OK so the title is a little bold & there is plenty of room for improvement but here's my take on the jungle hammock. Whether its the Claytor version, the Clark or the Switchback most folks that have one seem to really like it. One thing I've noticed though is the commercially produced jungle hammocks all tend to the shorter & more narrow in size. I had two goals in mind with this project: build it bigger and build it with a structural ridgeline.
Sizewise the KOTJH is 11' long x 62" wide. I made it from a double layer of olive 1.1 oz ripstop. I kept the monochromatic color scheme going with olive mosquito netting and light green grossgrain reinforcements. The spreader bars are cut from a couple fiberglass rods I found at Home Depot but you can either leave them out (see my first pic) or you could use trail sticks to save a few oz. I may attempt a DIY pack that incorporates the spreaders as pack stays but that is down the road.
The suspension consists of poly straps through the channels sewed to a pair of cinch rings at each end. Between the straps I have an amsteel ridgeline attached to the rings. I could slim down everthing and use whoopies instead but the eases of the rings and straps won out. Also my thought is that by running webbing through the channels instead of an amsteel loop the hammock will be more free to slide in the channel as I adjust position in the hammock. Also I think the straps in the channel will cause less wear than an amsteel loop would and prevent damage and wear to the channel ripstop.
The netting is sewed on along both ends and both sides are zippered. this lets you exit from either side and / or tie up the netting similar to the Switchback. I thought about attaching the netting at the ends w/ velcro to make the net removable but didn't...
The big drawback to this design is that 2 layers of RS and a full layer of mosquito netting and straps / rings etc... including a blackbishop style stuffsack weigh in at 2# 12.1 oz.
Performance wise it lays very flat and is certainly comfortable. I started with a ridgeline length of 120" between the rings but have since lengthened it to 130" and found the hammock more comfortable. I may continue tinkering with this length to dial things in.
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