changing DD Frontline for Ultralight Jungle

[jms53]

Hi Hammockers,

I've been considering changing my DD Frontline with whoopies for the DD Ultralight jungle, for the following reasons:

- Frontline in snakeskin does not pack very nicely (takes up my entire passenger bag, whereas entire chameleon system still has space for nalgene bottle and cook kit);
- My frontline's "tent-poles" for the mosquito-mesh have lost all form of elasticity, so now the sides of the mesh sink into my face (who has energy to look for sticks at 1 am?);
- The jungle has a built in rain-shield, so in the case of small rain, I can quickly protect myself from the downpour without needing to set up a complete tarp shelter;
- The modularity of the jungle hammock (just the ultralight, hammock and mosquito mesh, hammock and weather shield...).


What is keeping me from pulling the trigger are the following elements:
- Even though the jungle has the weathershield, it does not have space to keep equipment protected from the rain;
- If I'm taking the missus with me that's still 2 hammocks I need to pack (unlike a solution like the VX 2-person from clarke);
- The import fees make it that I end up paying almost 200% of the price between the vendor, S&H and customs, no matter wether from DD or Clarke (Clarke of course gets more expensive faster...),



I know that no hammock fits everyone, but I would like to know what people having used the jungle and the frontline prefer, as well as if people have tried either the Clarke 2-person hammocks or similar solutions from other vendors. I have not seen cottage vendors that sell 2 person hammocks, but perhaps I am missing the key vendor?

[hutzelbein]

Unfortunately I only own the DD Frontline; I have never seen a Clark in reality and the high prices are keeping from buying one, especially since I can't imagine that a hammock that short is more comfortable than the standard 10' and 11' hammocks I own and use regularly.

If you're paying import fees no matter which hammock you buy, I would suggest ordering something longer. I own 2 DD hammocks, and they are tiny compared to a proper 11' hammock. They are even smaller than my already pretty short 10' Warbonnet Blackbird. Additionally, DDs are super heavy for their size. The DD "SuperLight" Jungle Hammock weighs 1.520g! OK, that's including a "weather shield" and the suspension, but my 11' (335cm x 150cm) Dream Hammock DangerBird double layer weighs 975g complete (including top cover and suspension). Even my 10' WBBB 1.1 DL including a zippered wind sock and webbing suspension "only" weighs 1.038g - that's almost half a kilo less than the DD "SuperLight" although it's longer and (I think) more comfortable.

If you are happy with short hammocks but don't care for paying international shipping and customs charges, have you looked at the hammocks Exped offers? And if you would consider a different hammock design, there's also HammockTent.

[jms53]

I own 2 DD hammocks, and they are tiny compared to a proper 11' hammock. ...

-Dream Hammock DangerBird double layer weighs 975g complete (including top cover and suspension).
-Even my 10' WBBB 1.1 DL including a zippered wind sock and webbing suspension "only" weighs 1.038g
- Exped offers?
- HammockTent.

I checked them out and they seem really interesting. Question about your Danger Bird and WBBB can you set those up as a bivvy if you have no trees? I can get Exped here but the price point is similar to Clarke Outdoors and I really dont think you can put a hammock tent on the ground (or can you???)

Thanks for the pointers man, looks like I still have some research and R&D to do.

Sent from my SM-G389F using Tapatalk

[hutzelbein]

As far as I know, you can set up any integrated hammock as a bivi (see e.g. Hennessy Hammocks' instructions). I don't know how comfortable it is, or how well the individual hammocks work as a bivi, though, because I never tried using them on the ground.

[jms53]

As far as I know, you can set up any integrated hammock as a bivi (see e.g. Hennessy Hammocks' instructions). I don't know how comfortable it is, or how well the individual hammocks work as a bivi, though, because I never tried using them on the ground.

That's an interesting idea. But given the setup used it becomes just as useful to bring a bivvy from Exposed..

Given the parameters it looks like I'll be sticking to my chameleon for hanging and the frontline for long distance travel where I can easily set it up as a bivvy fairly quickly.

Thanks for all the input!