6' 5" inch guy: should I buy fabric and pay seamstress?

[matt-at]

I'm 6'5 and I can get into a ENO Doublenest, and my HH Explorer. I think I fit okay in them. I haven't done an overnighter in the ENO yet, but I sleep pretty dang good in the Hennessy.

[Trail Runner]

A few people like the 90" wide hammocks, but many of us just find it means a lot of excess fabric in our faces. You can't really lay much (if any) more on the diagonal than with a considerably narrower hammock.

The extra length of an 11' or 12' long hammock will be of more benefit to your comfort than excessive width. Your 118" (9'-10") hammock is almost considered short by many hangers.

I completely agree with this. I'm 6' and have found that I use 54"-55" of the width in my three 11' hammocks (60", 62" & 90" width).

[andyfalkirk]

I'm 6'5" and having Exped Travel Duo. Quite big hammock. Try it. It's light and quite comfy. I also have Exped Scout Combi in which I sleep very comfortable.

[mrcheviot]

I'm 6'5" and find the XLC quite comfortable, bridge would be too but WBRR and BMBH are both too small for my liking. Jared at SLD sells 12' hammocks (incld a 1.1 at 66" wide, which will prob be my next try out), and as mentioned above PS from DH will work with you on something custom. I tend to agree that 90" seems great but in my experience resulted in lots of excess fabric in my face.

[IRONFISH45]

Personally I would go with someone from this site, lots of reputable hammock makers. We have basic to extraordinary, also our vendors have a reputation to uphold.

Think about this: You are going to Hang above the ground in your hammock right? Do you want something put together by someone who is not familiar with making hammocks? There are some important things to know before making a hammock that you can trust your body to. Little things like the thread used, type of fabric, seams and a lot of other design details.

If you read through some of the prior posts you will see that some member's have had the Tablecloth Factory blanks tear or the threads separate on the fabric. Maybe the skinny minnies are okay, but for the over 97 pound crowd, I would be very careful of that choice of fabric.

Just my opinion, I tend to be very careful, my body does not like falls any more.

[Phantom Grappler]

Ask Marty at Wilderness Logics about a 12footer double layer. Tell him your height and weight.
Good luck

[ccolclou]

Xtrm tj beat me to it - I was also going to suggest the dutch argon hammock. I also agree with several of the above posts that after a certain point, more width is just more fabric in your face. I personally don't want to go over 60" wide, but other people love doubles, so...
I actually did have a seamstress make hammocks for me. I tried whipping, and decided I liked the sewn end channels better. So I had her stitch two tablecloths together (I was giving them as gifts and wanted insurance against failure, so I double layered), and then triple stitch the end channels. They turned out fantastically and I love them. However, I think she charged me $15 (which was great, I thought), but between materials and that fee you could have Dutch's hammock, as previously linked. Also, I had to diagram what I wanted, tell them the appropriate thread, and when they called me to say it was ready she told me my "sail" had been finished. LOL.
So:
Pros of having it sewn: more color choices, can decide fabrics and length, esp. if open to using fabric sites and not just tablecloths.
Cons of having it sewn: pay for sewing, pay for fabric, if using tablecloths, they have been known to fail, double layering a tablecloth is much heavier and bulkier than more hammock-specific fabrics, may have to explain what you want and provide appropriate thread.
Pros of Dutch hammock: probably the cheapest option, nice length, great feeling fabric (I've heard), nice weight
Cons of Dutch hammock: color?