Unnecessarily Complicated Hammock 3.0

[SteelToe]

So it all gathers the same...that's good, honestly. One less thing to worry about. I'd been considering sewn-pleats as a way to get similar effects in an end-channel setup, but it sounds like it'd be wasted effort! Logically it didn't seem like it could make that big a difference, but a number of gurus seemed to swear by it.

Whipping seems both easier and cheaper to me, but that said I haven't exactly done it before, either . I will be sure to undo my whipping once I find a shape I like & lay it out as a plan view. Hopefully that 'empirically derived' curvature will shed some light on these mysteries for others.

I refuse to believe simple rectangular ends are as good as it gets, until I can prove it for myself (hey, I proved that a bridge hammock can be made way more comfortable --from precisely the upper spine down-- by complex tailored shaping, so hopefully I can make some headway here)

[SteelToe]

I did some prelim testing this morning, and the concepts seem viable so far with a few caveats;

-Whipping seems almost ideally unsuited to this sort of construction (more on that later)
-Tensioning the midsection definitely flattens the lay by supporting the lumber region better
-My "#4" lay footprint (one leg bent) is reversed; extending the 'outside' leg flattens the taught midsection to eliminate the 'thigh' ridge
-Oddly enough, there is almost no shoulder squeeze at all so long as I'm even slightly on my side (like 10%), but there is a very small bit of hip squeeze
-There's easily 12" of slack sidewall on either side of this 74" wide fabric, which clearly follows an asymmetric arc shape away from my spine's center-line
-Hexon 1.6 is really comfortable compared to whatever Hennessey uses (I'm guessing polyester)
-The end-profile I kept creating from gathering 'against' the weighted dummy is wave-shaped, but also asymmetrical (side/side and end/end), and much more dramatic at the foot end

What I found with the whipping, is that this differential-tension system tends to automatically equalize the load at the whipping...by pulling out the sides (which are heavily tensioned by my flimsy hammock stand before I lay down in it). Once the fabric of the sides slips out, the whipping loses its compression and slips off the end of the raw fabric. Stronger whipping and the slight bulk of an end-seam would help the issue no doubt, but I suspect the tight area will always experience a little slippage over time, considering how slippery these fabrics are. It makes sense, too, seeing how whipping is typically used to bind/splice rope, which is designed to carry a uniform tension across its cross-section. End channels obviously won't have this issue, but care will need to be taken to avoid over-stressing the fabric, since that method of construction can dissipate no load at all. For now I'll continue to use whipping (and crash pads) while I perfect the profiles, which should be close enough to sew up as channels without overloading anything.

The main thing to notice in the pictures of the dummy-weighted hammock (which worked great; it wasn't until I'd been in it for a half-hour twisting & turning to measure things that it finally dumped me ) is the side view along the lay diagonal. The dummy is both shorter & lighter than me (he's headless & footless, and composed of mere damp laundry) so it's only a crude facsimile, but when I was in it my heavier legs/feet were within an inch or two of my shoulder's elevation. My butt was a bit lower than the rest
of me, but not much differently than my foam mattress; that taught center-line with stiff fabric really helps. My head was riding up the sidewall a bit, but with a pillow to keep it from sliding down to the right, it would be very comfortable. The lay diagonal is nearly 30 degrees to the center-line of the hammock stand, a bit more than I can manage in the Hennessey.

SmDskQX.jpg
Laying out the dummy on the flat fabric
swaT1Ar.jpg
I would first gather one end, the rake my fingers through the pleats toward the gather, pulling any loose fabric with them until it was uniform
XOPfJYO.jpg
This is the side-view of the diagonal. My head & feet extend the profile further up the sides, but are also heavier & pull the fabric down flat
wTiUkrH.jpg
As you can see, there is quite a bit of needless fabric toward the midsection of the body. I think deep catenary cuts could be made without affecting the lay at all. These sidewalls also become tensioned when the hammock is unloaded and the stand springs back, since I don't yet have a structural ridgeline to hold it sprung.
xOYDBdF.jpg
Holding the slack sides open with my hand and prehensile feet while holding the camera, to see into the hammock along its center-line

