Well, made my multi-purpose Camp Seat/Gear Hammock/Pack Cover/Signaling Device last night and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.
I built it out of 1.1/1.3 blaze orange SilNylon so that it would be easier to not trip over around the fire, I could use it as an emergency signalling device if necessary, and could wear it as a pack cover for safety during hunting season. The finished dimensions are 40" x 50" (the dimensions that I needed to cover my fully-loaded Mariposa Plus pack with bear canister) and the finished weight including the seat, dyneema whoopies, home-made tree huggers and home-made toggle is 5.6 ounces, which worked out well since I was looking for a sub-6 ounce solution.
I built the hammock itself along the order of the wilderness chair. It has a small channel on the top for one whoopie sling, and a 4 inch channel on the bottom for the other. The large bottom channel let's you set it up as a wilderness chair by attaching it to a tripod with bottom stick.
I put a shockcord channel in the hem and put in 1/16" shockcord all the way around with a micro cord lock. This lets me use it as a pack cover, and when using it as a gear hammock, I can draw up the shockcord to keep the stuff inside the hammock better. I added small grosgrain pieces where the shockcord exits the channel and burned a hole through to prevent fraying (see photos). I also put a little tab on the bottom of the hammock like I saw on MacEntyre's rig that will allow me to stake the gear hammock out if I'm sharing trees with my main hammock.
Finally, I built a small pocket into the back of the chair like I saw in the ULA rain kilt. Seemed like a pretty decent idea as I can use it to store my phone when I'm hanging out in shorts without pockets. I used omni-tape to keep the stuff sack closed, but may try to figure out how to do with a drawcord instead since the omni seems a little finicky. May try to add the Jerry Chair modification to the back to allow trekking poles as well.
Probably the only real challenge in sitting in it is the fact that it is SilNylon - makes it a little bit slippery. Since I carry the Mariposa Plus, though, I just put my back/sit pad from the pack into the bottom of the seat and it worked wonderfully.
Overall, really happy with it and sure appreciate all of the great ideas that I got from everyone on the forums!
SN
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