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  1. #1
    Senior Member headchange4u's Avatar
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    Arrow My Take On DIY Hennessy Hammock. A Tutorial.

    First off, big thanks to wilsonbmw for disassembling his HH for us to learn from.

    I started this thread to find out how to incorporated some of the features of a HH in a DIY model. I think the hammock that I made accomplished what I set out to do and here's how I did it.

    I was basically trying to make my own version of the HH Ultralight Backpacker Asym. My original HH is very comfortable and fits me well, but there were a few things that were I wanted to change. I wanted a top loading hammock for easier entry and exit. I wanted to be able to reach outside the hammock while I am inside the hammock. I also wanted to be able to go without the top net when the weather permitted.

    I started by checking the HH site for dimensions of the fabric for the HH ULBA which was 120" x 60". I used untreated 1.9oz ripstop for the hammock body. I started by roll hemming all four edges of the fabric.

    Before I went any further I took the time to lay the hammock body out flat and located the asymmetrical tie out points. You can see in the illustration below, to find the asymm. tie outs you need to find the center of the hammock. The tie out points are located 26" on center. Measure up 13" on one side and 13" down from the center on the opposite side and that will give you the proper tie out locations that will be compatible with the JRB line of quilts or other HH accessories that attach to the side tie outs.

    Notice the orientation of the tie outs to the foot end of the hammock. If you are standing at the foot end the "high" tie out is on the right side and the "low" tie out is located on the left side.
    [IMG][/IMG]

    Next I sewed the fabric together on each end for 8", basically creating a short tube on each end:



    I did this because I plan to add a zipper around the lip of the hammock body that will allow me to attach a bug net, or a top cover like I use on my HH now, or go completely topless . This will save weight in the long run because I will only have to caryy the top portion I need; netting for buggy summertime, top cover for winter, and topless in the spring and fall (and star gazing).

    I realized that my ridge line was going to be a problem because it needed to be located inside the hammock ends otherwise it would interfere with my zipper idea. I made a loop thingy from the Spectra line I cut off my original HH. You will see why did this soon .


    I used rolled the edges from the bottom of the hammock body instead of the standard gathering technique. I must have rolled and whipped this thing 12 times before I got the right "feel". I came up with 5 rolls per side. I made sure to keep the edges as even as possible when rolling. You can see the loop thiny situated in the middle of the hammock, between the top and bottom layer.

    Hammock laid out:
    Last edited by headchange4u; 10-16-2007 at 16:20.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett



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  2. #2
    Senior Member headchange4u's Avatar
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    First roll on each side:

    Both sides rolled:


    I then picked up the bundle and whipped the ends.


    I then sewed on side tie outs in a way that I could still add a zipper later. I used 3/4" nylon webbing. I reinforced the tie out points with a heavy Supplex (blue):


    Here is a pic of the finished hammock (Yeah I used Glo Cord for a ridge line ). I will get some pics of it hanging soon. My JRB under quilts fit the hammock perfectly. What was that little loop thingy for? It's what I clip my removable ridge line to (second pic). The loop thingy is locked inside the whipping and this method actually ended up working very well.

    The hammock lays differently than any other Hammock I have made. The bottom of the hammock is flat with a pocket that forms on each end for my head and feet. I fell this is due to the roll whip. It definatly has a HH feel and is very comfortable. I also lay flatter in this hammock than in any other I have tried.



    Added 12-12-07:
    Making a top cover pattern

    I have had a few people ask how I made my top covers for my HH clone. It's not a complicated process, but it is kinda hard to explain. I hope my instructions are clear enough.

    I do highly recommend that you make a pattern because it will allow you to easily make different top covers, from different materials, and it's a lot easier to make marks and measurements on the pattern paper than it is to mark the fabric. I used Tyvek to make my pattern. You can get enough Tyvek from Ebay for $5-6 to make this reusable pattern (about 2-3 yards should be enough) .

    To begin with, you will need to setup the hammock normally , and stake out the side tie outs. You will only be taking 3 measurements from the hammock:the ridge line measurement (A), the distance from the ridge line to the side tie out (B), and the short side asym measurement (C). The ridge line measurement should be the distance between where the fabric comes together on the foot end to where the fabric comes together on the head end. It is not the actual length of the ridge line.

