I'm in trouble.....

**Ramblinrev** · 08-02-2008, 23:26

My family is about ready to have me committed to an institution. I have been giving some thought to a tarp suitable for a bridge hammock that is A) simple. B) Within normal limits as far as tarps are concerned and c) Reasonably practical. The long and the short of it is that I have been working away building a model of this beastie. I have it semi-completed. Completed enuf to show it off and find out what people think of the idea and what will/will not work as well as any other little tidbits of comments. This thing ain't tiny. But it is to scale. I am trying to find a place where I can set it up and get some pics to share.

I think I am ok as long as I do not carry through with my desire to build a scale bridge hammock to go in it. I do believe that would truly cause my family to question my already dubious competency. Hopefully by tomorrow evening I will have some pics to post. Unless my hands are secured behind my back and the men in the white coats won't let me play....

**GrizzlyAdams** · 08-02-2008, 23:33

you do go straight to the heart of the problem, don't you???

It will be interesting to see your solution.

Dutch and I have tarps that use poles to spread the tarp out more near the top, making it wider. I have some screw-ball ideas about doing that without poles, but with some extra cord and spreader sticks.

Another thought is that I don't need to be so concerned about having the tarp low enough on the sides to protect the bottom of my hammock if that bottom is protected already with a weather shield.

Maybe they'll give us adjacent cells at the sanitorium.

Grizz

**schrochem** · 08-02-2008, 23:59

It's best not to tell them what you are doing.
If you are fooling around with the sewing machine and fabric enough they stop asking...
I've sewn some crazy stuff recently with no questions asked...
As an example here's a mobile shroud for portable wet plate collodion work...

Of course I did get a compliment later on from the wife that it was impressive that I could whip that up in such little time!

**GrizzlyAdams** · 08-03-2008, 07:21

hey Scott-
bet that shroud is made of breathable fabric.

Black body length bag, sun, Texas, .... , there's a combination for you.

Grizz

**HappyCamper** · 08-03-2008, 07:28

Ramblinrev,

When you need a place to setup your new tarp, Scott says Texas is big.

**Ramblinrev** · 08-03-2008, 09:46

Okay.. time for the unveiling. This is ruff.... I mean it don't even deserve good spelling but I think the idea should be clear.

Current scale is 1' = 3' so this particular model is scale 12' simply because it was a size I thought I could work with reasonably. It is pictured hung at scale 6.5' to the ridge peak.

Obviously a wider peak is of importance to move the walls out beyond the hammock spreader bars. I would probably re-rig this to use a full internal ridge line in a next incarnation if there is one. The main ridge line is unseamed. The fabric panel scales at nominal 36" allowing the eave seams to be at the same width as the spreader bars for the hammock. The eaves are tied out all along the way. In this case every 6'. Nothing magical or calculated about that but I figured that many tarps have at least a 6' span between tie outs so it might work. The wall fabric scales to 4.5' and spreads out farther from the eaves allowing ample space for movement and entry/exit to the hammock.

Clearly when dealing with a tarp this wide blowing rain will be a problem unless the ends are blocked off. The door panels could be permanently attached or removable depending on which of you DIY goonies has the bee in your bonnet. It permanently attached they could be gathered like drapes and tied off on the ends to get them out of the way. Or they could fold inside the tarp in a manner simialr to the SWT doors. The difference being the panel needs to articulate along the eave seam and attachment points (toggle, button, velcro) would be needed instead of relying on the shock cord tie outs to keep them folded up.

This is not for the gram weenie. It is also not intended for snow. My assumption would be a weathershield top and bottom cap would be used on the hammock for cold and snow.

So folks.... there it is in all its splendor. Talk to me.

**headchange4u** · 08-03-2008, 10:15

Awwwww.....dat wittle tarp is soooo cute

I like the design.

**Ramblinrev** · 08-03-2008, 10:22

any body camp with a toy poodle and needs a tarp for fluffy?

**Ramblinrev** · 08-04-2008, 10:19

The tarp stayed pitched over night.... I assume that means something... not sure what at this point. hehehe

I've been pointed to some other pics from previous discussions of this type of design. I'll be looking at those carefully before I go on to a second incarnation of this one. Thanks folks.

**GrizzlyAdams** · 08-04-2008, 11:40

Originally Posted by Ramblinrev

Okay.. time for the unveiling. This is ruff.... I mean it don't even deserve good spelling but I think the idea should be clear.

Current scale is 1' = 3' so this particular model is scale 12' simply because it was a size I thought I could work with reasonably. It is pictured hung at scale 6.5' to the ridge peak.

Obviously a wider peak is of importance to move the walls out beyond the hammock spreader bars. I would probably re-rig this to use a full internal ridge line in a next incarnation if there is one. The main ridge line is unseamed. The fabric panel scales at nominal 36" allowing the eave seams to be at the same width as the spreader bars for the hammock. The eaves are tied out all along the way. In this case every 6'. Nothing magical or calculated about that but I figured that many tarps have at least a 6' span between tie outs so it might work. The wall fabric scales to 4.5' and spreads out farther from the eaves allowing ample space for movement and entry/exit to the hammock.

Clearly when dealing with a tarp this wide blowing rain will be a problem unless the ends are blocked off. The door panels could be permanently attached or removable depending on which of you DIY goonies has the bee in your bonnet. It permanently attached they could be gathered like drapes and tied off on the ends to get them out of the way. Or they could fold inside the tarp in a manner simialr to the SWT doors. The difference being the panel needs to articulate along the eave seam and attachment points (toggle, button, velcro) would be needed instead of relying on the shock cord tie outs to keep them folded up.

This is not for the gram weenie. It is also not intended for snow. My assumption would be a weathershield top and bottom cap would be used on the hammock for cold and snow.

So folks.... there it is in all its splendor. Talk to me.

Tarp coverage is one of the interesting challenges with bridge hammocks. I don't think I'm mispeaking to observe that the design of the JRB 11'x10' tarp was influenced by their BMBH, or that the dimensions of the BMBH (particularly the spreader bar width) was influence by the need to get the hammock under normal tarps.

So a while ago before you were active here a number of us were kicking around ideas on how to pull out the sides to make more space for the spreaders. A ways into this thread I tried out my hammock hogan, a.k.a. hammock hanger. It achieved what you're aiming for, but without the side-seams. Just for testing purposes I put grip-clip pull-outs on to pull out the sides.

Somewhere in this---can't find it---slowhike pointed out that perhaps you could use seams in the tarp wall rather than the grip-clips. He's made a tarp like that, with the intention I think to eventually drop side walls down on the inside for better protection from weather coming under the tarp edge. Here's a picture of his tarp.

The downside of pulling the sides out is that the tie-out lies for the pull-outs on the mid-wall seam have to be really really long, on the order of 12 or 15 feet long. It's all geometry. Their angle coming off the tarp wall has to be flatter than what the tarp does beneath. That's what prompted me to borrow an idea I saw in a picture that I think maybe T-Back posted once, of a tent pole being used to create more space inside the hammock. So I put sleeves on the edge of my tarp, jammed in tent poles, added doors, and got a hammock quonset hut where the sides are pushed out.

When I get a chance I'm going to try another tack on this, which involves trail sticks used as spreaders, tied to extra tabs on the tarp, with the spreaders pulled towards the tree with more cord. A bit Rube Goldberg-ish, but perhaps the lightest option.

Thanks for sharing your idea. Fluffy the dog will love you for it.

Grizz