Bridge Hammock

[Rapt]

No missed the massless ropes but often its a reasonable approximation...

And the moveable trees...

I'm all excited because I finally got my Al descender rings and found a local sailing store with 3mm 12 strand spectra rope...

A bridge hammock of some sort is in my future I just know it... But its AFTER the canoe in the family room AND the Cat tarp...

[Walking Bear]

I’ve been lurking in the background for a while and enjoying the HF. I have made a couple of shelters out of silnylon. I made a hammock from Jeff’s directions from WM fabric and liked it.
Then the Bridge hammock post started. I liked the possibility of reduced weight of hammock and under quilts.
Now the reason for this post.
I want to use trekking poles for the spreaders on the bridge hammock. The connection of the poles to the hammock has been approached several ways. This is one more way to consider. I used some two-inch wide webbing that I had to make a pocket for the pole handle and sewed it between the webbing straps on the hammock. For the tip end the webbing loop has a piece of metal electrical conduit in it. The conduit has a hole drilled in one side for the tip of the pole to go into. There was some slippage of the tube in the loop of the webbing so a zip tie was added to hold it in place. This is just a prototype, the steel conduit would be replaced with aluminum before it goes in the backpack.
I hope that I can get the photos to load.
Bob

[slowhike]

welcome to HF walking bear.
your attachment points for the hiking stick look similar to what i use.
they have served me well for quite a while now... & i sleep in my hammock at home too.
to see pictures, click on my gallery below my user name, & go to page 7.

[GrizzlyAdams]

I’ve been lurking in the background for a while and enjoying the HF. I have made a couple of shelters out of silnylon. I made a hammock from Jeff’s directions from WM fabric and liked it.
Then the Bridge hammock post started. I liked the possibility of reduced weight of hammock and under quilts.
Now the reason for this post.
I want to use trekking poles for the spreaders on the bridge hammock. The connection of the poles to the hammock has been approached several ways. This is one more way to consider. I used some two-inch wide webbing that I had to make a pocket for the pole handle and sewed it between the webbing straps on the hammock. For the tip end the webbing loop has a piece of metal electrical conduit in it. The conduit has a hole drilled in one side for the tip of the pole to go into. There was some slippage of the tube in the loop of the webbing so a zip tie was added to hold it in place. This is just a prototype, the steel conduit would be replaced with aluminum before it goes in the backpack.
I hope that I can get the photos to load.
Bob

Thanks for the post. That's a nice touch sewing the baskets into the webbing loop.

Grizz

[GrizzlyAdams]

I’ve been lurking in the background for a while and enjoying the HF. I have made a couple of shelters out of silnylon. I made a hammock from Jeff’s directions from WM fabric and liked it.
Then the Bridge hammock post started. I liked the possibility of reduced weight of hammock and under quilts.
Now the reason for this post.
I want to use trekking poles for the spreaders on the bridge hammock. The connection of the poles to the hammock has been approached several ways. This is one more way to consider. I used some two-inch wide webbing that I had to make a pocket for the pole handle and sewed it between the webbing straps on the hammock. For the tip end the webbing loop has a piece of metal electrical conduit in it. The conduit has a hole drilled in one side for the tip of the pole to go into. There was some slippage of the tube in the loop of the webbing so a zip tie was added to hold it in place. This is just a prototype, the steel conduit would be replaced with aluminum before it goes in the backpack.
I hope that I can get the photos to load.
Bob

What is the longest length of separation you've had these working on (and what occupant weight)?

The handle looks slightly bent, I assume that's part of the pole design. Are you centering the webbing basket on the pole there, or on the handle?

thanks

Grizz

[Walking Bear]

What is the longest length of separation you've had these working on (and and what occupant length).

The handle looks slightly bent, I assume that's part of the pole design. Are you centering the webbing basket on the pole there, or on the handle?

thanks

Grizz

I have got the spread up to 40 inches so far. The length of straps to the support was 63 inches. I want to shorten the support straps today and play with the spread some more.
It is a 90 by 61 inch hammock body with 12 cut in the side. I think the cut in the middle needs to be lower for ease of entry and exit. This old body had a little difficulty getting out. I'm six feet tall and weigth of about 230 pounds.
The poles are Komperdell and the handles are straight with a little bend in the plastic handle. I tried to make the webbing basket just a little bigger than the pole handle.

[schrochem]

Walking Bear, that's a great idea. I was trying to come up with some sort of basket myself but nothing materialized. This could also be easily installed to test the lower points turkey boy was talking about.

[Walking Bear]

One thing that I failed to mention in my first post was that the two basket straps run between the two webbing straps on the hammock. I looped back about 12 inches of the hammock webbing and placed the basket straps between the two webbing straps. The poles run between the hammock webbing straps.

[GrizzlyAdams]

Walking Bear, that's a great idea. I was trying to come up with some sort of basket myself but nothing materialized. This could also be easily installed to test the lower points turkey boy was talking about.

What is crystallizing now in my mind is that 12" or 15" back from the head of the hammock, one makes a small cut-out of the fabric at the top edge, such that once the webbing is rolled, it is exposed, where one can sew or tie attachments, or even put a ring there (which means actually separate webbing lines to and from the ring, with the ring sewn into loops of both, see attachment).

Now the way Walking Bear embeds the pockets into the webbing requires the webbing to twist 90 degrees---its natural orientation under tension is to have the flat side vertical. This causes some twisting force to be applied at the pole ends.... The natural way to embed the pockets as WB has done would be to sew another strap of webbing in this exposed area and embed the pocket as he's done already. That may induce twisting twice (a second time past the cut-out on the way to the head, but since almost all the weight is elsewhere, maybe the webbing won't want to twist again...)

I think what I'd try to do with the pockets at the cutout would be to leave the webbing alone, but attach (tie?) the pockets so that the hiking pole lies on top of the webbing, the attachments from pockets to webbing just "pull" it out without twisting.

I've thought about a pocket for my pacerpole handles, and I don't see it happening. But I do think that a pole solution I'd put here would attach to the exposed webbing and try to avoid twisting it. Ideally a spreader bar would just push the exposed webbing out from the inside, and not involve anything fancier.

Grizz

[turkeyboy]

I like the idea of cut out fabric, especially with a ring inserted. I'll be starting my next version tonight. I think I'll try it and see how it works. Also, has anybody tried bamboo for spreaders? I noticed you can get a bamboo fishing pole at walmart for 3.50. The bottom half is pretty stout. I thought two of those and you might have two light-weight, strong bamboo spreaders for $7. Bamboo also has those little ridges, so if the rings were just the right size, the bamboo would fit through until the first ridge. Just a thought . . . .