    The first thing that I did was to draw out a rectangle using the ridge line measurement as the height and 2 x the distance from the ridge line to the side tie out as the width of the rectangle (rectangle indicated by red and blue dotted lines). For example, if you had a ridge line measurement of 80" and a the distance from the ridge line to the side tie out is 30" per side, then the rectangle should be 80" tall and 60" wide. The rectangle should be divided in half, lengthwise, by measurement A.

    The next thing that you need to do is transfer measurement C to the pattern. Lay your yard stick at the apex point and adjust it so that the distance between the apex and the intersect point matches your measurement C Repeat this process on the opposite end of the the pattern, on the opposite side of the center line.

    The final step in making the pattern is to draw in the long asym sides (indicated by the dotted black line). All you have to do is to use a straight edge to make a line from the intersect point to the apex point that is the furthest away.

    After you have all your lines drawn, simply cut out the asymmetrically shaped pattern from the rectangle and you now have a reusable top cover pattern.

    Last edited by headchange4u; 12-12-2007 at 18:13.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett



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  3. #3
    New Member Downunderhang's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by headchange4u View Post
    First roll on each side:
    Added 12-12-07:
    Making a top cover pattern

    I have had a few people ask how I made my top covers for my HH clone. It's not a complicated process, but it is kinda hard to explain. I hope my instructions are clear enough.

    I do highly recommend that you make a pattern because it will allow you to easily make different top covers, from different materials, and it's a lot easier to make marks and measurements on the pattern paper than it is to mark the fabric. I used Tyvek to make my pattern. You can get enough Tyvek from Ebay for $5-6 to make this reusable pattern (about 2-3 yards should be enough) .

    To begin with, you will need to setup the hammock normally , and stake out the side tie outs. You will only be taking 3 measurements from the hammock:
    the ridge line measurement (A), the distance from the ridge line to the side tie out (B), and the short side asym measurement (C). The ridge line measurement should be the distance between where the fabric comes together on the foot end to where the fabric comes together on the head end. It is not the actual length of the ridge line.

    The first thing that I did was to draw out a rectangle using the ridge line measurement as the height and 2 x the distance from the ridge line to the side tie out as the width of the rectangle (rectangle indicated by red and blue dotted lines). For example, if you had a ridge line measurement of 80" and a the distance from the ridge line to the side tie out is 30" per side, then the rectangle should be 80" tall and 60" wide. The rectangle should be divided in half, lengthwise, by measurement A.

    The next thing that you need to do is transfer measurement C to the pattern. Lay your yard stick at the apex point and adjust it so that the distance between the apex and the intersect point matches your measurement C Repeat this process on the opposite end of the the pattern, on the opposite side of the center line.

    The final step in making the pattern is to draw in the long asym sides (indicated by the dotted black line). All you have to do is to use a straight edge to make a line from the intersect point to the apex point that is the furthest away.

    After you have all your lines drawn, simply cut out the asymmetrically shaped pattern from the rectangle and you now have a reusable top cover pattern.


    I thought I'd play around with some maths to save on having to cut out a pattern for the top cover. Here it is if you want to use it:



    I've based it on H4U's original diagram and added some more dimensions. A, B and C are as per the original diagram. As you can see the pattern has been rotated on the material to be cut. NB: This does mean that the ridge line does not follow the weave of the material but this wasn't a big deal for me.

    The key measurements we are after is G - the width to be cut, H - the off-cut length, and, if you don't want to use the ridgeline measurement on the angle, the length of the material (not given a letter in my diagram). To get these measurements, we first need to calculate some other measurements - D, E and F as follows:

    D = Square root of (C squared - B squared)
    E = A - D
    F = Square root of (E squared + B squared)

    Now we can get G = B/F*A
    And H = Square root of (C squared - G squared)
    The length of the material to be cut from is F+H

    So to cut the material measure off a length of F+H, cut it to a width of G. Then measure down H from the top right corner and cut from there to the top left corner in a straight line. Then measure up H from the bottom left corner and cut from there to the bottom right corner in a straight line.

