First and foremost I say thank you to all members of this forum. I learnt a lot here and would have been unable to realize the hammock which I showcase in the following without the knowledge I gathered here. Special thanks are addressed to Papasmurf, XTrekker, Derek Hansen and last but not least Ramblinrev.
It's my first realization of a real hammock and it's the first time I have sewn ripstop nylon and such a big project. 4 pictures from the first two test hangs are shown below and the last one shows a pattern of a newly designed top cover. Further pictures with more details can follow (if you like including instructions - I have nothing to hide and all my stitches came out - after some initial problems - rather straight). The hammock is almost ready. I still will sew a rectangular weather shield, two little peak bags, a large peak shelf, a storage pocket, a RL organizer and a bishop bag in order to complete this hammock.
My first indent was to sew a 11 ft convertible WBBB DL clone. My plans and some little mock hammocks including detailed sewing patterns were ready but I could not solve the zipper problem with a normal #5 endless coil zipper for two different top covers in a satisfiable manner. The zipper fiddling would have been no problem for me, but the zipper would have suffered because of the recurrent fiddling. Therefore I changed my plans and solved the zipper problem with a very easy trick which would have been not possible in the same manner with a WBBB clone.
There is not much special with the hammock body. Newly designed is only the top cover. The body is a 1.9oz DL and more or less a Papasmurf's Dream Hammock clone with finished body dimensions 138" x 58". I started with about 144" x 60". I made the hammock 6" longer than a normal 11fter because I'm 76.8" tall and have no foot box in this kind of hammock. I cat cut the hammock ends exactly the same way like XTrekker here and the channel ends are sewn together like XTrekker recommended it in his video series (about 3 inches on both sides). The RL is currently 114.5" (83% x 138") long. The whipping is done also in a Dream Hammock style. In my case a continuous loop runs through the channel like it was recommended by Derek Hansen (here) - but it is spliced properly with 4mm Dyneema cord (the preferable 3mm Dyneema cord would have been to expensive in Germany for me). I like this method now more than the Warbonnet style of whipping because the whipping is easier to open and the fabric of the channel ends is not so constricted. There is one #5 YKK endless coil zipper sandwiched between the two (inside roll hemmed) layers on both long sides. The zipper starts 3 inches behind the tip of the foot end channel, goes around the rounded head end (below the head end triangle is another triangle which has a parabola cut on the zipper side) and back to the foot end. On both hammock sides are three zipper sliders (the middle one runs backwards and the other two forwards - I think the zipper slider arrangement works exactly like Papasmurf's zipper carousel). The top cover is completely removable but normally stays attached to the zipper. It can be stored in a peak bag at the foot end without being removed from the zipper. I can enter/exit the hammock from both sides. I can lay in this hammock in two different ways and I can use the Hammock two-sided (even inside out - and I can easy change it because the whipping is easy to open). There are 27.5" centered openings for a pad on any side. I will still close these openings with Velcro because I noticed that the rolled hem of the openings likes to be eaten by the zipper sliders. There are four pack hooks sewn on any side. Between the layers are additional grosgrain loops at the same locations. These loops can be used to fasten a pad between the layers. Distance between the two tie-out pack hooks 34.6" (17.3" from center). Distance from hammock ends to UQ pack hooks about 16.5".
The top-cover has a asymmetric parallelogram form (a pattern from a similar mock hammock is shown as the last picture below). It has similarities with the peekaboo system from the Hammeck Envy S but the design is different and developed by myself with a small computer program. The no-see-um mesh part of the top cover has a rectangular form. The fabric parts of the top cover have a triangular form (one has a parabola cut on one side). Put next to each other the two triangles form a rectangle too. This layout saves much fabric. The longer side of the no-see-um netting rectangle is including seam allowance for a flat felled seam a bit shorter than the normal fabric width (56.6"). The trick with this design is imo besides fabric savings as follows. I need only one normal endless coil zipper. The second (fabric) top cover/weather shield has the same rectangular form than the no-see-um netting and will be attached to the first top cover below the no-see-um netting part with a few Kam Snaps only. I think a further (second) zipper (which would need to be separable) would be overkill and is not really required for the aimed purpose.
I'm delighted about the lay in this hammock. I found with my body size immediately a sweet spot and I slept already about two hours in this hammock without any problems. I didn't want to step out. The bug net is not really floppy. When I lay in this hammock the tension on the bug net seams to be correct and nowhere overstretched or too floppy. The only problem I noticed is the tension on the hammock sides when I enter/exit the hammock. I think the cat cut on the hammock ends was not really a good idea. I would like to have a bit floppier hammock sides.
I therefore still think about to shorten the RL a bit and to integrate the zipper/top cover edges with a grosgrain edge binding loop into the suspension. The same is done in case of the original WBBB XLC. I think the reason for this is mainly to deal with the tension problem when the hammock is used in chair mode.
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Originally Posted by brianb
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