I have been lurking for several months now…gathering info. Watched all of Shug’s and Prof. Hammocks videos several times and will several more as well. Thanks you two, those are amazingly helpful! I keep reading lots of info from all over. Bought a copy of the Ultimate Hang and been hitting his illustrations a lot as well, another great and helpful resource. Thanks to the three of you…HUGE help.
I am not sure how I first was exposed to the hammock virus but I have it now, that’s for sure. I think it was the search for a more comfortable nights sleep. My first son started Cub Scouts last year and is finishing up the Wolf year now. First camp out I thought, hell, I have slept right on the ground before, why not again. Well I wasn't 40 all those times in the past and at 40, its no bueno! Second camp out I bought a cheap inflatable sleeping pad. First night started out good but the leak made it suck by morning and night two was on the ground again. Brother in law was in town, he works at Cabelas and has for 10 years, gets a sick discount on somethings. Paid $32 for a $90 “Cabelas” branded Thermarest. Third campout was the best of the bunch but still, I was on the ground. I think this is around the time that the hammock bug bit me. I ran across a nice deal at woot.com mid December and picked up two of hammocks for a little under $50 including shipping. This guy’s video is kinda long and drawn out but you can see bits of the hammock here if you are so inclined…Yukon Outfitters Hammock At this point I was still in the early stages of the sickness. Wife got me a real nice “army cot” for Christmas so that with the pad will be just about as good as it will get when we have to go to the tent. (remember, Cub Scouts so we are just dump-camping and I have a full size truck so I can bring some gear!) This past weekend was set to be the maiden flight for the cot or the hammocks. Since we had never been to this state park I didn’t know if I would have decent trees but when we arrived I was all giddy…they were everywhere!
Anyway, since it was the first time out with these or any hammocks it was definitely a learning experience! Stringing them was simple enough. I used these MicroRope to hang my sons because I was a little weary to hang from them myself because at 5’11, 255lbs I am close to the 330lbs printed limit and I also don’t know anything about the rope hey came with. If my son weights 60lbs its cause he has rocks in his pockets so they seemed fine for him and were…still, I think I may take them back.
I hung mine with some 1in straps I got somewhere on Amazon. I think they must have been nylon cause they really seemed to stretch…well, something did that is. I set them so I would be about 8 inches off the ground (lesser fall if something failed) but woke each morning with my butt actually on the ground, despite bringing the lines in about 4in on night two.
For tarps we just used the plain old blue plastic ones from WalMart. @$5 each they serve the purposed till I figure out what I want to really do and they will be useful around the house in other ways later so no $$$ wasted here really.
I meant to take a picture but completely forgot till I was all packed up but it was ghetto fabulous. I put up a ridgeline a little too high considering there was a chance of rain. Another mistake was that I didn’t secure it to that ridgeline and the centerline of the whole thing slid all over the place. I used some fiberglass poles from a old pitching net I had to prop it up a little and that was a jury-rig if there ever was one.
Plans now are to do away with the ropes in the ends and make a whoopee sling for each end…run in thru the channel or bunch it up is still undecided. I found some amsteel blue 3/16 for $.55 a foot so I think I am going to order up some of that. I know its over kill but its only $.25 more than the 1/8 and I am not concerned about weight…overkill is kind of a habit of mine.
For the tree huggers I think I am going to order some slings from strapworks but I don’t know yet. My head is all over the map on some of this stuff. I think I want a loop on one end and cinch buckle on the other? Dunno…too many options.
Gonna make a couple “bishop bags”, that’s for sure.
Thinking about the tarp design still. Leaning towards just a plain old rectangle to be honest. I don’t see the advantage of the other shapes and this would be simple? Size is the other question. I was thinking about a foot longer on each end than the hammock should be plenty and since the fabric I am looking at is a 64in yard then that X2. The blue tarps I used this weekend were only 10x8 and they felt just barely too small on the sides and were just enough to cover the length. Dunno. Thoughts?
Thinking of this material…Second one down, digital camo but I cant get a reply from those folks…any of you know if this is waterproof? I am guessing this is the material that the army issue ponchos is made from but cant tell for sure. I really just need it to keep dew, leaves and light rain off me…I wont go out when its likely to storm.
Blah, blah, blah…this is probably too much for a single thread and should be multiple…which I am sure it will become.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks