Hammock Width

[ljcsov]

Hey all,

I am going to make myself a DIY gathered end hammock.

I want to go with the asym footbox type of set up. I was going to make a 12' long hammock and offset it by 1.5ft - does that sound right?

I was unsure as to what width I should go with. I see many do 60"-ish. Is anything too narrow or too wide? Is there anything preferred for an asym?

My goal is to get a big comfy DIY with a nice built in footbox.


PS- I have lots of Primaloft insulation scraps. I am looking to trade a DIY pillow for some whoopies

[wwk10]

I am thinking of adding a footbox to my DIY gathered end hammock so I cannot answer that. I personally think 60" is comfortable. You need some width to get a diagonal lay (lie?). 60" is a common width because fabric is often sold in 60" widths.

[ljcsov]

Fail. 10ft of fabric is not enough!! I am going to see what I have left and attempt to sew "extensions" on to get this thing longer.

Or maybe will just restart with a lighter green fabric I have. This previous one was a cool dark green that was almost black!

No big deal. I got 10 yards of ripstop at walmart for 8 bucks out of the "remnants" bin.

I was really surprised how the ripstop compressed so much more and weighed a lot less than the fabric of my ENO DN. Are there any advantages with the DN over a light ripstop hammock?

[MAD777]

I don't know if you are planning on a sewn on bug-net, if so, that must be taken into account because most netting is 54" wide. A very long hammock is going to sag in the middle such that the netting isn't wide enough to go over the ridgeline and reach both sides of the hammock.

I've just recently begun trying to make a hammock with a sewn in bug-net. I am tall so I wanted a long hammock with a SRL. I haven't been successful yet but I have progressed far enough to realize that your question is an important one.

[krugd]

Hey all,

I am going to make myself a DIY gathered end hammock.

I want to go with the asym footbox type of set up. I was going to make a 12' long hammock and offset it by 1.5ft - does that sound right?

12' is plenty long. I use 10' and that's around the shortest comfortable length for most people. Can't help with the asymm.

I was unsure as to what width I should go with. I see many do 60"-ish. Is anything too narrow or too wide? Is there anything preferred for an asym?

My goal is to get a big comfy DIY with a nice built in footbox.

I find the wider width more important that extra length. I like 65" or so. You can always add a strip along the edge since that seldom holds your whole weight - that way you can make it wider that the standard material widths.

Foot boxes seem to really help the comfort - go for it!

Good luck.

[ljcsov]

Ughhhh I just added an extension in to make it longer. It still seems to only be 7 ft long when the end is gathered and the hammock is stretched out on the floor. I'll have to try it out again tomorrow.

This has been a disaster!

[TFC Rick]

How are you losing three feet with the gather? Are you bunching alot of material together to make the gather? If you sew a small channel and then whip through that, you can establish your gather in just a few inches.

Hope that helps.

[ljcsov]

I think its the gather in combination with the slant for the footbox

[TFC Rick]

Ok that makes more sense. The asymmetric thing is still escaping me.

[ljcsov]

Ok that makes more sense. The asymmetric thing is still escaping me.

Same here. Apparently I suck at it.

I am not sure if it helps all that much actually. I feel like my ENO is super wide and plently long where it I can scoot into the same quality lay. I feel like the asym puts weird tension through the hammock which makes it squeeze you a bit.