For quite a while I've wanted to try a couple of ideas out in a bridge hammock design. The first was to make it light by using everywhere lightweight materials---1.1 oz /yd^2 ripstop for the body, 2mm Dynema SK-75 cord on the suspension, dual-use carbon-fibe hiking poles as spreader bars. The other idea was to revisit pulling the spreader bars in closer to the head and feet, thereby getting more advantage of the spreader bars near the shoulders. WalkingBear first showed this years ago, and I tried it also back then, but in both contexts the suspension was webbing based.

The main design challenges for this were in
  • making the Gossamer Gear LT-4 hiking pole serve as a spreader bar,
  • making a side channel in 1.1 oz fabric that is strong enough for the thin 2mm suspension cord,
  • redo-ing the endcap to accomodate recessed spreader bars
  • losing most of an ounce from the weight of tree-huggers so that I could hit my total system weight goal.


The particular hammock shown will be used by someone considerably lighter than me. I've made one for myself out of 1.9 oz/yd^2 and 7/64" Amsteel, which adds 2-3 ounces to the system weight package.

For those DIY bridge makers out there, the dimensions of this rig are largely those of other GrizzBridges. The suspension curve is 7.0" deep, the finished fabric at the head (and foot) is 48", the mid-point is 34" wide.

(spoiler alert) oh, yeah, nearly forgot. The entire package comes in at 281 grams.