Hanging with the Kids

[drj0nes]

I've been Hammock camping while backpacking and motorcycle camping for about 2 years now. I never get a better sleep than while hanging! I have since convinced my Dad and a few other backpacking friends to hanging as well.

During a car camping trip with the family about a month ago, my daughter (2 years old) needed to take a nap. I put her into my Eno Single Nest, gave her a pillow and her blanket and she was out like a light... for 2 hours!

Watching her sleep there got me to thinking. I wondered if I could make something so that the kids (I also have a son whose 4) could sleep in a hammock INSIDE our tent!

First step was to make the Hammocks. Through lots of reading on this site, I ordered some table cloths, some Blue Amsteel and carabiners. After gathering and whipping the ends, I also used some shock cord in the sides to gather the sides up a bit to keep the kids in!

As you can see, the result was a big hit! Here is their first hang in the front yard.




After the hammocks were complete I got to work making a frame to hang them from that would fit inside the tent. We've got a pretty big 6 man REI tent, so we had 8 feet across to play with. I used some 2x4's and made some uprights with a simple cross beam. The cross beam attaches with some nuts and bolts, so it can easily come apart and lay flat in the back of my truck.

Here is the result...



As you can see, my Eno is hanging from it just to test out the strength, but the kids custom hammocks hang inside it perfectly! That way both kids will be able to hang, but inside the tent with us, to keep them nice and warm!

Thanks for reading! This site has been invaluable and I can't say enough about how helpful everyone has been!

[drj0nes]

I should mention that the pics of the hammocks are before I added the shock cord. Also, I have since added triangular reinforcements to the 2x4 uprights.

[aka.jobbe]

That looks Nice....and the kids are enjoing it

[dragon360]

They look like they're having a blast!

[SquirrelGirl]

Where are yall sleeping? On the ground, inside the tent? I'd want to hang too, lol!

Thanks for sharing this, though. I have started looking around the board for family hanging with young kids, and this is a great solution for the littles. Our almost-10 year old daughter has hung overnight with her dad more than I have, since I feel like I need to stay in a tent with our 3.5 year old son. We are debating how to get him up in a hammock overnight with us. He loves hanging out in the back yard, so I think it's just a matter of double-decking him over his dad and it might go fine! We bought the two kids one of those Woot netted hammocks a few days ago that will be great for overnights, so we just have to take the plunge, find some amazingly spaced trees for the whole fam, and try!

[drj0nes]

I know, it's a little bit of a letdown to sleep on the ground in the tent and watch my kids hang comfortably! But the tent is big, just not big enough for adults to hang inside.

Kids are loving it though. Shock cord on the sides really make a big difference, pretty much impossible for them to fall out (which of course is what my wife was worried about :-)