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  1. #1
    Acer's Avatar
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    Review of UL BMBH first hang outdoors last nite.

    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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    2nd CAG, CAP 2-1-5 5th Marines, 1st Mar. Div.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Action_Program

  2. #2
    Senior Member Boulderman's Avatar
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    Great report! I might make a similar mod to keep the bug net out of my face.
    Potential is nothing without hard work.

  3. #3
    Senior Member fallkniven's Avatar
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    I could be wrong, but it looks as if the hammock isn't pulled tight enough. Your supposed to pull the lines until the bugnet is tight, then back off just a bit. Yours seems to be sagging all of the way down. Granted it's not as deep and the original, but there's so much room in mine I don't understand why you'd need to pull it up...

  4. #4
    Senior Member Ewker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fallkniven View Post
    I could be wrong, but it looks as if the hammock isn't pulled tight enough. Your supposed to pull the lines until the bugnet is tight, then back off just a bit. Yours seems to be sagging all of the way down. Granted it's not as deep and the original, but there's so much room in mine I don't understand why you'd need to pull it up...
    I got to agree with this. Hamhocker was reading over my shoulder and commented how her bugnet is never in her face. I wonder if there is a difference between the reg and the UL version.

    We did like what you did to protect the tarp from the spreader bars. What was the length of the shock cord? Hamhocker never had any problems with the spreader bar cutting into her silnylon tarp but she doesn't want to take any chances on her new tarp.
    'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read.” ― Mark Twain

    Who cares about showers, gourmet food, using flush toilets. Just keep on walking and being away from it all.

    There are times that the only way you can do something is to do it alone.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Boulderman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ewker View Post
    I got to agree with this. Hamhocker was reading over my shoulder and commented how her bugnet is never in her face. I wonder if there is a difference between the reg and the UL version.

    We did like what you did to protect the tarp from the spreader bars. What was the length of the shock cord? Hamhocker never had any problems with the spreader bar cutting into her silnylon tarp but she doesn't want to take any chances on her new tarp.
    I believe I read on here that JRB added bugnet material to the UL version to avoid rips and tears. When hung at the correct angle/distance, my UL also has an abundance of bugnet, while my Deluxe did not.
    Potential is nothing without hard work.

  6. #6
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    Nice idea with the spreader bar protection. I find getting into the hammock without the bars hitting the tarp to be the hardest part also. I'm still looking for an elegant easy way to protect them.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Ewker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boulderman View Post
    I believe I read on here that JRB added bugnet material to the UL version to avoid rips and tears. When hung at the correct angle/distance, my UL also has an abundance of bugnet, while my Deluxe did not.
    ok then there is a difference in the way the bugnet is made into the hammock body. I know on Hamhockers bridge the bugnet is really tight all the way around the hammock.
    'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read.” ― Mark Twain

    Who cares about showers, gourmet food, using flush toilets. Just keep on walking and being away from it all.

    There are times that the only way you can do something is to do it alone.

  8. #8
    Acer's Avatar
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    Distance between the blocks of etha foam after tied,,is 18"...If I take and hang this hammock without a RL...then back it down so the bug net is just a dash loose..I get from Ring to Ring 112 inches,,if I get in it,,with the bug net loose,,its still loose enough to zip it up leaving bug net still loose so that it doesn't pull on the corners where zipper goes around..so as not to damage the material. However,,using the Ridge Line,,set at 105" as per directions from Jack's (8'9") bugnet is loosie goosie..so I modded it and its comfy as all get out as per their instructions..

    Here is another mod on this hammock to lose 8.5 more oz;s leaving the spreader bars at home using the hiking poles..they are Black Diamond aluminum hiking poles and been working on it all day tinkering around and they work perfect. I put black heavy tubing on the points after installing a washer for the rings to push into on the pointed end. and all I did was take the wrist webbing and shove it thru the ring and around the handle and tighten as far as I could with wrists strap and buckle. Works great.

    Weight of hammock, tree slings, small biners for hanging hammock, washers, 3' x 3' peice of plastic for ground sheet, 1 - 4' amsteel extension for backup to tree slings, 2 dutch lites, hammock bag that was provided from Jacks, 2 pieces of plastic tubing to go over points of hiking poles..exactly 30 oz. Or leave some misc stuff and carry Jack's spreader bars which are an additional 8.5 oz plus the foam blocks with shock chord to protect cuben tarp, 1.5 more ozs..and your close to total weight of 40 ozs...
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    Last edited by Acer; 08-11-2012 at 17:44.
    2nd CAG, CAP 2-1-5 5th Marines, 1st Mar. Div.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Action_Program

  9. #9
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Acer, so glad to hear you are digging the comfort of your BMBH UL. I don't know if you were one of the group ( of which I am a charter member ) that has various knee/calf problems with various hammocks. Especially if the pitch and my position is not perfect. But if you are, ain't it great to never have to even consider that problem?

    I love that bar cushion mod you have come up with. I may steal that. I may steal that RL/net hanger mod also. Because my UL also seems to have a looser net than my old removable net model, at least at 8'9" between the rings.

    But I see you are also having some panel pulls added to your tarp. How I have solved the problem with my set up is using Grip Clips on my JRB 10X11 rectangular tarp. Of course you have the additional hassle of yet more things that need to be tied out. Pretty easy if a bush or tree is in the right place. Otherwise I have to rig up my hiking poles, and there are only two of those. Then come fallen branches used as poles. Or, I carry some extra line so that I can usually reach a tree or bush. But it works perfect. and has the added advantage of adding a bunch of room even with a storm pitch. I can even close one end and still clear the bars. ( watch out for wind driving your tarp into the bars! )

    BTW, how is the comfort with 112" between the rings? Any difference?
    Last edited by BillyBob58; 08-12-2012 at 12:36.

  10. #10
    Nice review and I like the mods on the UL.
    I got one of the first UL's and it was sent back the same day I got it because of the sagging net.

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