Changing the hammock short edges' cut 2 give better comfort/back support when sitting

[North]

This made me curious so I gave it a try.

I took a 60"x126" tablecloth blank and gathered the ends while gradually pulling the edges to effectively form a trapezoid with the short side ~13" shorter than the long side.

This provided a very comfortable reclining bench seat with head support. As expected, it made a terrible hammock. Definitely worth playing with using a lighter fabric if you want a bench for hiking.

interesting, thx for sharing.

So you took about 6.5" from both ends or 13" from one end? Have you also tried to make some sort of a shaped cut (for ex. as in the 1st pic above), or do you think what you did would correspond to what a straight cut trapezoid should give?

I wonder how we could enhance the chair while keeping the hammock comfortable. I guess the problem was the shorter side was raising too high and restricting your foot room when laying down?

Did you first start at 13" or was that trial and error until the sitting felt good? Normally I think a cat cut on the short edges would be about 3", so 6" total. Maybe 13 was a bit much. or 6" wouldnt make enough of a difference.

If the hammock was 12' or 70" instead of 10.5'/60" perhaps laying in the hammock would still be fairly normal?

I think doing a cat cut as in option A in the 1st pic should give a more comfortable hammock than a trapezoid, but I fear the low back support might be insufficient (too deep). Which is why I was toying with option 2.

Since it's gonna be my 1st camping hammock I think I'll have it made by simplylightdesigns to get a better idea how they are made. Hopefully I design a good plan right from the start, but if not I guess I'll have to borrow my mom's sewing machine

[gmcttr]

interesting, thx for sharing.

So you took about 6.5" from both ends or 13" from one end?

6.5" from each end...

Trapazoid Hammock.jpg

Have you also tried to make some sort of a shaped cut (for ex. as in the 1st pic above), or do you think what you did would correspond to what a straight cut trapezoid should give?

It simulated a "straight cut trapezoid"

I wonder how we could enhance the chair while keeping the hammock comfortable. I guess the problem was the shorter side was raising too high and restricting your foot room when laying down?

I don't know how you would get both. When trying to lay down, it placed me on the very edge of the long side with zero diagonal lay.

Did you first start at 13" or was that trial and error until the sitting felt good? Normally I think a cat cut on the short edges would be about 3", so 6" total. Maybe 13 was a bit much. or 6" wouldnt make enough of a difference.

I only tried it because I was curious about the bench idea by Titaniumpyro. I took a wild guess at 13" and it worked well enough to prove the concept of a bench so I stopped at that.

If the hammock was 12' or 70" instead of 10.5'/60" perhaps laying in the hammock would still be fairly normal?

Not with the "bench cut". I'm sure it would still block you from most of the hammock.

I think doing a cat cut as in option A in the 1st pic should give a more comfortable hammock than a trapezoid, but I fear the low back support might be insufficient (too deep). Which is why I was toying with option 2.

Which is why I suggested in post #2 that you use the gather/lash the ends method to experiment with your ideas. It let's you simulate any cut on the ends that you want to explore in a few minutes time without any cutting, sewing or commitment.

Since it's gonna be my 1st camping hammock I think I'll have it made by simplylightdesigns to get a better idea how they are made. Hopefully I design a good plan right from the start, but if not I guess I'll have to borrow my mom's sewing machine

Keep on thinking and give your ideas a try. It's the fastest way to really learn how you can mod a hammock.

[North]

Here is another idea. Along the long edge of the side that becomes the back/head support, if one sewed a channel in the middle (like 3' long) or added tie-outs loops, which would be tied to the trees to spread and raise that middle part up. That could make a nice backrest of a chair ? Or tied to a hiking pole behind the hammock. Then to sleep one simply let it go into a normal hammock.

Yet another idea would be to sew 2 channels at each of the 2 short edges of the hammock. One as a normal rectangle, one inclined to make a trapezoid or some other shaped channel. attach the hammock suspension to the rectangular channels to sleep, and to the shaped channels to sit. Would that decrease too much the weight rating? be too cumbersome to be worth it?

Have you guys tried or seen anything like that?

[North]

Back to the original suggestions, I'm actually impressed that one can hang a hammock like that without sewing.. when the snow melt up here I'll look for some fabric and give it a try (I cant really hang anything in my apt). DIY offers so many possibilities

For now I think I'll have the attached design made (with half-cat-cuts 3-4" on each end). I'm hoping it wont push me too much on the opposite edge and still help a bit with sitting.

If you, Titaniumpyro or anyone else try some configurations plz report back

[Titaniumpyro]

Thank you gmcttr for proofing the concept. I do plan to experiment with this idea soon.
Just returned from my first trip to Linville Gorge. Amazing place!