Homemade PeaPod???

[john30563]

I am fixing to get my start on hammock camping and want to be warm for sure. I am thinking a pea pod might be much easier than trying to make under and over quilts. Is there anywhere with some detailed instructions? I've looked and cant find anything. Would it not be correct to just make a bag, with cinches on each end, velcro to connect the sides? Oh yeah, just a little smaller than the hammock or what? I mean if I had a 108" x 60" hammock, wouldn't I just need to make a 108" x 120" pea pod? Maybe Im a little lost on my figures. Waiting to hear all the suggestions! Thanks in advance.
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[Preacha Man]

I am fixing to get my start on hammock camping and want to be warm for sure. I am thinking a pea pod might be much easier than trying to make under and over quilts. Is there anywhere with some detailed instructions? I've looked and cant find anything. Would it not be correct to just make a bag, with cinches on each end, velcro to connect the sides? Oh yeah, just a little smaller than the hammock or what? I mean if I had a 108" x 60" hammock, wouldn't I just need to make a 108" x 120" pea pod? Maybe Im a little lost on my figures. Waiting to hear all the suggestions! Thanks in advance.
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Even though I do not own one, peapods are football shaped so that the insulation in not crushed. Sounds like a good idea, but make sure that you make it big enough so that you are comfortable, and so that you do not crush the isulation on the bottom.

Others will chime in soon too
Dwight

[slowhike]

i don't remember hearing anyone talk about making a peapod, but the way you described should work.
if you could find a way to taper the ends like Preacha Man was talking about, you could indeed reduce your weight & bulk.

[john30563]

I am going to study on this for a day or two. I would really like to use down, but like I said, on a budget, so I gotta decide what I want to use. Anyway, thanks for all the help so far. And for all the help to come.

[BillyBob58]

I think you are going to need it to be longer than your hammock. That's because you will need to hang it so that it has a good bit more sag than your hammock I figure at least 6" minimum lower at the low point. And maybe more than that- I sometimes have nearly a foot between them. And you'll need plenty of room if you add any thing down there ( clothing, leaves, space blanket, quilt) to add to the insulation. The Speer PeaPod is 9.5 feet long, which is 1 foot longer than the Speer 8.5 hammock it is designed for. It is about 6 feet wide in the middle, tapering towards the ends.

See, here is the thing that was sort of surprising to me: The pod does not sag near as much as the hammock it is attached to, when you get in. I'm not sure why so much difference and I was surprised.

I use a lot of sag in my Speer hammock, and I don't yet know if that increases the amount of sag needed in the pod to avoid compressing insulation. But regardless, you will need enough extra length for at least 6" of sag.

But other than that, I think you are on the right path. Just a large enough rectangular bag with cinch cords on the end to close it up and attach to the hammock, and it ought to work.

[BillyBob58]

PS
I should add that I think the PeaPod has about 6" on each end that has no insulation, it is just nylon for the purpose of surrounding the hammock end and cinching down. And, as long as you could get adequate sag and space underneath, it might not have to be long enough to reach the end of your hammock. Since your head and feet don't go very near the hammock end anyway. But if the bag won't go pretty near the narrow ends of th hammock, you probably wont have as good of a seal on the ends. If that was a problem, you could probably stuf some clothing in there to block any draft.

And it will have to be wide enough to go down one side of the hammock, across the bottom and come up over the other edge and across top back to the other edge. Actually, meeting in the middle for closure. Preferably with enough slack that the top part will sag at least a little bit down towards you in the hammock. So that the air gap above you is not just huge. Speers pod is 72" wide, and I've been glad it was not even an inch smaller. But I am a bit broad shouldered with a bit of a gut.

[tight-wad]

A pea pod clone is not a good project for a first DIY sewing project! Those things are complicated. All the curves, etc. can be a bear.

Try a synthetic quilt (over, under doesn't matter) with cheap fabrics. Get the hang of it , then after you have a few projects under your belt, come back to the peapod idea. A quilt is a rectangle, and with synthetics and no baffles, relatively simple. A peapod is a LOT more complicated and will consume a whole lot of time. Better to experience a few simple successes first, then learn to deal with the challenges of a more difficult project.

[Kanguru]

Check out this. Especially since down is not a must.

http://www.peak.org/~webdawg/DIYGear...uilt/index.htm

Looks like a good starter project since it is just a rectangle with drawstring ends. I made something similar with cheap wally world fabric and quilt batting. A little heavy but functional and was really low cost. Made mine 100 long 72 wide. It is roomy. Used a double layer of 1/2 inch quilt batting.

[Just Jeff]

The pod does not sag near as much as the hammock it is attached to, when you get in. I'm not sure why so much difference and I was surprised.

Because the hammock material is weighted and stretches, but the peapod material doesn't support any weight and doesn't stretch.

[BillyBob58]

Because the hammock material is weighted and stretches, but the peapod material doesn't support any weight and doesn't stretch.

Does this work pretty much the same with regular UQs? Like the JRBs? So that they also need a good bit of space between the unweighted hammock and quilt?