After reviewing all the threads and reports from everybody going back 12 pages on Jack's forum and finally deciding that I had to try out a UL BMBH and buying one, my first nite of hanging couple nites ago in the house was awesome. So I had to try it outdoors and with a cold front coming in last nite and lite showers,,I spent about 2 hrs fiddling with the tarp and bridge hammock trying everything imaginable to make my 12' cat cut cuben tarp from HG work without damaging the tarp. We have had about 48 continuous days of plus 90 degree days and lots of mornings waking up with temps still in the high 70's and 80's and tons of humidity,,but last nite was pretty perfect,,when I hit the hammock to crash out, it was 67 at 11pm and this morning was 54 and a super nites sleep. Hammock was hung and I used a 50 degree Jarbridge from Arrowhead,,and a 50 degree down sewed thru topquit from UG and was pure toast as it was the best nite ever in the past 3-4 months of weather we have had. I had already swapped the webbing using whoopie slings with biners.
I did couple of MOD"S to the hammock itself as posting of pics will show. Getting into the hammock for the second time outside using a cuben tarp and trying not to touch the sidewalls was the pits,,last pic will show a abrasion area where the spreader bars rubbed the tarp pitting it,,using some cuben tape with adhesive backing, from Joe's of Zpacks got a testing of it as I ended up this morning repairing tiny holes with it,,The tape works great and glad I got it. So you might say the cuben tarp is finally broken in with a battle scar.
The first few pics will show the hang. Its from my porch to a 6 x 6 treated timber 2.5' concreted in the ground and the spread is 15'.
First mod,,was to take some high density etha foam that is 1/2 thick and cut 4 - 2.5" x 4" square pieces and with a 12 penny nail shove it thru making a hole and then tieing some 3/32" shock chord to each side making them fairly elastic to where they will stay on the end of the spreader bars. This creates a cushion when the bar might hit the sides of the Cuben Tarp and saving myself from worrying about poking more holes into it. They will stay on no matter what and you can take them off. when you don't want them on. Think of scope covers..as I tried them first after thinking of what to cover the ends of the spreader bars with something to protect the tarp and so far,,this is the easiest and with what materials I had available,,to come up with,,and only wieghing total 1.2 ozs for both sets, and every cushy and protective. I am going to see if I can find some tennis balls about 2" dia, and cut them into and see how they work. Anybody else has any ideas,,please post as I am all for anything that protects my 2 cuben tarps. If you use silnylon you have no problems in my opinion as silnylon will take a better beating than cuben.
Second mod..when rigging a RL to keep the hammock from Center Ring to Center Ring at 8' 9" as per Jack's recommendations, like others that may have posted,,I find my bug net alittle annoying,,so using a Dutch Quilt hook, and a 8" long piece of 3/32 shock chord with a loop tied to the Quilt Hook, and a knot thru a 1" x1" piece of high density etha foam that orginally was 1/2" thick cut with a sharp knife into 1/4" thick,,and the 12 penny nail..I put a hole in the middle of the etha foam square tieing it 3 times into a thick knot so that it wouldn't pull thru,,and ran the shock chord thru the bug net after puttling a small hole with nail,,and clipped the Dutch Quilt hook to the RL..works great..doesn't weigh anything and the net is still floppy without putting any stress anywhere on the zippers with lots of play still in it,,but nicely up and out of the way I like it and very happy with that mod. Pics will show what I did and how it was done. You can unclip it anytime you want for transportation and no stress to the netting period.
Last mod will be sending one of my cuben tarps back to Adam of HG and having him put 4 more tarp side tieouts on the sides for my arrow mods in pulling the sides out at a equal distance of 80" apart on each side to match the width of the hammock spreader bar ends..for last nite's setup I used a set of grip clips and wow,,won't ever catch me using grip clips on a cuben tarp ever again..if there had been any wind,,I am sure there would have been major damage as cuben material won't withstand the use of grip clips. Grip clips will damage cuben materal period. This tarp used last nite has 4 pucker places where the grip clips were,,and I don't think they will come out. No holes however. I have used grip clips on silnylon with no problems but cuben material is a no for me.
Last nites sleep was really perfect..the lay was awesome in this hammock..Its super easy to hang and set up. Installation of UQ's is a breaze. I really like the low sides for 3 season as well,,you definitely can feel a breeze when sleeping in it and to me that is a plus as gathered end hammocks do have a tendancy to block breezes when you need them even tho they do breath. In colder weather,,the tarp sides down lower can allievate the breezes to some extent.
Last comment,,,,,last nite I used a cat cut 12' long 4 season cuben tarp by HG. My other cuben tarp will have a bit more coverage as it has no cat cut and on the sides is about 6" longer and still 12' long 4 season that HG made me...I will use this cuben tarp with the bridge hammock as to take advantage of the maximium coverage early spring and late fall hammocking in inclimate weather. If anybody has some better options,,I would love to hear them. I am always looking for better ways hanging.
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