Converting from a trekking pole tent to a hammock whilst en-route

[BiNg!ViSioN]

First and foremost I hope this message finds you well on your journey. As a relative noob myself, i felt i could share some insight to help you avoid any potential monetary pitfalls as you head down the rabbit hole which is hammock camping. I am a firm believer in the, buy once, cry once philosophy but that doesnt mean you have to spend thousands to get a solid setup. (Which unfortunately I have already done in order to learn this) First, staying under a modest budget requires skills and education. If you can sew, you can save money. If you know a ton of knots you can save money. If you have a working knowledge of physics and structural engineering, you can save money. The point is the more you know and are capable of applying with your hands, the more creative solutions you can figure out to get the job done as cheaply as possible. I made my first sleep system with an ENO double nest. I made my underquilt from a miltary poncho liner and some bungee cord. I learned how to splice amsteel cordage and made my structural ridgeline. I made the bug net out of no seeum netting remnants i picked up for a few bucks and sewed together . It is warm down to about 35°F and got me in the game for under $150 USD. I just use a sleeping bag for a topquilt. I used a 12' x 12' poly tarp i bought at a hardware store for around $20 USD. Not pretty, but functional. Now, two years later, i have all semi custom stuff from Simply Light Designs, with a few mods of my own. I am always available for ideas or advice. Now for the free standing setup, that is tricky. I have successfully done this a couple of times and after some serious redneck engineering I was able to create a semi portable system out of chainlink fence top rail posts. Definitely, not ideal for bike packing unless you have a trailer. As stated in previous posts on your thread, solid ground anchors are imperative and a working knowledge of knots is mandatory for securely and safely constructing this. Also the setup is not in any way lightweight. Let me know if you would like plans and i can send you some pictures/ideas. I amy get a bunch of crap for saying this, but OneTigris has suprised me with the quality of their hammock offerings and after spending a few nights at -15° F in a Rockdomus hot tent this winter with a small wood bur ing stove, i have to say i was impressed by the quality. I would look into them for a first camping hammock on a budget. Simply Light Designs, Dutchware, Superior, and Haven are all excellent systems, if you have the money. Dutch and Shug(Youtube) are amazing sources of free knowledge! And finally: BEWARE the Amazon knockoffs. They are trash. Hope this helps and best of Luck!! And if any Veteran Hangers out there read this: Be gentle I am relatively new too, and only wish to help a fellow camper and to share experience and knowledge

[nanok]

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your posts after the past few months. Great to see so much constructive advice. As you might have imagined I let go of the idea of switching to a hammock with money and time being in short supply.

Well I did manage to get to the Caspian Sea in one piece as I had wanted to do. During my trip I decided to try and get a job in Bavaria, and now once again I am leaning toward getting a hammock as camping with a tent is basically Verboten and subject to heavy fines in Bavaria. (Hammocks seem to be in a legal gray zone, as bivouacking is legal and yet hammock + tarp does not exactly correspond with either concept.) It will be a budget hammock setup I would think, with everything together costing around 400 Euros. Don't know if in order to save money it is possible to apply the same trick of getting the discount Chinese copycat model of an upmarket design (like with the Lanshan 2, which was the perfect tent for me), but that would be ideal for me with my finances right now.
I should probably be looking at the German hammock forums as well to see what I can get second-hand.

Anyways I am lucky that there is such a knowledgeable forum here and I might be asking around in the next few days about beginner hammocks, boom stakes etc.
Thanks again!

welcome back, and glad you made it.

what is your current priority? i'd be inclined to say you're not in a hurry or under pressure, so you have time to play and experiment (and aquire valuable knowledge and understanding, instead of throw money at it and aquire ear). but then again, i'm prone to that approach. gear is fun too ;). so do you "just want a complete system", for the stated budget, or do you want to consider experimenting and "getting there", within that budget.

for instance: the "confort 2 person hammock" i mentioned from decathlon is an excellent base to start a system (it's not 2 person, that's bs); it's 3.5m long (or about 11.5ft), so if you're not taller than about 5ft10 or so, you will surely be able to fit comfortably (some might say it's long enough for any human), it is ripstop (which is great), and not terribly heavy, and is about 30euros. it's true there's a lot of stuff to add to make it camping ready imo, but i made my own hammocks a while ago, and i can tell you i was not able to buy the needed fabric for the price they sell this hammock. you'd need to add a tarp, and a structural ridgeline for the hammock, as bare minimum. ideally, also some adjustable suspension, and some softshackles at the hammock ends (to replace the rope it comes with, which was reclaimed from the commercial navy; henry the 5th's commercial navy, that is). in terms of knowledge, the priorities will be rigging the tarp, and learning about rigging the hammock (in this order: the hammock is less complicated and less critical, especially if you add the structural ridgeline from the start; the tarp is critical, and a bit more fun to play with; if you get the tarp wrong, if it's rains, you will obviously not sleep. at all ;) )

again, i'd be inclined to say: play with something first, chase the perfect system later. once you get the hang of it a bit, you'll know what to look for. but if you like a complete system to start with, that's fine too i guess, but it is hard to recommend something without knowing more about you and your preferences. perhaps add some info, and yeah, if you're in germany, apparently hammocking is quite developed there, so if you can find a group in your area to meetup with, i'd guess that would be the first and best choice to get you started.