Questions on making my own...

**Paul Gibson** · 05-24-2007, 10:06

Ok, basically it boils down to this:
I love hammocks (in general) and I decided a while back that I wanted a camping hammock. On my last outing, I fashioned one out of an old blue tarp and it worked so well that I slept in it (with great success!).

I had planned on buying a HH, but for various reasons, I don't think it is the right choice. And really, I prefer homemade gear because it gives you so much latitude on design choices.

So I would like to ask some questions before I jump in (I'm new to this so bear with me...):

1) Are Spear-style hammocks asym? I've looked around and can't really figure out if they are or not. I'd like to do an asym design because it really looks like it would help keep my knees from having the strain on them they did in my test hammock. Or could that just be caused by it being too short?

2) Argh! Fabric choices! If I understand correctly, what I need to make the hammock out of is ripstop nylon. And the fly out of silnylon, correct? What weight of ripstop should I use (I'm a 210 pounder) and what weight silnylon for the fly?

I was looking at headchange's design and was like

- man. Elegant. So that is what I'm thinking of tackling.

Am I on the right track here, or am I missing something?

**headchange4u** · 05-24-2007, 10:11

1) You can lie diagonally in a Speer type hammock. In fact you have to lie diagonally to get comfortable and lie flat.

2) @ 210lbs you would probaly be fine using 1.9oz ripstop. The 1.1oz silnyon is fine for the tarp.

**Preacha Man** · 05-24-2007, 10:14

Paul, I am very new to this too. I made my first 3 hammocks before joing this site just of the plans from jeff's site.
http://www.tothewoods.net

This one always works well for me. The great thing about making them yourselves is that they cost very little, and you can really experiment on what well for you.

**Paul Gibson** · 05-25-2007, 07:26

Makes sense! Thanks for the tips: and I'll shoot for a longer hammock, hopefully that will help.

**Paul Gibson** · 05-28-2007, 08:39

The Hancock Fabric stores in my area are going out of business and having a clearance sale. I checked them out and found several blots of this (in a couple of colors):

Spruce Rip Stop

I have no idea if this is 1.1 or 1.9. I'm guessing it is 1.1 Has anyone ever seen the rip stop at Hancocks? Any idea what weight this stuff is?

It was so cheap (about $1.50), I bought every color that I liked - but they still had about 8 bolts after I took what I wanted. (in case anyone in the Knoxville area is interested: Sale ends Wednesday. I went to the two stores on Kingston Pike)

**Just Jeff** · 05-28-2007, 08:41

The only ripstop I've seen at stores like that was 1.9 oz. Doesn't mean yours is though - did it have a denier count on it?

**Paul Gibson** · 05-28-2007, 08:55

Originally Posted by Just Jeff

The only ripstop I've seen at stores like that was 1.9 oz. Doesn't mean yours is though - did it have a denier count on it?

I think it did, but I don't recall what it was unfortunately. I plan on swinging by the last store in the area today and seeing if they have any. It seems awful thin, though. Maybe I'm just underestimating nylon.

I will take some notes when I'm there today.