JRB 11x10 tarp, first night out

[GrizzlyAdams]

i used a set of the poles from wal-mart (about $10 each) for a while.
one note of caution... a weakness in the cheap poles is in the tightening device.
they tend to slide under much pressure. so they may not answer your questions on the bridge.

Hit WM this afternoon. Good news is that from the $1 bin I picked up 15 yards of a smooth nylon (possibly polyester) fabric in brown, 1.7 oz / yd if indeed I got 15 linear yards of it. I think its the same material I used for bridge v0.0 but in a different color. I got some needle hole stretching in v0.0, don't know if that was my bad sewing or weaker fabric. My plan for this stuff is to try a double bottomed hammock.

Bad news is that I checked out the hiking poles. You can't separate the sections to slip in supporting dowel rods. Those rods are necessary to keep from relying on the tightening mechanism to keep the pole extended. I don't think it matters what they are so much as it matters that we can pop open the pole to stick in dowel rods that really do the job.

So my sons have poles...I can try those, and if I snap one, well, happy birthday son, you've got new hiking poles...

from the shopping frenzy front,
Grizz

[slowhike]

So my sons have poles...I can try those, and if I snap one, well, happy birthday son, you've got new hiking poles...
from the shopping frenzy front,
Grizz

there ya go... all in the name of science

[GrizzlyAdams]

So with not a little trepidation I made my ridgeline 10' long, and correspondingly made the sides of my suspension triangles 27.5" long (against a 36" spread, assuming a 30 degree angle of ascent). On the way to this I tinkered unsuccessfully with my son's hiking poles to take the brunt of the compression, but that's a story given in the bridge hammock thread. I ended up using my own poles.

With the earlier set ups I was unhappy with the need for really long tie-outs from the grip clips to the ground, in order to pull the side out flat enough. Today I tried two alternative solutions for this issue. One was to find sticks more or less the height of the grip-clips, and wedge these under the tie-out lines. The effect is to make the pull on the tie-out much more horizontal, which is desired. In fact you don't need really long tie-outs anymore, just ones long enough to go horizontally a foot or two from the grip-clip, and then descend to the ground.

The other idea was borrowed from a posting by T-Back I saw referenced the other day on that thread which recalled the WhiteBlaze discussion from whose loins HF was spawned. That's to use a tent pole to do the main separation work. I have a couple of Henry Shire's tarptents, and so grabbed the lightweight poles from one of those. I threaded a pole through the ridgeline tie-out, and then attached to the cord on the grip clip. Looks to work pretty well. The smaller pole is sized perfectly for the job. The footprint of the tarp is now much smaller. I may sew up a channel, attach that to the tarp (bye bye warranty!) so that the pole attaches to the tarp like it would in a tent. This would create domed effect. I could control how out I wanted the the spread by the way I stake out the bottom.

Pictures? Of course I have pictures.

Here's proof that I got all the suspension within 10' and inside the tarp:



With the rounded shape from the tent poles, the tarp looks like a hammock hogan



On to beaks and such.

Grizz

[Cannibal]

Grizz I sure hope whatever you do for a living makes use of all those creative juices that seem to surge through you! This thing just keeps getting cooler.

[GrizzlyAdams]

Thanks Cannibal. I think of creative juices flowing through artists, not me. I'm a problem solver, more of an engineer. I think that's why guys like TeeDee and me are attracted to the bridge hammock, lots of engineering to do, lots of problems to take on.

Oh, and while I really dislike the meetings part of my job, I do get to solve problems and so its mostly cool.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Grizz

[slowhike]

looking good grizz.
BTW... i like the style of the houses in your neighbourhood. i'm thinking yours was a blue one i saw in an earlier picture.
but it must not be a historical area... other wise they might not like your modern hammock work in the yard

[GrizzlyAdams]

looking good grizz.
BTW... i like the style of the houses in your neighbourhood. i'm thinking yours was a blue one i saw in an earlier picture.
but it must not be a historical area... other wise they might not like your modern hammock work in the yard

well there are moves afoot to make it into a historical district. You better believe I'm checking out the fine print on that resolution!

Actually the hammock is shielded from view on 2 sides by hedges. I'm sticking to low visual impact, and as you drive up the street towards our place it does not jump out in view.

Having said that, my neighbors do think I'm nuts. As does my family. My colleagues at work don't know mostly about what I do with hammocks; if they did they'd think I'm nuts too. For that matter, my psychiatrist thinks I'm nuts, so there's pretty much a consensus thing going on.

In the spring I think I'm going to drop a pair of poles in the back yard that mostly serve to support clothesline, but have dual use as hammock trees. That will be shielded from view most places (except the foreign students who populate the large apartment complex right next door to us and those in floors 3 and 4 can peer right over the separating wall. They must think I'm nuts too.) I've got the stand but it takes time to set up and take down, and isn't really a good testing ground for anything but new insulation.

Grizz

[slowhike]

Having said that, my neighbors do think I'm nuts. As does my family. My colleagues at work don't know mostly about what I do with hammocks; if they did they'd think I'm nuts too. For that matter, my psychiatrist thinks I'm nuts, so there's pretty much a consensus thing going on.
Grizz

if you need someone to vouch for you, just send them here
the foreign students may be the only ones that understand

[ZDP-189]

We are living in style now!

That looks so comfortable.

[Mule]

So with not a little trepidation I made my ridgeline 10' long, and correspondingly made the sides of my suspension triangles 27.5" long (against a 36" spread, assuming a 30 degree angle of ascent). On the way to this I tinkered unsuccessfully with my son's hiking poles to take the brunt of the compression, but that's a story given in the bridge hammock thread. I ended up using my own poles.

With the earlier set ups I was unhappy with the need for really long tie-outs from the grip clips to the ground, in order to pull the side out flat enough. Today I tried two alternative solutions for this issue. One was to find sticks more or less the height of the grip-clips, and wedge these under the tie-out lines. The effect is to make the pull on the tie-out much more horizontal, which is desired. In fact you don't need really long tie-outs anymore, just ones long enough to go horizontally a foot or two from the grip-clip, and then descend to the ground.

The other idea was borrowed from a posting by T-Back I saw referenced the other day on that thread which recalled the WhiteBlaze discussion from whose loins HF was spawned. That's to use a tent pole to do the main separation work. I have a couple of Henry Shire's tarptents, and so grabbed the lightweight poles from one of those. I threaded a pole through the ridgeline tie-out, and then attached to the cord on the grip clip. Looks to work pretty well. The smaller pole is sized perfectly for the job. The footprint of the tarp is now much smaller. I may sew up a channel, attach that to the tarp (bye bye warranty!) so that the pole attaches to the tarp like it would in a tent. This would create domed effect. I could control how out I wanted the the spread by the way I stake out the bottom.

Pictures? Of course I have pictures.

Here's proof that I got all the suspension within 10' and inside the tarp:



With the rounded shape from the tent poles, the tarp looks like a hammock hogan



On to beaks and such.

Grizz

Grizz, I know you have probably thought of this already, but if you would attach some of those loops/tunnels or hooks like Sierra Designs uses and slip the poles through the tunnels or hang the tarp from the hooks, it would make a domed or cylindrical shape on top. That would handle wind better as the wind would be able to somewhat vortex over the top similar to a true dome. Your stuff looks very nice and I can see how much fun you are having. Mule