    I hope that helps - it worked for me.
    "I come from a land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder" - Men at Work.

  4. #4
    Senior Member New2trees's Avatar
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    Cant Thank you enough for providing such wonderful instructions, I made my first hammock and it turned out great using Walmart $1 Nylon

    DSC00582.jpg DSC00583.jpg
    DSC00584.jpg IMAG0348.jpg
    IMAG0347.jpg
    Last edited by New2trees; 04-29-2014 at 00:30.

  5. #5
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    So in my googling I found your drawing of what is just a rain fly. I thought it was hammock. As a hammock pattern, it does seems like an obvious idea.
    Fabric cut in a parallelogram shape, then gathered at the ends. This would create 'sags' opposite the corner you've marked 'intersect' (So 'C's would be the ends) These bulges could easily be 'managed' with Knotty Mod shock cords--or you could use the anchor points as with the Hennessey. The 'natural flat lay' would then be rotated diagonally from it's perpendicular point. The only downside is cutting down from longer fabric, and being stuck with a single directional diagonal lay. Somebody tell me what I'm missing before I chop up a bunch of fabric.

  6. #6
    Senior Member lvleph's Avatar
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    Looking forward to the final result.

  7. #7
    That loop is a good idea, if you want to have your ridgeline inside the bug netting.
    Like you, I made a Hennessey hammock clone using wilsonbmw's pictures (thank you!). It rocks! I have never slept in a HH before, but even my homemade HH is more comfortable than previous, Speer style hammocks. I will post pics as soon as it is finished (had a scary fabric tearing incident earlier), but I wanted to speak up now because I couldn't believe someone had beaten me to the punch. I mean, the pictures have been up for what, a week? Some of you guys are lightning fast gearmakers!

  8. #8
    Senior Member Just Jeff's Avatar
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    Great project...looking forward to testing results.

    Keep an eye on those ridgeline biners...I don't think they're load-bearing. Might work ok in this application depending on how much stress you put on the ridgeline.
    “Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” ~Judge Joseph Story

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  9. #9
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    Headchane4u,
    I second JJ's caution about the ridgeline biners. They may have been minimally stressed with the spacing you tested the hammock at, but will carry much more stress if you set up with wider supports. An overlooked feature of the HH is that the ridge line keeps the sag of the hammock consistent over a wide range of support spacings. When supports are too close together, the ridge will sag, but as you space wider, the ridge comes into play to hold the sag of the hammock stable. When spacing is wide, the stress on the ridge line gets pretty stiff. Using the ridge line as part of the hammock structure is a good idea, and any hammock will benefit from it.

    I don't use biners at all, but tie the ridge line directly to loops at the ends of my home-made hammocks. I use a sheet bend to secure the webbing lines to the hammock, and sew a loop at the tied end of the webbing. That is where I attach the ridge line. You already have loops sewn to the hammock, and that will work, too.

  10. #10
    Senior Member blackbishop351's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spock View Post
    Headchane4u,
    I second JJ's caution about the ridgeline biners. They may have been minimally stressed with the spacing you tested the hammock at, but will carry much more stress if you set up with wider supports. An overlooked feature of the HH is that the ridge line keeps the sag of the hammock consistent over a wide range of support spacings. When supports are too close together, the ridge will sag, but as you space wider, the ridge comes into play to hold the sag of the hammock stable. When spacing is wide, the stress on the ridge line gets pretty stiff. Using the ridge line as part of the hammock structure is a good idea, and any hammock will benefit from it.

    I don't use biners at all, but tie the ridge line directly to loops at the ends of my home-made hammocks. I use a sheet bend to secure the webbing lines to the hammock, and sew a loop at the tied end of the webbing. That is where I attach the ridge line. You already have loops sewn to the hammock, and that will work, too.
    I've got a small unrated/light rated biner in the ridgeline of my HH ULB, and I've hung it in just about every imaginable configuration that way. Hanging from wider-spaced trees definitely puts more tension on the ridgeline, but I haven't had any problems at all.
    "Physics is the only true science. All else is stamp collecting." - J. J. Thompson

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