up. On the second night, while laying in the hammock trying to go to sleep, I started playing around with the extra material. What I found out was that you could use the extra material to wrap around my top quilt, cocoon style, and make a tent over my exposed face to create a hammock-sock-like environment over my face, all with no added weight because I was using the hammock.
You can see in the following pictures how I wrapped the bottom portion of the hammock around my top quilt in the foot section:
Top quilt exposed:
Pull one side over:
Pull other side over to form cocoon:
Making this cocoon around the top quilt made a noticeable difference in warmth. By tucking the quilt around my sides and then forming the cocoon, it helped to keep the quilt in place better all the while snugging it up around my body without compressing the insulation. Nice.
I also found that you could use the upper portion of the hammock material to forma sort of tent around my head area. This creates the enclosed environment that helps warm up and protect the exposed skin. You can see in the pictures below I used the draw string on the storage bag to help make the "tent" area over my face by using my ridge line.
The storage bag used to help make the tent...
... it creates an area similar to this:
I need help in devising a way to use this material for added warmth. If you have any ideas throw them out there. I know an enclosed hammock using the extra material has been discussed before, but I didn't own a HAAB double hammock before and I had no idea it would work so well.
I had thought about using shock cord and mitten hooks to help form the cocoon around the bottom. There would be grosgrain tabs sewn to one side of the hammock and shock cord/ mitten hooks on the edge of the other side. You would pull the first side over you and the bring the sides with the shock cord/ mitten hooks over and clip them on the gros grain tabs to form the cocoon at the foot end.
I had also though about using mitten hooks to suspend the extra material around the head end from the ridge line and velcro to seal the two edges of the hammock together to form the tent around the head.
I drew this picture and I hope it makes my idea a little bit clearer:
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