While I can and have made my own underquilts, these days my gear making time is severely constrained. I hankered after a nice 3/4 length quilt and sent in a order to HammockGear for a Phoenix. Adam got back to me with a proposition---gear swap! He'd take a GrizzBridge for that Phoenix. I warned him it would take me a while, but he was good with that.
So in fits and starts, an hour here, a half hour there, I set to work. My notion was to have the spreader bars 6' apart with the fabric extending beyond up the suspension triangle some, to use cord for side suspension ( 7/64" Amsteel), and 1.5 oz. yd^2 fabric. A slightly heavier duty version of the lightweight bridge hammock I videoed this spring (here, and here).
All was going well when disaster struck. In cutting a dart to pull in fabric at the head end I didn't pay close enough attention and a fold of fabric I did not intend to cut, got cut.
My heart sank.
In time I saw that the fabric at the point of the cut does not bear much weight, it is basically under the head. Hmm. I figured I could patch it using some fabric glue, but that would be ugly and announce my mistake to all the world. Definitely not something I would give to Adam! I communicated events to him, told him I'd start over if I couldn't think of any aesthically pleasing way to repair. He was very supportive, said if I thought the repaired bridge was safe he'd be happy to take it.
Nice thoughts, but nope. Do not want ugly patch visible.
I started thinking about a patch with purpose…I could put on some kind of container that would hold a jacket or Packa as a pillow. It would cover up the patch…
And thus the Serendipity Bridge was born. The bag is about 24" in circumference and 30" in length. Here there is a fleece inside, which makes for a nice head support.
If you flip the hammock, the bag can hold some lightweight things off the ground if you prefer a different pillow.
Obligatory foot shot, and side shot. The hammock is wide (about 34") at the middle and both spreader bars are 36", which allows me to curl up on my side, which I like to do.
I spliced in a second cord to catch the tips of the poles. There's no lighter solution. Thats a sliding knot to close the cords together near the pole.
The end design allows you to "close up" the end if desired just by the positioning of the poles. Put them under the hammock body and you get closed up ends.
The Phoenix fits great, even if the bag is on the underside, the quilt starts at the shoulders and so the bag doesn't interfere. The Phoenix is also a nice tight fit.
You can stuff the hammock into the bag, but that's a lot of bag for not very much hammock. So here's the hammock in the bag, and also the hammock and the Phoenix in the bag. Dual use!
The patch and glue and bag added some weight of course, but the setup in the bag (does not include tree straps or poles) weighs 10.6 oz.
Coming your way Stormcrow!
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