DIY: Tribute hammock (The Dangerous Bird)

[dangerous]

So, I’m in the process of making my ideal DIY hammock. Based on Papa Smurfs Danger Bird. I’ve added some features from other hammocks, and a few things that just made sense to me. I was going to wait until the build was finished to post this, but I just had to vent to some of my DIY brothers and sisters.

I REALLY dislike zippers!!!!

I've spent an unmentionable number of hours trying to setup two different covers on one zipper track. My plan called for 8 zippers pulls and a couple of months ago when I planned this hammock and ordered everything, I had it all figured out in my head how to set them up. Well tonight I started on the zippers and could not for the life of me figure out how to feed 6 zipper pulls onto one single zipper track and end up with it doing what I wanted. Finally, out of the blue it popped into my head and luck was in my fingers because after struggling for hours feeding zipper pulls on forwards and backwards the last four went right on without a single hitch.

I've never been happier to be done with a particular part of a project before. But man, I REALLY don't like zippers!!!

Next, up is the bug net/Argon top cover and this puppy will be DONE!!

I'll post pics soon, however out of respect for the creator of this design, I'm going to omit some of the details of the build and focus on the final product.

[Jazilla]

Zipper pulls can be a p.i.a sometimes

[dangerous]

Ok, so I finally got this hammock finished and all in all it turned out better than I expected.

First up, a list of materials:
8 yards of 1.0oz pure finish ripstop nylon (coyote brown)
4 yards of brown Argon 67
4 yards of No See-Um
25 feet Amsteel
12 feet of polyester webbing
40 feet of 1.75mm cord
22 feet of #3 zipper coil
8 #3 double sided zipper pulls
3 cord locks
2 aluminum arrow shaft toggles

Ok, so this is going to be a basic tutorial on building a double layer hammock with pictures of the finished "Dangerous Bird" at the end.

I started off by cutting out two 11 foot long section of ripstop. Next I put in a 1/4 inch hem on all four sides of both layers.



Then I laid out the layers together and pinned the long end channels together.

First I just pin my fabric straight into the carpet to hold everything in place and keep the fold straight.


Then I re-pin the hem with the pins set up to sew right over them


Here you can see that you can sew right over top of your pins if they're put in correctly.




Next I sew the long sides on one side together all the way down, and the other side just gets sewn together in the middle. I did a section about a foot long.


With the hammock body sewing finished, it's time to whip the ends and put in a ridgeline.








With the end whipping done, I fish the ridgeline through the whipped end



Now with the ridgeline protruding out of the end whipping, I feed the fixed eye of my whoopie sling through the ridgeline and finish the larks head around the hammock whipping



I tried a few different lengths, but finally found the most comfortable lay I could get.


The double layer opening makes it real easy to insert a pad


And here it is all packed up.


Final steps were to add the zippers and install the bug net and top cover.



The Argon top cover really does a great job of holding in some warmth but breathing well enough to not get stuffy.


All packed up with both covers installed it weighs 1oz less than my 1.1 double BlackBird! I couldn't be happier.

[dangerous]

just a couple extra pics
open top


bug net


Argon top cover

[Cali]

Very nice!!!!

[TZBrown]

Nice work

I agree, zippers can be a problem until you do a few dozen....

[boulderv7]

Looking great. I also pin straight into my carpet, works pretty good.

[Ghillieshot]

Very well done. Keep up the great DIY projects. Well worth it in my mind. You learn and save. Win win.

Ghillieshot.

[OutandBack]

Got any picts of all those zipper pulls in action? I think you said 8 is that 2 per side for each top piece? (net/top cover)

[dangerous]

Got any picts of all those zipper pulls in action? I think you said 8 is that 2 per side for each top piece? (net/top cover)

I'll try to get some pictures later, but no their are 2 zippers on each cover that run down the left and right sides from head to foot that secure the particular cover in place, then their are two more zipper pulls facing each other that I can zip down to the middle of the track on the entry side and as I zip them away from each other the cover opens. This way the cover always stays secure at the ends and the additional zipper pulls allow for a more traditional entry/exit. So that's 4 pulls per cover, 2 to secure the cover and 2 more for entry and exit. That's 8 pulls all together.