I ended up making this contraption last night. Stopped by the fabric shop after work and picked up 6 yards of camo parachute material and 6 yards of satin, along with a 36" zipper. Total cost was $48.
I could've put a layer of insulation in this but I opted not to for several reasons. The main reason is it would've made this thing more bulky than a sleeping bag. As it is now, it folds up into a triangle about the same size as an American flag. It also doesn't weigh much. Less than 2 lbs.
Construction was pretty simple. I just cut two 9 foot long football shapes (with an inner and outer liner). Then I cut one of the halves down the middle and cut out an oval (where the head goes) and put in the zipper. Sewed both halves together and left each end open about 6 inches in order to put the hammock through it. I added little loops to each of the four end pieces so they can be tied and drawn as needed.
I knew I was making it too wide, but I wanted to have some extra space to work with, since I may be able to put this over my GT skeeter beeter. I think this ended up working to my advantage because I noticed in the video that the fabric actually hangs along the sides, and the bottom of the peapod is raised up closer to the bottom of the hammock. This would not only stop a cross wind from blowing under the bottom, but it would help to keep the overall amount of empty space inside to a minimum which should help with heat retention.
I'm in the process of using fabric glue to seal and reinforce some of the stress points and seams. And I'll be using seam sealer to go over all of the seams as I could see light shining through all the little holes from the inside. Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out. But it will be awhile before I'll be able to test it out in the field to see if it actually works.
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