Warbonnets wants

**Mustardman** · 03-29-2009, 09:19

Originally Posted by Coldspring

My arm and shoulder are still sore tonight, and it's been some time since I was in the hammock.

See thats my point, though - if the hammock is causing you that kind of discomfort and pain, thats a serious issue. Complaining about the color of the shock cord and size of the zipper pulls looks like you're just finding stuff to hate because you're grouchy from getting a bad night's sleep

It would be like one of us having to go to ground for a weekend, and ending up with a sore back, and then going on whiteblaze and posting a big rant about how we hate tents because the rain flys aren't pretty and we didn't like the color of the guy lines that came with it. Or how the included stakes were so crappy and I shouldn't have to upgrade to MSR Groundhogs because I'm not a DIYer.

By wasting time complaining about aesthetic nonsense, you take attention away from the important point - sleeping in the blackbird caused you pain! That's a pretty serious point, and one that's pretty darn surprising to those of us who love our blackbirds, and it's one worth devoting some attention to.

**Shug** · 03-29-2009, 10:00

Slept in mine last night ..21º ... used the winter Yeti and was warm as could be. I now sleep with my feet in the footbox using the Yeti and a foot pad. Did get a "dead leg" for a bit from the middle ridge common to gathered end hammocks. I put a stuff sack with jacket in it under my knees and that helped. Happened with my DIY but I was able to adjust ridge lines and hang angles to find the sweet-spot.
EDIT...I think netting in the footbox would be terrific as my bag is always a bit damp even with just a pad. Venting would be stellar!!!
In the BB you are a bit more limited on the sweet spot.
I am going to play with the ridge line some and tweak it ... may or may not work but I am a "dinker".
I could find ways to improve everything I own if asked. I can find some faults in all my gear.
Also I understand that most of us want it perfect right out of the box. Of all the hammock companies offering products on here I have read pro's and con's on all of them. Yet we buy and tweak and mod and most of us still don't want to go to sleeping on the terra firma.
I truly enjoy my BB but equally love my DIY hammock. They are just tools to "get away" for me.
Shug

**Mustardman** · 03-29-2009, 10:04

Originally Posted by Shug

Did get a "dead leg" for a bit from the middle ridge common to gathered end hammocks. I put a stuff sack with jacket in it under my knees and that helped. Happened with my DIY but I was able to adjust ridge lines and hang angles to find the sweet-spot.
In the BB you are a bit more limited on the sweet spot.
I am going to play with the ridge line some and tweak it ... may or may not work but I am a "dinker".

I have found the leg ridge goes away almost completely if I hang it pretty loose. I would imagine shortening the ridge line by an inch or so would do a lot to eliminate it.

**neo** · 03-29-2009, 10:40

Originally Posted by Mustardman

The only thing I'd add to the blackbird would be a better way to secure the pad. Even with the double layer, the dang thing is so HUGE inside that the pad can move around a bit.

pads dont work well in an asymetrical double bottom hammock,they work great in the rectangler shaped claytor,dd,and jrb hammocks

neo

**kmat** · 03-29-2009, 10:47

I see Warbonnetguy addressed the shoulder concerns in post #25. Lots of good (free) R&D for Brandon as well. Not everyone will like the same hammock out of the box, but some tweaking will be needed for each individual. If you can't find a solution on this forum it must be broke, because there are some awesome DIY'ers here with a solution to just about everything I have read here. If it doesn't work for you list it here for sale and try something else. Hike your own hike! Be happy!
kmat

**warbonnetguy** · 03-29-2009, 10:48

as for the knee ridge, you can try hanging it a little looser, also if you "kick" the bunched up fabric out from under your knees that seems to help too, and scooting up or down a little.

netting over the footbox wouldn't help much with ventilation, and it and the shelf are one piece of fabric so both would have to be net and i'm not thrilled about that.

there is nothing that can be done with the wall on the right side, it's part of the end gathered hammock, especially a wide one where you lay diagonal.

new zip pulls are on the way, ykk actually told me they didn't have any of the ones i wanted here in the us, so they're coming from japan by boat, should be here in several more weeks, will be a longer shiny colored pull.

shock cord is white so you won't trip on it, i always tripped on black shockcord, not too many other color options.

i am getting some black 1.1, so "black"birds may be possible again eventually.

i did make a change to the pad pocket seam. i opened it some in the left shoulder area so you have access to the corner of the pad for easier pad adjustment or to reach an air valve. this can easily be done with a seam ripper and a couple backtacks at the start/stop points.

coldspring. if you're not used to sleeping on your right side and you slept on it all night then i could see that making your right shoulder sore. sounds like that's not the way you normally sleep, but resorted to it due to the uq slideing out from under you. like i said before, if you tighten it up more (so the loop of sc is a couple inches smaller than the perimeter of the uq) it will be more stable. you can also unzip enough to get your hand out there to grab it for adjustments. last resort might be attaching a small piece of string to the edge and then tying it off to the pulltab so it can't slide so far over.

if you've only used it 4 times, you can still return it if you want. maybe the travel net would be a better option for you if your other hammock is comfy enough.

i do appreciate people's ideas, i'm not going to be able to make every improvement i get of course, but i have made a few and the ones i don't, it's not because i don't think it's a good idea, but making signifigant changes to the design is pretty time consumeing for me and i really have to pick and choose what i can do. my designs are always evolveing and new ideas are always being thought up. i've actually got a couple more things in the works that have been mentioned by folks here.

**Coldspring** · 03-29-2009, 11:44

Originally Posted by warbonnetguy

coldspring. if you're not used to sleeping on your right side and you slept on it all night then i could see that making your right shoulder sore. sounds like that's not the way you normally sleep, but resorted to it due to the uq slideing out from under you. like i said before, if you tighten it up more (so the loop of sc is a couple inches smaller than the perimeter of the uq) it will be more stable. you can also unzip enough to get your hand out there to grab it for adjustments. last resort might be attaching a small piece of string to the edge and then tying it off to the pulltab so it can't slide so far over.

I'm not giving up on it yet. I'm going to set it up in the yard, today, and tinker.

I was thinking of doing something to hold the UQ in place the previous time I slept in it, I just never got around to it. I'm thinking some kind of loops with adjustment buckles would hold UQs in place...should be an option. I've always thought having a hammock body perimeter strip with tool/accessory loops at various points would be really handy for lots of things.

The zippers tabs aren't a big deal, but I wish you could find some that were longer with a rubberized coating or something. I'm glad I read this forum, because I never would have thought of using grosgrain, makes sense, and will be better than the strings I have in there now.

On the footbox netting and adding netting above the zipper, I think it would help some people as a tropical option. There are parts of the country that have high humidity and it is just miserable.

I don't know if I'll ever like the amsteel blue line, but it is lightweight.

**Shug** · 03-29-2009, 11:57

netting over the footbox wouldn't help much with ventilation, and it and the shelf are one piece of fabric so both would have to be net and i'm not thrilled about that.

Hey Brandon....My question ... could there be a square panel of mesh bugnet in that top panel on the footbox? Or would that disintegrate the structural integrity of the design?

**warbonnetguy** · 03-29-2009, 14:50

i think theoretically you could do that (cut in a window), but i think being enclosed in ripstop and netting will still be hot in the summer. netting still stops alot of small breezes. a small window there might catch a little breeze if it hits it right, but it's a pretty major mod and i'm not sure it would make that much difference although i could be wrong.