First attempt at a DIY hammock - The BlueBird

[OldMan]

I've been toying with trying my hand at building my own hammock and finally kicked the project off on Sunday; talking my wife into playing seamstress for me and pushing back all of the furniture in the living room. The hammock is a simple gathered end hammock and is 130 inches long and 60 inches wide. The basic hammock was made using Royal Blue ripstop nylon from JoAnne's and is on the heavy side, although short of weighing it I don't know just how much.

We started by folding a 22' piece of ripstop in half. The fold was at one end of the hammock. The other end and one side was sewed up to produce a really big pocket. The inverted pocket was laid out on the floor. a space blanket was laid on top of that, shiny side down. The blanket was just over7 feet long and nearly 5 foot wide. On top of that was laid a piece of Insulex that was cut to the same size. The upper layer of rip stop and the space blanket and Insulex were sown together along all four sides and then the whole thing inverted again. The result was an 11 foot long double layer hammock with a 7 foot built-in insulation/vb layer. The ends were folded over and sown to produce channels. The hammock ends were then gathered and whipped. Added a whoppie sling as a ridge line and one to either end and then hung out on the back deck.

Added a tarp overhead and a Big Agnus pad between the layers and went out to spend the night. Added 2 layers of clothes, along with a down vest and my new No Sniveller TQ to try and stay warm. The temp that night was right around freezing. I was a little disappointed in the results. The pad slipped around some between layers, and every place I touched the hammock off of the pad was pretty cold. Stayed out until 1:30 and came on in. The lay was fairly comfortable, but I got tired of chasing the pad around. I am a pretty active sleeper so it moved a lot. I am thinking about sewing a pad channel to hold the pad in a fixed position. Also thinking about adding a foot and head box to the ends to keep stuff from falling out so easily.

The hammock is a bit on the heavy side so is not something I would likely take on the trail instead of my WBBB, but it should work well in the basement without having to add an UQ. I will be trying that soon.





Edit: The hammock and slings weighs 2 pounds 5 ounces and packs down (just barely) into the stuff sack that comes with a MV3.

[hangnout]

Looks like a good first try, but you know you can't make just one
It's an addiction

I am thinking about sewing a pad channel to hold the pad in a fixed position. Also thinking about adding a foot and head box to the ends to keep stuff from falling out so easily.

See what I mean it never stops

[Trout]

A very nice color of blue. Talk about having a nice spot to test you hammocks out.

[Blue Caboose]

I'd say that is a mighty fine set up. Good lookin too.

[HitchHiking]

nice going.That is a prettty sweet colour. foot and head box sounds awesome

[MacEntyre]

Good job!

Can you discern the effect of the Insultex? How much difference did it make?

How does the hammock stow with integral IX?

- MacEntyre

[OldMan]

Looks like a good first try, but you know you can't make just one
It's an addiction

That's what I'm afraid of.

[OldMan]

Talk about having a nice spot to test you hammocks out.

It is pretty nice. It's mostly under cover, although it does get some moisture. I was initially afraid that I would pull down the 4x4's so I put in the brace just above the hammock to keep them properly spread. That will have to come down when we start using the deck much again, otherwise I will be knocking myself out a lot.

[KerMegan]

How wide was the BA pad? instead of chasing it around, you might just be moving off the edges, so a pad holder might not be the solutiion? just a thought from far, far away..

But it looks so much nicer than my first quilt! Congratulations!
KM

[OldMan]

Can you discern the effect of the Insultex? How much difference did it make?

I have to think it mad some difference, but hard to tell just how much. I am still too new to this game to have much experience to draw on. I do know that the bottom of the tarp on the lawn side had ice on it when I went inside and it was just at the freezing level. When I would move off the pad, I would quickly get cold.

I am setting it up on the hammock stand in the basement and will try there without a quilt or pad. It is about 60* there and I get cold without a quilt in my BB. I will keep adding layers of Insulex until I am comfortable without any other insulation below me. I believe that will provide a better answer to your question.

How does the hammock stow with integral IX?

I have not tried to bag the hammock yet, and don't even have a stuff sack big enough. But the Insulex seems flexible enough, although not compressible, that I should have no problem with it being stuffed. How well it will wear long term is more of an issue, same with the space blanket, which, BTW, was not noisy. I am going to put it on the scale today before hanging. I will try to bag it in something then.