question for our hammock DIY guys

[TomsBackwoods]

I'v been looking at some different hammocks and they all have different length's.But none seem to get shorter than the GT Nano7 at 108". I'm wondering if it would be possible to get a good A-sym lay on a smaller Length hammock maybe 67x54? has anybody ever tried this?
Being a shorter guy at 5'7" my GT Skeeter beeter seems huge to me with wasted space . My 3/4HG UQ fits me like a full length UQ and Adam is making me a short version TQ as well.
So I'm curious if it would be a worth while project to build?or maybe have one of our custom guys build on for me. What do you think the specs should be for a gathered end hammock for a guy my size??
Thanks for any helpful advise!!

[Shug]

Maybe cut it a bit longer than you are thinking.....whip it and test hang. Get the feel. If you need it shorter....just un-do whipping and re-whip until you find the magic!
Worth a try.
http://tothewoods.net/HomemadeHammock2.html
Shug

[jbrianb]

I've always heard a good rule of thumb is to add 24 inches to the height of the tallest person who will use the hammock. You're 67 inches, so that comes to 91 inches.

I lie on the diagonal, as most folks do. I have found that the width aspect has a lot to do with the comfort, too. I can handle a shorter hammock with more width. I can handle a narrower hammock with more length.

Assuming you're looking at the Nano 7, which is 48 inches wide, I would go with at least the above mentioned 91 inches.

If you're looking at a 60-inch wide hammock, I think you could cheat a few inches off... say maybe (and it's a real maybe) 84 inches. I would not go lower than that.

It's just an opinion... so take it for what it's worth.

[SGT Rock]

I made a hammock one that was about 90something inches long, and it worked for a short time. What I did was make a footbox like I do on my Ghost hammock, then added a shoulder box on the other side which made a nice wide feeling hammock that was really a 48"x90something inch hammock. It worked very well, the fatal flaw was the sides were shorter than the bottom so when you sat in it like a couch you stressed the hems on the sides quite a bit. So in the long run it didn't work when the thing blew out on me one night on the trail during a rainstorm.

But the lesson learned in the experiment is if you are willing to lay a lot more diagonally you can go shorter, the only question then is it worth it if you shorten the hammock by 10" but have to make it 10 inches wider to compensate?

[TomsBackwoods]

But the lesson learned in the experiment is if you are willing to lay a lot more diagonally you can go shorter, the only question then is it worth it if you shorten the hammock by 10" but have to make it 10 inches wider to compensate?

You might be right.I'm not sure if I would gain very much and I would not want to overstress the seems and land on my butt in the middle of the night!

Thanks for all the input guys!