Making my Daughter a full setup

**USMCStang** · 01-22-2012, 18:23

So I've been searching around on here for ideas and previous projects, and I think I have most of this figured out.

My Daughter will be 5 soon, and she has requested a pink hammock for her birthday. She's a tiny one...only 37 inches tall and 38 pounds. I'm going to make this a little big for her, so she can grow into it. My plan is for an 84" X 60" gathered end hammock, with SRL, whoopies and straps. For the tarp, I plan on making a shrunken clone of my BMJ, probably with a 96" RL and 48" sides.

My biggest problem has been finding the fabrics. I finally found Pink 1.5oz ripstop. It's a little on the pricey side though:Sailrite 1.5 oz Nylon If anyone knows a better source, please point me in the right direction.

For the straps, I'm going through strapworks and getting their Pink Camo 1".

Now, onto the Tarp. Pink is not a requirement, but, according to "the boss", it needs to be a "Girly color". So I think I'm going to go with 6 yards of "30D-Double-Silicone-Coated-Ripstop-Nylon-Fabric" from Rockywoods in "Prism Violet". Any other suggestions, better prices or colors?

The Grosgrain edges for her tarp will be Orange reflective grosgrain, and the Hammock SRL will be Orange reflective Glowire, both from DIYgearsupply.

The whoopie slings will come straight from whoopieslings.com, and will be 8' and bright green.

As you can see, this is by no means a "stealth" setup. A hot pink hammock, bright green suspension, pink camo straps, bright orange SRL, a purple tarp, and reflective orange edges will make it stand out a little in the woods, you think?

When all is said and done, she will have a nicer rig than me, only in minature.

Does it appear that I've missed anything? An UQ and TQ will be next, but I have some time before I have to jump into that.

**hangnout** · 01-22-2012, 19:22

Sounds like she is going to have a great setup!

My daughter (2sticks) has been hammock camping from about that age and was about that size at 5 yr old. From my experience I would make the hammock a little bit narrower. A good rule of thumb is width about 1/2 the size of the length. It is easier to control the insulation in a smaller hammock.

Also the I bet she will be under your tarp most of the time

. I would go for a hot pink UQ before the tarp. At that age sleepings bags may still be the best bet. We used a Big Agnes Lil Red bag that had a pad pocket. Zip them up and they can not get off/out of insulation.

Kids are a natural with hammocks. Enjoy your time in the woods with them.

**Jayson** · 01-22-2012, 21:00

Thats awesome!

My 9 year old has expressed interest in a Purple hammock.

**USMCStang** · 01-24-2012, 23:33

Ok, so I've decided to go with polyester as the fabric. Joann's has it on sale right now, and I had a coupon as well. So I came out of there with 3 yards of polyester taffeta for $7. It's obviously heavier than ripstop, but man does it have a nice feel to it. It's basically prom dress fabric.

I ordered the rest of my materials yesterday. My daughter loves to "help" as I'm making gear, so the one thing I haven't decided is how I'm going to make this for her without her knowing. As soon as she hears the thread injector she'll want to come down and see what's going on.

I've determined that I will make her a synthetic UQ and TQ. I'm going with synthetic based on the fact that she won't be as careful with it to start until she's been out a few times, and it's bound to get pretty wet or damaged at some point.

When construction begins, I'll throw up some pictures of my progress.

**peggy29forever** · 01-24-2012, 23:54

I am 52 and I wish I could have a pink hammock. Wish hennessy came in girly colors. It will be a great gift for her.

**Bannerstone** · 01-25-2012, 06:03

You may just have to scrap the whole surprise thing and let her help.

Great project though!

David

**Detail Man** · 01-25-2012, 08:57

If she's almost 5, she might be a bit hesitant to hang separate from you, especially during the night when the night critters start making their sounds. You know her best, but here's a couple of ideas to chew on.

We use spreader bars when camping with the kids. Here's a post with some details on the bars. http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=33909 It works really well for us. My wife hangs with one, I hang with another, and the oldest hangs solo. I like being able to reach over and make sure my daughter hasn't wiggled out of her TQ. She seems to take some comfort knowing I'm close by, particularly during gusty thunder storms like we had at the Grayson Highlands Hang last Fall. It's also made for some special daddy/daughter moments, looking out at the moon during the middle of the night, listen to coyotes bark, watching the sun come up.

Below are a some pics of our tandem rig set up in the backyard.

**Cali** · 01-25-2012, 09:37

Oh my gosh, those Pics are so cute.

USMC Stang, your daughter will love it, and I think you should surprise her, if you can.

**USMCStang** · 01-25-2012, 19:44

Detail man, I don't know how I missed your post on spreader bars. That's a great idea, and I'm going to implement it. Have you found any tweaks since first posting about them?

Initial cutting and stitching is starting tonight, after she goes to bed. I don't imagine it taking too long. I'm waiting on my shipment from DIY gear supply for the ridgeline and noseeum (and some amsteel to play around with), from strapworks for the tree huggers (pink camo), and I went ahead and went straight through whoopieslings.com for some extra long green amsteel whoopies. I couldn't help myself either...I'm finally gonna replace the straps on my BB with whoopies and tree huggers.

**Detail Man** · 01-25-2012, 20:22

There have been no adjustments to the spreader bars. I did smooth the edges over. One thing I have found out in practice is that the bars tend to attach better if the hammocks are close to the same length. The kids' hammocks are 9' long to start with, then I hemmed a channel in each end. Mine is about a foot longer. I hook the spreader bar inbetween the two sides of the whoopie loop that's attached to the longer hammock. The other end of the bar fits over the whoopie of the shorter hammock, about where the bury is, and I use the whoopie tail to wrap a few times around the bar so it stays perpendicular to the hammock. If you don't do a couple of wraps arounfd the bar, it will tend to slide toward a place of least resistance, and therefore isn't spreading the hammocks as far apart.

My youngest two wanted pink hammocks. After not finding any pink material, we settled on purple. Now they want "downy goodness." The IX UQs aren't good enough anymore.