Just a "end-user" warning, not a criticism

[body942]

Last night, one of the coldest I've spent in the piney woods in a hammock. And my incubator, for the first time, didn't perform. Figured it out this morning, and I hope it nobody says "duh stupid" (at least out loud) and it's specific to the new suspension: DON'T OVERTIGHTEN THE SIDE CHANNEL SHOCK CORD. All night I was just trying to eliminate a perceived draft / cold spot and all I was doing was making it worse. At one sleep-addled-cold-butted-post2AM moment I remember thinking "man my UQ seems SHORT!". When I took it off this morning, I realized why. Throughout the night I'd been bunching / shortening my own UQ. Oh well, won't do it again. Hope that helps somebody else down the road.

[awilder]

I've been waiting to hear some comments/reviews of the new suspension. Did you have any experience with the earlier suspension? I'm wondering how they compare.

[body942]

I did have the old suspension and I can see where the new style is an improvement, however, I don't think it's as "adjust on the fly" friendly. It has a learning curve that I have not grasped yet.

[Boomer]

Interesting. I have 3 of the "new" suspension Incubators , 0* & (2) 40*. There is no side shock cord. I only have end suspension cord which attach with an S biner to the hammock end, along with two shock cords to tighten up the end channels. There was no cordage running from the foot end to the head end. I thought that it needed it. Adam said that he found it counterproductive...

However, I kind of liked it & was disappointed that they were not included. I added my own.

[body942]

I can see both sides of the argument. My maiden run definitely found it to be counterproductive but I can see small amounts of tuning to be beneficial.

[Roadrunnr72]

I had the old style suspension on both my incubator and phoenix. I just had HG switch it to the new suspension. I also added the draft collars. I liked the idea, with the old, that I could slide the UQ up or down as needed. I was thinking less fiddle. After talking with Adam, I decided to switch. With the old, the shock cord was so long, it would stretch through the night, causing the UQ to sag a little. If you think about it, a little stretch in a short cord isn't so noticeable as it is with the 14ft cord. The draft collars also eliminate the need to tighten the end shock cord.

[Z0rst]

Is there a picture of the new and the old suspensions that we could see what ya'll are talking about? I love my HG 3/4 UQ, and I probably have the "old" suspension from last spring, but I am always open for improvement. With the new suspension, can you still make it have an air gap for the warmer part of the early evening?

[gmcttr]

Is there a picture of the new and the old suspensions that we could see what ya'll are talking about? I love my HG 3/4 UQ, and I probably have the "old" suspension from last spring, but I am always open for improvement. With the new suspension, can you still make it have an air gap for the warmer part of the early evening?

Yes you can create an air gap.

The new suspension simply has a Line Lock on each of the four corners with a piece of shock cord between the line locks on each end. The shock cord no longer runs the full length of the UQ in side channels.

Having both styles, I'm not sold on the new suspension yet, but will give it a chance. The new smaller shock cord diameters seem too "whimpy" and I have to get out of the hammock and adjust both ends to adjust the position head-to-foot.

At this time I prefer the old style suspension.......but you should know I hate change.

[Knotty]

I have one of their UQs with the old suspension and did a lot of thinking and testing before modding it. The result was pretty much what Hammock Gear came up with, less the adjustable bungee in the side channels. I held off on posting about it because I knew Stormcrow was working on something new and didn't want to interfere. IMHO the new suspension is much better.

The basic problem with the old suspension is the bungees are way too long. Long=soft in the world of springs, so UQs often sagged.

The other mod I added to the hammock was a draft collar at the foot end of the UQ. See this thread, post #14.

[DemostiX]

Those with UQs which ride rails -- the "old suspension" common to the WB Yetti --might think of the following model, and then come up with a practical implementation.

In addition to the rails,a single shock cord runs from the middle of the end of the UQ outward and upward to a pulley (or mini-biner) at end of the hammock. Cord turns the corner, forms a ridge-line back to the other hammock end and a pulley (or-mini-biner), and down to the other end of the UQ.

Now pre-load the shock-cord.

Result: Ends of UQ are pulled-out and up. Nothing new about that. But, because the shock cord line remains constant length, you can slide the UQ fore and aft on the rails it hangs on, with the tensions in the cord re-balancing themselves.

Modification: There could be a Y -cord to the corners of the UQ.

This seems a lot of cord, but it is less than in the old model. Or course, most of the cord, the portion forming the center of the ridgeline can be replaced with zing-it or lighter.

The adjustability here is exquisite because of self-balancing.

Credit: This may borrow from engineer Scum's ideas.