Starting first diy hammock for 11yo son today or tommorow

**antichip** · 01-23-2014, 11:45

Hello,

My son and I have gotten into backpacking and are trying to lighten the load and be a bit more comfy at night. I have been reading on this forum for quite some time in the past on and off, and regularly searching and reading the past few weeks. I decided to do the sons rig as it would be slightly smaller and not need nearly as much strength. So I went to jo-anns fabrics a week or so ago and looked at what they had and gave the kid his color options. he said red blue and black.

I would like to do a bridge type set-up as my skills improve with the thread injector, but I think for now I will stick with a gathered end.

I would also like to get a little more experience and info before I start the bridge set-up.

Anyway I went to jo-anns yesterday and looked at the fabrics I had originally planned on using and saw it was acetate based. OK so that made me change my decision and I went with a crinkled polyester. I will try and get some pics posted up later today showing the fabrics chosen. It was all 50% off so the most expensive part was the black strapping and then that was 40% off so all good.

All said and done after thread and bobbins and a few other bit 80 dollars. I was really not expecting it to come out to that much but he should like it.

So I guess I have questions on the bridge design and such, Like is the suggested amount of curve per foot linear or should it be more or less for shorter hammocks?

I only got 3 yards of eack color, but in hind sight I prolly should of gotten 4 for the extras and such, but at 11yo it should still fit him for a few years. And if I have to I would be willing to sew in a seam to make it longer as I am sure it should hold his weight, depending on the seam I suppose.

THREAD, I don't see enough info on thread and I will admit I was like a dear in headlights when looking at all the threads and ended up getting a heavy duty outdoor thread.
I have amsteel coming in I hope tomorrow and lash it and zing it, I picked up some plastic needles for the splices and so on.

Um where does that leave me? I supposed I should get away from this blasted computer and get to work.

Pics and maybee vids to follow.

**squidbilly** · 01-23-2014, 12:12

"THREAD, I don't see enough info on thread and I will admit I was like a dear in headlights when looking at all the threads and ended up getting a heavy duty outdoor thread."

The heavy outdoor thread is not necessary, I only use it for webbing. And it requires different tension settings, so I have one machine dedicated to that task.

A lot of folks use Gutermanns thread for all their projects. It's a high quality thread available from most any of the fabric and DIY suppliers here. Here's a couple:

http://diygearsupply.com/

http://www.questoutfitters.com/

You can use general purpose thread, just be sure it's 100% polyester.

**antichip** · 01-23-2014, 17:01

Thanks for the input. I have it now so I might as well go ahead and use it.

An update as it were. I got out the recycled tent bottom to reattach the tent stake hole to use it as a ground tarp for this weekends car trip. grabbed a new bobbin wound it with the heavy duty thread. I then proceed to make what looked like crap coming from the singer. like it seemed nothing I would do would tension the tom thread tight enough and it would just gob on the underside. well after like an hour of screwing around I pulled the new bobbin off and put in the old one with thinner thread, and it was all good. compared the 2 bobbins, and of course it seems I am retarded and was using(bought) the wrong ones yesterday. Well live and learn a dime at a time. I am sure they will return them or swap them out, but what a colossal waste of time. So anyway got the scavenged tent floor re purposed now and am mostly happy with the results. Hmm what to screw up next
? Maybee I will do a stuff sack for the ground tarp before I mess with the real projects.

**DavyRay** · 01-23-2014, 22:16

Originally Posted by antichip

Thanks for the input. I have it now so I might as well go ahead and use it.

An update as it were. I got out the recycled tent bottom to reattach the tent stake hole to use it as a ground tarp for this weekends car trip. grabbed a new bobbin wound it with the heavy duty thread. I then proceed to make what looked like crap coming from the singer. like it seemed nothing I would do would tension the tom thread tight enough and it would just gob on the underside. well after like an hour of screwing around I pulled the new bobbin off and put in the old one with thinner thread, and it was all good. compared the 2 bobbins, and of course it seems I am retarded and was using(bought) the wrong ones yesterday. Well live and learn a dime at a time. I am sure they will return them or swap them out, but what a colossal waste of time. So anyway got the scavenged tent floor re purposed now and am mostly happy with the results. Hmm what to screw up next
? Maybee I will do a stuff sack for the ground tarp before I mess with the real projects.

I will be happy to assist you with decisions when you decide to make your first bridge hammock. There are so many choices to make when making a bridge. I have read all the bridge hammock threads here. Will be glad to assist once you dive completely into this.

**antichip** · 01-24-2014, 09:10

Thank-you DavyRay I will definitely take you up on that.

OK so the few pics here are of the colman 3 room donor tent 11x17 I believe. I seam ripped the edges and am using it as stated as a ground tarp for car camping. I will also use the rainfly as a well rainfly. It will need a good silicone respray but is in good condtion.

so then here is the purchase from joanns the other night, went back last night and got the right bobbins. Of course I threw the receipt away so my wife would not see how much I spent and didn't have my ID for the return. So another few bucks wasted.

Anyway this is the fabrics selected for sons unit, he liked the colors when
I showed them to him. I am Going to get going on the bag for the ground tarp and fly in a few minutes but figured I would get a few pics up anyway.

I was hoping jo-anns would have the zipper foot but they only had some crazy looking foot in stock and did not from the looks carry the zipper foot at all. Amazon be calling my name again.
It also looks as tho my cordage will not be in till middle of next week instead of today as I was thinking, BOOOO.

OK enough couch camping I should get too it.

__________________________________________________ ______

Ok well so far this morning I was able to get the tarp bag done. My amazon order arived just before I was finished. It was a tough call to dig into the amazon or finish the bag. Boxes yet to be opened.

On that note being a professional machinist mech designer and worked on everything from classified aerospace parts to automotive rims I am not sure whether to be proud or sickened.

OK I love it cause I did it and it did not come out terrible. It should actually work great

Bag done laying on the ground

inside seam at the bottom where the 3 pieces are together

outside of bag in same location.

So this is the top edge under the drawstring loop. I put a double zig zag stitch there to help lock that side seam together.

**antichip** · 01-31-2014, 15:07

Ok well wanted to give an update here. Did the red and black fabric as a no sew gathered end double layer. Son loves it. It is a tiny bit short for me but he thinks it is awesome. We took it with us camping this last weekend and I did not see him much as most of his time was spent lounging in his new hammock. He did not sleep in it though as we did not set it up with a tarp or shelter he was a little scared of the animals and the tents were more than a few feet away. It held both of us with out issues. Although it was a little on the small side. On a side note my lash it zing it and amsteel have all came in, I will say the amsteel is a little thicker than what I was thinking it would be. like monster cable compared to the zing it, lash it.