I haven't been here very long, but this place has been great for information and inspiration. I don't think I would have gotten this far without the "do-it-yourself" energy that flows in this forum.
I bought a surplus bug net(mosquito bar, insect bar) before I headed out for my first hang and it did great at keeping the bugs off, but it looked pretty bad and I didn't have much confidence that it would stay closed all night.
So I searched here and on line for the different ways mosquito nets are set up and here's what I've come up with so far. It's not finished because I want to be able to unstitch it if necessary and change anything that needs changing. I'm going to use it a couple times and see if I need to change anything.
Suggestions are welcome.
When the unmodified net is layed out flat it's a hexagonal shape like below. It's two identical layers layed on top of each other. The dark line represents a factory seam that is the top of the net when used to cover a cot, but I made it into the bottom of my net.
The diagonal red lines(below) represent where I sewed it together and the horizontal red line represents two channels I sewed and put shock cord through. I put both pieces of shock cord through cord locks and made them equal tension.
The material above the shock cord forms a flap that lays over the ridge line and since the hem forms a v, it hangs on the ridge line making somewhat of a seal and making it pretty stable. I thought about putting cord locks in the middle and cinching them really tight, but I couldn't get the cords tight enough to come together. There were always a bunch of gaps. The way I've done it makes a pretty good seal. I'm still considering sewing it all up and putting in a zipper though.
The ends close up pretty good in my opinion.
The inner flap is still a problem I have to solve. I'm thinking something as simple as a couple cords from my ridgeline running down over the edge of the hammock might give it enough support, or trimming it so that only a couple of inches hang over the ridge line.
Closed up tight!
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