BTW, never been dumped out of a hammock before; it's kind of fun so long as you have something soft to land on

[SteelToe]

Okay, first round of results is in. This is for the hammock gathered & whipped 'per' the weighted dummy flat on the floor. This time I whipped the ends more thoroughly, and was able to rest inside for a couple hours in addition to marking the important points of reference, before tearing it down & measuring everything. One thing I'll still need to dial in is the ridgeline length; right now I have the continuous loops at each end hooked directly onto my stand, which results in a 11'3" ridge line, for a roughly 12" length (with the loops). That seems a little tight from what I see elsewhere, so I will probably add a few inches between the loop and stand-hooks to see if it improves anything. Right now I'm loving how much roomier everything is, even with a full foot of floppy sides hanging in; the ridgeline is about 2X the distance from me as the Hennessey.

KpQF3Jf.png

The "RH Knee" position is where your knee is if bent at a 90 degree angle (I'm a restless sleeper, and need the ability to re-position)

If you notice, there is no 'wave' in the center area...there was when the ends were first whipped. I'm fairly certain those tighter areas pulled out to the same tension as the areas off to the sides; the hammock was really flat & comfy at first with little side squeeze, by the end of listening to Carmina Burana for an hour, it felt more like a really comfy 'normal' hammock. I believe end channels are a must for this approach, but for now I will settle for rolling up the ends into the shape I want before whipping, to see if the added bulk of the 'hem' is enough to hold things in place for testing.

Oh, BTW, at no point during any of this has it been possible to comfortably lie on my stomach; I'm pretty convinced that's gotta be a nonsense claim from Sierre Madre on their Ninox hammock.

[leiavoia]

Did you cut material off the sides? If so, do you perceive that it raises the sidewalls up to block your view at all?

[SteelToe]

Haven't cut, or even hemmed anything. The slack sides just drape over me right now, but I can see just from how they hang, just how much can be cut away. When unloaded, those slack sides become taut and make entry/egress difficult.

I've now experimented with a couple different end profiles, and my knee & shoulder seem to be two constant refefence points. I plan to cut from them out to the far corners, shaving off a good foot of fabric on either side.

[travelbert]

Interesting work. I would like to see more of your updates since I'm planning to do some cutting as well.

[SteelToe]

The hammock body is now complete, at least for the time being. As several of the posters here have suggested, the shape once trimmed of slack cloth ended up being roughly rectangular, with one caveat. 48" wide rectangle from the head-end all the way down to my waist, but the left edge along my left leg (with my head on the left side of the diagonal) shoots out at an angle, such that the foot-end of the hammock is about 1.5ft wider than the head end. That extra fabric width down at the legs is what really makes the hammock seem 'roomy' and as best I can tell, spreads the taut calf-ridge region out over a 2ft wide span. I strongly suspect the results would be very different with a more elastic fabric, like Hexon 1.0, where the 'stress field' would be quite different, and shaped end-channels would become more important.

The ends were rolled into channels & triple stitched, the sides also have a narrow channel through them like you'd see for a stretch side, but mine have a handful of eyelets along their length, and I plan to run a thin cable in & out of these, to which my underquilt & top quilt will hook on at several points.

Getting in & out is very easy, there is no notable tension in the edges of the hammock floor, and its sides are low enough that I usually get in and out by 'straddling' the hammock, rather than flopping in from one side. It hangs much lower on the ridgeline than the Hennessey, so even with my existing tarp (which is a little short for this setup, now) it is far, far less confining.

Using the snakeskins I made for my Hennessey, it packs down incredibly small, probably 1/3 the volume of that hammock.

The underquilt is about the right size (though I need one with more loft) & follows the hammock nicely but I will have to make the Jacks R Better hanger cable things longer so it isn't so tight. That, or attach the thing differently, as I previously mentioned.

The tree straps are 15' lengths of the 1.5 spider stuff from Dutch, and have two plastic D-rings at the loop on the end. The rings are for cinching the straps around the Bishop bag(s) with the tarp & tent, so they can be compressed for packing.

