Experiments with true asymetry.

**Mule** · 02-03-2008, 23:20

I thought I would post this so I could hear all the feedback I could get before cutting up my Hammock. Please tell me what you think. Thanks

I'll tell you about my experiment. Rather than cut and sew on my DIY Claytor, I hung it up to experiment. It has velcro on each side so that the Speer Snugfit will work well with it. Again, rather than cut and sew, which will be the next step, I took some long pieces of velcro and pulled pleats in he hammock where my left knee and right shoulder would lay. I applied the velcro and a couple of spring clamps to help it to hold. It did hold and I was surprised. I expected the hammock to flatten out in the opposite diagonal from the diagonal line the crips made, This caused the hammock to truly be asym, but it flattened out where the pleats were! In other words it flattened where my right shoulder was. What it did was: where the hammock was pulled short, it made a pocket hang under that area and my head layed right down, completely horizontal with my upper body after experimenting a little.
By making the pleat deeper, therefore shortening up the side the pleat is on I found an optimum pleat of about 3 inches per side, six inches were taken out of the side by my right shoulder.
The pleat at my left knee area didn't seem to help any. By removing the pleat on my left knee it didn't make any difference to the way the upper body flattened, but neither did it flatten out my legs the same way my upper body flattened.
I took remote fired pictures with all the configurations then in Photoshop I drew lines referencing the angles from the horizontal on my upper body and lower body. Only the one with 6 inches removed showed a dramatic flattening effect on my upper body. Nothing seemed to lower my legs. They just aren't heavy enough to force themselves into the Pocket the way my head and shoulders did.
The next step will be to put a slip at my RIGHT knee and LEFT shoulder (opposite of shortening) and sew a triangle into that area LENGTHENING the sides by about 6 or eight inches to start with.
I am the kind or person that may let this lay for awhile before actually cutting up my hammock. When I do it will be an 11 foot x 5 foot one I made a few weeks ago, not my double bottom Claytor type. Mule

**greggg3** · 02-04-2008, 05:25

Awesome experiment Mule, but where are the pictures you were talking about?

**Mule** · 02-04-2008, 12:11

Here are a couple of the pictures. Mule

**greggg3** · 02-04-2008, 20:43

Hmm...the backlighting makes it tough to see and ...ok i admit it, I don't have a clue what all those blue lines mean. On the otherhand, I admire your...confidence...hanging over a concrete slab with no padding, thats someone secure in their hammock

**GrizzlyAdams** · 02-04-2008, 20:48

I too admit to being confused. Looking at the profile I see some feet seemingly angling up, a low spot that is either a 50 lb bag of cement, or someone's bottom, and an angle up that I imagine is supporting a back. Kinda like a, well, banana

Grizz

**greggg3** · 02-04-2008, 20:50

lol Grizz! wife says what so funny, oh man - concrete comes in 80 lb bags dude!

**GrizzlyAdams** · 02-04-2008, 21:22

Originally Posted by greggg3

lol Grizz! wife says what so funny, oh man - concrete comes in 80 lb bags dude!

ok I'm a software guy. What do I know about hardware?

no, this is better, I'm so bulked up that 80 lbs just feels like 50 lbs when I toss it onto my shoulder

Guess I know who to call when I sink my posts for the permanent hammock stand (disguised as the supports for a tree house for my son )

Grizz

**greggg3** · 02-05-2008, 02:39

oops, if you're tossing around bags of portland, maybe I shoulda thought of that before I started kidding you!

Seriously, I wanted to try this out, to see how it worked - I already have velcro on the edges of my ENO double (for bugnet or to seal it up in the winter) but its not the free magic kind, so to try it I had to make a couple double sided velcro pieces (one double hook, one double loop,) to stick the same side to itself. But I cannot figure out the angles on what Mule Skinner is doing, or the concept doesn't work on a ENO or something cause I'm not getting any flatter with what I'm doing, (then start wiggling around and the velcro comes loose)

lol, - I just checked and portland cement comes in 94 lbs bags?? Where did I get the 80 lbs from?? Woke the wife up laughing, she said whats so funny? Told her about the cement weight - you know, they weigh 94 lbs but only seemed like 80 to me cuz I"m soooo strong etc. She said I'm an idiot and pulled the covers over her head. Hmm...she may have something there...

**Mule** · 02-05-2008, 03:31

The pictures I posted simply show that difference in the angle of the upper and lower body while laying in the hammock. The hammock is shortened on opposite corners. As I said before, it did make a slight difference but the real test will come when I ADD fabric to the opposite sides, say, where the left knee to left foot are and where the right shoulder is. I am going to just add a vee shaped piece after making slits in those places about 18 inches long and at the angle that I would be laying diagonal.
If you look at the lines I drew to emphasize the change in angles, you can see the first picture is with no pleats put in and the last two are with one on each side shortening the sides by 5 or six inches and the last one only one pleat in the back side at the shoulder.
A change of five or ten degrees between the two, illustrating the angle the body makes, legs to torso. See the three pictures below.
Hell, I might as well break down and buy or build a Bridge.

Mainly compare the angles on the left in each picture.