Hammocks for "big guys"?

[lostinthewuds]

Good evening all. I was thinking about what to get for 2 good buddies of mine for Christmas. They both really like the idea of hammocking. One of them is very anxious about it. The other one just doesn't get anxious about anything and weighs about as much as my boots, so for him no worries.

For the other buddy.... I've looked several places but I can't seem to find anything about weight limits for most hammocks. I'd like to make him one for Christmas. He's about 6'3" and probably 325++. I got a steal of a deal on some ripstop on eBay the other day and I have enough to make myself and he a hammock for Christmas. My question is this: will just regular old ripstop work? I don't want it to give and hurt his feelings or hurt him literally. What if I made it double layered, would that help and increase the weight rating?

I was thinking gathered end, would I need to take any additional steps in whipping the ends to help a flaw from starting that might lead to a failure? I was thinking maybe whipping the ends with poly webbing as opposed to say amsteel. My thinking there is that the webbing would distribute the load more evenly and would be less likely to cut the nylon material.

I know this is an odd question but I would really like to present this to him for christmas, but only if I'm sure it will work. I can stick myself and other family members in to see if it will hold the weight once I get it completed, but I want to have some sense of confidense before I attempt a hang in it.

As always, thanks! This forum rocks!

pax, lost

[grantizzle]

I'm a big dude too. 6'1 and 330lbs. The ENO DoubleNest is good for up to 400lbs. just avoid the slap straps, get whoopies. Ive spent a fair amount of time with mine. My 40lb son has joined me for a nap as well.

If you want to make them yourself, from my research, a double layer hammock with the non coated 1.9 rip stop will be more than sufficient.

[gunner76]

Check out Brandon's Black Birds. A 1.7 double can hold up to 400 lbs and he has custom made some for our even bigger members.

I weight 280 and use the 1.7 double BB

[Beast 71]

I weighed as much as your over-sized friend when I started hammock camping. A double layered WBBB was a nice, flat, comfortable lay. I'm now below 280lbs all thanks to hammocking. There was the dieting and exercise thing too (the only thing I hate more than dieting is exercise!). But the hammock helped my aching back recover from exercise and not sleeping on the ground got me out doing stuff more.