Hey everyone,

I've been doing a lot of reading and researching the past couple months, trying to learn as much as I can about hammocks. I've made a couple hammocks so far, out of a ripstop material from walmart that is dull on one side and shiny on the other. I assume it is some sort of nylon, but in all honesty I have no idea.

I'm having a very discouraging problem with these hammocks. When I test out one of my hammocks for 15 minutes or so, it seems very comfortable. But when I actually go to sleep in it for the entire night, after 30 or 40 minutes I start tossing and turning. I will eventually fall asleep but I wake up about once an hour and have to move then it takes me a good 20 minutes to fall back asleep. Everyone talks about how comfortable a hammock is, and I agree to a point, but why can't I sleep any longer than I am? I like the fact that when I get out of the hammock in the morning, my shoulders and kidney areas are not aching, but I dont like the fact that I barely slept. I get better sleep in a tent even with the aching shoulders and kidney areas.

Here are the things I've tried to alieviate the problem:
- Tried using a pillow and not using a pillow
- I use a rolled up sweater shirt under my knees and under my lower back (or else my knees and back will hurt very bad because of the curve of the hammock)
- I've used a ridgeline and had anywhere from a lot of sag to hardly any sag.
- I've tried it without a ridgeline with a lot of sag and hardly any sag.
- Just to emphasize the above two comments, I've had so much sag I can lay nearly perpendicular to the hammock, and I've had so little sag that I could feel it pressing against my shoulders.
- I've tried one layer of material so it will stretch, and I've tried two layers so there is no stretch.
- I've tried three different ways to whip the ends (Just Jeff's "W" folding technique, a normal "fold in half and bunch the ends" technique, and HeadChange4u's Hennesy type folding)

My suspension is based on Just Jeff's method of using two rappel rings to weave webbing through to add adjustability. So I have a 2 inch strip of webbing around the tree as a tree hugger, this is connected to a biner which connects to the webbing. The webbing goes through the two rings which are attached to the ends of my hammock. My current hammock is two layers of 1.9 oz ripstop from a local fabric store (not walmart this time). It is about 58 inches wide and about 105 inches long. But from whipping to whipping it is about 95 inches. I am 68 inches tall and weight 160 lbs.

Does anyone have any suggestions at all? I think my last resort will be a bridge hammock, tho it seems much more difficult to make than the ones I have been. I'm not worried about how difficult it is, but the more difficult = the longer it will take = the longer it will be till I get it done....I'm usually pretty busy with school and work. So any suggestions on the current setup? I've tried to sleep in this one about 6 different times, each time with a different sag, and I get the same results. Seems comfortable to start with, eventually I start tossing and turning, once I fall asleep I wake up about once an hour and it takes about 20 minutes to get back to sleep.

Thanks,
-Jonnie