From there, its;
-A new Hex-Cat tarp (and I'll make it from proper sil-nylon this time vs. doped ripstop, and possibly a lighter fabric)
-New Bishop Bag that's sized for the smaller items, and is tailored for the dimensions of my pack
-Proper top-quilt (scavenged 1000fp down from my UCH2.0 top quilt)
-Thicker under-quilt (scavenged 1000fp down from my UCH2.0 under quilt)

The last couple questions I have to explore are;
-Does anyone think it'd be worth adding a partial double-layer? Like, a 4ft long layer of fabric only at the torso region, where a pad could be tucked in? It wouldn't add strength like a proper second layer, but the pad would be an option. Or would tucking it beneath the under quilt work about as well?
-It feels like I could eliminate the need for a pillow by simply sewing a strip of fabric from the center line of my lie diagonal at the head, up to the opposite edge of the hammock body, forming a 'sling' that would hold my head off to the side, in line with my spine. Maybe even make it into a 'pocket' of sorts where loose stuff could be stowed, or simply pack it with insulation depending on the weather.

[SteelToe]

Progress picture so far; it's comfortable (you can see a snakeskin I made for the Hennessey wadded up at the peak; they are positively cavernous with this hammock)

Feet.jpeg

The next step is figuring out what is needed next for attaching accessories. I plan to half-shamelessly rip off Dutch and his approach to the Chameleon, but without zippers.* I have the knotty-style side channels, but with an eyelet every few feet; I think I will lace some paracord/similar through these, and use it to position small prussik loops that will hold the various items to position/tension them, along the lines of the Chameleon. The remaining exposed lengths of the side cables can be snagged by mitten hooks to secure things as needed. The cables will be secured rigidly at each end, but have an elastic center portion; that should allow me to pull things away from the natural sag direction but without over-stressing the cable attachments.

*I think I've decided to never work with zippers ever again, where their failure could screw me badly. Three of the darn things recently failed on me over the course of a single hike, ruining a jacket as well as an important pocket on my nicest pack. The jacket & one of the pack pockets showed that the zipper pull had simply worn out & was not overlapping the loops properly (normal failure), the waterproof zipper on the top/lid pocket of my XT85 blew out several hours after being secured, unable to contain the "pressure" of the already-failed down jacket.

Tarp
The tarp will have a D-ring at each end of the ridgeline, that connects to a hook prussik-hitched to the tree strap (similar to the Hennessey). Pretty close to the hitch location, too, to keep the tarp short & efficient. D-rings at the four tie-out corners would clip to line-lock hooks, themselves tied out to stakes with elastic cord assemblies. Tarp will be a symmetrical hex-cat similar to what I have now but with a lighter fabric & 1/2 doors. I'll run gros-grain down the ridgeline, but the edges will be roll-hemmed. Wastage will be used to reinforce the corner tie-outs. It's a bulkier setup than what I expected to need, but I think will be the most foolproof.

Underquilt:
The underquilt would be attached to the (color-coded) hammock prussiks at four corners, then intermediate hooks would grab onto the side cables where convenient. Once each end-edge of the quilt is cinched with shock-cord, I think I'd have a pretty gapless seal against the hammock. The elastic of the side channels would allow the quilt to conform pretty well, too. Regardless the weather, I'll likely have some sort of underquilt; in the summer it'd be the bottom half of a bug-net (I'm not confident single-layer 1.6 hexon will stop mosquitoes here).

Topquilt & Bugnet
The top-side accessory would be optional, and attach similarly. In the case of the top-quilt, it will attach to two prussiks at the corners nearest the hammock edges. There will also be a second inner row of hooks, that attach directly to a second row of loops on the underquilt where they both come close to the hammock-sides, sealing them tightly together for highest insulation if needed (maybe not zipper-tight, but probably close).

Storage
Rather than a ridgeline organizer (they're always in my face) I will have a side-saddle pocket at the shoulder closest to the edge, built into the top quilt. The water-bottle or other objects in the pocket will pull it taut across the front of me, closing the top-end up while still being easy to push aside when half-asleep. A small 'peak shelf' will be permanently attached at both ends; more for storing loose items like the quilts during setup than anything

Pillow
The 'pillow' will be a fabric sling that hooks to the side of the hammock, passes under/behind the head, then up to a prussik on the ridgeline (I'll incorporate a very small storage pocket for a cell phone or light on the upper portion). The portions supporting the head will be double-layered so an insulating pillow can be inserted when needed. From my experiments, this arrangement seems very comfortable, and doesn't shift or slide around the way a pillow hanging from the peak can. It would be stored with the topquilt.

