I just finished my first bridge hammock and now I'm on to number 2, learning from all the mistakes I made on number one I learned that planing head makes for a much easier job. To that end my end caps on my first try didn't go so well. I tried having some on lay in it and then take measurements. problem is that sewing a conner is not as easy as it sounds and makes for some odd problems, I know I know Grizzly said this in his DIY write up... but what better way to learn then to bash one's head into desk while learning.

Being that Im a math major I set out to solve the problem of solving for the hight of a parabola while only knowing the spreader bar length and the lenght of fabric... it ended up being a really long proof... took 3 pages to solve! I ended up having to re work this formula...

Arc Length = 0.5√(16h²+w²) + [w²/(8h)][Ln(4h + √(16h²+w²)) - Ln(w)]

into

ln(√(h²+0.625w²)+h)(w²+16)(h√(h²+0.625w²)-0.5(h+FL+.125w²(ln(w)-1.3862936112)))=0

Yeah.... lots of fun!

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone knew how well the parabola settled when loaded? I was thinking I would make the cap out of 1.1oz fabric or a stretchable fabric. What Im trying to stay away from is having a bunch of floppy fabric when its loaded?

Heres the arc when ploted. Total arch lenght comes out to 54.0028"... not bad

The formula for this 54" fabric with 36" spreader arch incase some one wants to replicate it is
y=-0.057099x^2+2.055555x

y ends up being your hight (drop if you flip it)
x is the distance along your spreader bar