I've had my Hammock for a while now, but didn't have the chance to actual get out and use it in the real outdoors. That finally changed last weekend!
As I hadn't been out before, and I knew there would be things I wanted to tweak, I decided to go to Cat Lake, just north of Alice Lake Provincial Park in BC.
The site is walk-in only, but a short walk. I wanted to simulate hiking in, but also wanted to take more gear (extra line, tools, multiple test stoves, etc), for the previously mentioned gear tweaking. At only ten minutes of a walk, it was quick enough to make a couple of trips, but far enough I could feel I was getting some real experience.
I won't go into the really boring details, but I will share all the changes I made, my ‘Firsts’, and other tidbits of info I learned ….
1) This was my first solo camping trip ever! Not a huge accomplishment in a popular camping area, but still a first.
2) I switched my tarp from being suspended from prusiks on a CRL, to the in-line hang method, as described by the ultimate hang in this drawing:
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I found the prusiks to be finicky and difficult to get a tight RL. This method works better for me.
3) My first usage with the 2QZQ Door Mod for my HH Hex tarp, along with the pole mod.
It worked, and looked great! Lots of room, and privacy from the trail. Using the doors I was able to put the tarp in porch mode while blocking people wandering the trail from seeing in.
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I actually had a group of mountain bikes go by and one of the guys said: “That guy’s Hardcore. He’s tarping it!”
I don't think I've ever been called Hardcore before …. I doubt he’d have said that if he could see the nice comfy hammock.
4) I swapped out the HH snake skins for some DIY Lazy Slug Tubes. I liked the idea of keeping my insulation together in a single, neat package.
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Left - HH Skins .......... Middle - LST's w/hammock only .......... Right - LST's with TQ & UQ
I made the LST’s out of Sil. I think I did a good job on the sewing, as I had a bit more trouble getting the air out than I expected when packing up…. I will have to open up the opening on the ends a bit. Super easy to do, as they are currently cinched with micro locks.
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5) Tried an experiment with a redundant Diverging of Excess Water (DEW?) method. I probably don’t need to worry, as I currently have a biner attaching to a ring, so the water should stop there, but after seeing the video of how water can travel across breaks, in the right circumstances, I figured it wouldn't hurt.
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It is just some shoelace that is tied across both sides of the ring, with a tail off both sides. This should catch any excess, no matter what direction it comes from. Thoughts? (It didn't rain while I was out)
6) First real trial of water filtration using my DIY Sawyer Squeeze -> gravity filter.
I didn't even notice that there was no running water at the park - so I'm really glad I took the filter. The plan was to use it anyway, but this made it a more realistic test.
I was able to access the water from the lake just down the hill from my site. I even had a fallen tree going out into the lake a bit so I didn't have to take water from right at the shore line. All very handy! (The lake was actually much clearer than I expected anyway.)
I made my dirty water bag connect to the filter via a quick connect with auto shutoff. This allowed me to fill the dirty bag without having to carry around any extra hose, or be concerned of getting the clean parts contaminated. Once raised into a tree a bit, I was very impressed with the flow from the filter. I filled my water bottle and MSR bladder, but ended up just using the filter like a faucet whenever I needed a drink, or to make food. The built in pre-filter did it’s job nicely too!
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Here is a link to how I made it: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...=1#post1108243
7) First try using a DIY Hammock Chair …. This was a mixed success. The chair seemed a good size, but I couldn't get comfortable. I think I could have, if I had more time to play, but some of the stitches started to pop. It was my first sewing project for anything that would need to take any weight, and I didn't know enough about multiple rows of stitching, stitch length, or anything else needed to make something safe to sit in. I plan to make some repairs and try again in the future.
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7b) First try of a gear hammock … After the chair didn't work out, I hung it as a gear hammock. Not that it was needed, but to try it out, plus it kept my stuff hidden from view.
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What a great idea someone had - it is so convenient! I didn't have it positioned perfectly, but I could definitely imagine it keeping everything dry in the rain.
8) I needed to add some gear loops to the ends of the hammock RL …
I removed the stock RL and replaced it with an adjustable RL when I swapped out the stock suspension. In doing so, I no longer had the knots in the line given a place to anchor gear up in the ends. I had intended to add this prior to my trip, but totally forgot - Luckily, I brought my splicing stuff.
I wanted a fairly small loop ... I could have used a continuous loop, but figured I would not have any need to ever remove it, or move it’s position. I’m not exactly sure how I came up with the idea, but I managed to make a loop smaller than the smallest continuous loop.
First, I passed some Zing-it through the RL Amsteel, and formed a small Locked Brummel.
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Then, I passed the tail up through the opening in the Brummel, over the line, and was able to back splice into the loop. Somehow in doing this, the tail from the brummel didn’t interfere with the second splice. I think somewhere in the process, the extra wrapping used a little more line, but allowed a tighter end-product.
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I repeated the process on the other end, and even took the pictures, but I don’t know if I could repeat exactly what I did, again.
9) First field trials of DIY Alcohol stoves. I had made a soda can stove using the directions here: http://www.thesodacanstove.com/
I also had a few tries of the ‘New stove Design’ as seen here: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...w-stove-design
First I tried what I thought was my best attempt at the ‘New Stove’ - It worked, but wasn’t as efficient as what others seemed to be getting. I think I had my jets too big, so I’ll try making a few more and see what I can do.
The soda can stove worked great!
I made a ‘Jet Only’ cover as an experiment - It seemed to increase it’s effectiveness. The cover was similar to the snuffer, but only included the center portion - covering up the larger opening in the middle, while keeping the jets free. It essentially looked like a convertible penny stove. If you have a hole in the cover, you can actually fill and light the stove without opening it - this made things easier, as adding the cover after it’s lit is a little tricky and wastes fuel.
I managed to get 1.5 Cups of water to boil in about 6 min, in a Toaks 1300 mL Titanium pot, (http://www.amazon.com/TOAKS-Titanium.../dp/B009N5JHIE) using 20 mL of fuel. (about ⅔ Oz). 15 mL (0.5oz) got hot enough to use, but not quite to boiling.
I used a syringe to do my fuel measurements, so it’s pretty accurate.
I brought my MSR international, but didn't touch it, except to borrow the windscreen. For the weight, I can’t see using this stove much anymore, unless I’m with a bigger group, or need snow melted.
Continued in Part 2
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Originally Posted by Penfold
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