[SteelToe]

Tarp Adventures

I'm pretty sure at this point I'll be basing the tarp heavily on the "badlander" design by kitsapcowboy. His design is 11ft at the ridgeline, I think I may bring this down to 10.5, though;

-When pitched at the same angle which allows the badlander's doors to fully close, the 10.5ft version's doors can extend lower on ridgeline (19" vs. 13.5")
-When pitched such that the doors close at the same height as the badlander, the tarp-panel angle to the horizontal is almost half (20deg vs. 35deg)
-The only difference between the patterns for the two configurations, was the location of the door tie-out moved 8" along the folded edge

This tells me that it should be possible to get pretty significant performance differences from the same tarp, by adding a second pair of tie-outs along the door flaps (essentially overlaying the two patterns). The Badlander already splits the difference between a full-door rectangular tarp and a hex-cat; this tarp seems able to further split the difference between the Badlander and both those other styles depending on need, with a very small addition of material.

Here is my summation of how the three design variables interact (ridgeline length, door corner tie-out position, and panel pitch angle);
-Ridgeline length change is a very sensitive variable, and the shorter it is compared to the 12ft overall fabric pattern, the more drastic the door changes
-The tie-out position along the doors is defines the tarp's use. The further down, the bigger the doors become (eventually becoming a rectangle tarp)

What I am attempting to accomplish here, is gain some additional side/end coverage by dropping the tarp length down to the minimum needed for my hammock (which is a bit counter-intuitive). It just so happens this also allows me to pitch the tarp at a much more shallow angle in nice weather, by adding a very small bit of material to the vertical edge of the doors --assuming it is desirable to fully close the doors in this use-case.

This shows the Badlander pattern overlayed by the 10.5ft configurations I examined --they're pretty close
Badlandercomp.png

Here is the Badlander (larger, lighter color half) against the version which sits at the same pitch angle but has 6" taller doors; it's closer to a 1/2 door than the Badlander's 1/3 door --the difference is quite a bit more pronounced than I expected from the flat-patterns
Tarp Comparison.jpg

[SteelToe]

I decided to make some improvements to my trusty old hammock snake-skins. These were made from some PU-coated polyester no-name fabric, and apart from them having more friction on the PU-side (inside) than I'd like, I've been very happy with them.

First, I sewed a short (~1.5") piece of gros-grain straight across the inside of the narrow end; this 'bridge' of fabric goes inside the continuous loops at each end, very solidly anchoring the snakeskin & ensuring it can't slide off the end when the suspension is disconnected. A bonus was that when the CLs are larksheaded together over the snakeskin and structural ridgeline, the result is a snakeskin "gathered end" that is pretty tightly clamped onto the CLs against the gathered end ball.
KIMG0884.jpeg

Second, I sewed an eyelet hole at the edge of both large-ends, then rolled the hem into a channel. A short length of elastic cord was run through the channel, and the ends through a small cord lock before tying together. This gives the ability to secure the ends of the snakeskin onto the hammock so they won't slide toward the ends, but my real purpose was to allow for cinching the mouth of the snakeskin onto the CL past the gathered end (turning it inside out slightly) as a drip-shield and small 'beak' for the very end of the hammock body.
KIMG0883.jpeg

Third, I began implementing my 'plan' to color-code things that require orientation. The grey CL at the head end of the hammock was replaced with a blue one, and a tab of blue gros-grain was attached to large-end of the head-side snakeskin. Eventually the quilts and their tie-points on the hammock will have similar blue features, at the right-hand/head-end of things, which should hopefully make setup more foolproof.
KIMG0886.jpeg

I may eventually replace the shock-cord in the snakeskins with a spliced loop of something more slippery, but the elastic does a pretty good job of clamping down onto the CL lines to create a (hopefully) water-tight seal