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Home made hammock

john the pom

Well-Known Member
Jul 30, 2007
345
1
Queensland
Bro Bear said,"....then it wuz jest plain uncomfortable....mainly frum the mesh on my forehead"
With all due respect (I say that having heard you was once a lawyer). Did your Hennesey Hammock come sent to you in a mesh stuff sack by perchance :roll: ?
If it did, the bit thats left over after you've hung yer hammock, is it made of canvassy looking stuff?
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Friend john,

No mesh sack. I aim ta wash the skeeter net next week. Next fall I will try agin. I really need this hammock ta work.

thanks fer the help
bearridge

The genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves which make us wonder at the possibility that there may be something to them which we are missing. Gamal Abdel Nass
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
87
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Br'r Bear, please back channel me your address? I've helped a few fellas with their Hennessy's, and maybe I can help you? I hope to roam the southern US in late January; maybe I could find you and we could take a look.
 

dangermouse01

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2006
312
1
Palm Bay, FL (East coast)
BearRidge;
On some of the skeeter mesh, if it is touching your skin, the skeeters can still get to ya thru the mesh.
Don't know nothing about hammocks (except for the one in my living room) but is there some way to attach the netting to the rain fly or ropes or something so that the netting is around you but not touching you?

DM
mike
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Formerly Dangerous Mike,

Skeeters wuz my first thought, but the rash didnt look like skeeter bites 'n didnt go away the next day like skeeter bites. I doubt I will ever be able to sleep in it if I caint git my forehead away frum the netting. I wuz hopin' a big, tall fella on here had already plowed this field.

thanks
bearridge

You just keep thinkin' Butch. That's what you're good at. Sundance Kid
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
87
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Br'r Bear, you almost make it sound like you hung the hammock upside down/ I can't get my face to the netting unless I intentionally roll W-A-Y-Y-Y over. If I do, I just skooch back a sukosh.

I just can't imagine how it goes so wrong.
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
I scoot up just a shade to far and get away from that one pocket where the line runs off of it.
I like to lay in it at quite an angle and when I do my face is usually up to the netting on the one side at the seam of the netting and solid part.
It is my fault since I like the solid part down and the netting there for the scenery and fresh air. That's one of the things I like about the hammock , I can lay there and look out at the world.
It would not hurt my fellings at all if the whole thing was made out of netting. That would be like floating on a cloud. :D

As far as the skitters , I take a corner of a blanket , sleeping bag or my hand and run it up between that part of my face and where the netting and soild part meet , it holds the netting away from me. Not far away , but far enough so the bugs can't have a free meal. :lol:

I guess all of us have different ways of sleeping in one of them , what ever works for me might not for you but it is what I do.

Chuck.
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Mitey Helpful Jack,

It mite be that I wuz slidin' down cuz of the weight in the hammock....makin' more "sag" than a little fella who kin lie flat. I tied the hammock with the head end jest a bit lower (ta keep frum slidin' the other way). Mebbe I jest set it too low 'n slid the other way........ended up in with my head the skeeter net?

If I had a blackboard (opps....kin ya still say that without payin' reparations?) I would draw some technikle science arrows 'n cipher it fer ya. Wilbur 'n Orville had a cousin who went ta the Bodine School. She wuz workin' on a flyin' machine too.........ta haul moonshine. She crashed inta a power line 'n burnt ta a crisp....jest like Bob Mitchum done in Thunder Road.

I caint wait til we git a cold spell so I kin run some more tests. Our motto here at the Southern Test Facility iz "Dont Drink No Wine Before 4:00 p.m." Wait.....that aint the motto.....but it had somethin' ta do with grapes.

thanks fer the brainstorm
bearridge

uva uvam vivendo varia fit

[Fer ya'll that caint read the classic words]
a grape changes color [i.e., ripens] when it sees [another] grape
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Bear...

Which one did you get ????? Plus they have to be level , not like others where one end is higher then the other , the leveler the better.

You won't slide out unless you are related to Swampy , he is the only one I know of that exits ungracefully from one at times.

Jack...

What is really COOL is when a breeze moves you back and forth then a wind comes along and the tops of the trees move apart and sway back which makes the hammock have a very slight up and down movement. Not a lot but in the hammock it feels like a lot. Especially on a dark , rainy and windy night. :lol:
The upside is , no matter how much it rains , you stay dry and have no worries about leaks and water inside the hammock. If there is some and waves are slapping the side of it , ya better be able to swim , cause the river has come up to visit you. By then the guys in tents should of already hollering at you to abandon camp. :roll:

Chuck.
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
I have found that down here most County , State or National Parks for camping are set up for tents. Nice wide cleared off areas for the tents and parking.
Now driving or walking threw one of them , with some luck a person can find a campsite with two trees for setting up a hammock but you do have to look.

That's probably why most folks camp in that Indian invention called a sweat lodge and we call tents when camping in the parks.

On a river , that is another story , you have to hunt for a flat spot for the tents , the more paddlers the bigger the area that is needed. A person with a hammock , sometimes it boils down to finding a spot without to many trees. I have paddled with folks , trying to locate a camping place for them and there tents and seen hundreds of places for my hammock but none for there tents.

Different items for camping and different problems and usage of them. To be cool when it is warm out there and camping , a hammock can't be beat for comfort. Any hammock will do , it is what that person likes and is comfortable with.

Only thing quicker is Cow boy camping but then you are on the ground , roots , bumps , bugs and all the rest. Ha Ha Ha , none of them stop Van from sleeping that way. Been on lots of trips with Van , one time he had a tent , after that one night we never saw it again. :lol:

Chuck.
 

dangermouse01

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2006
312
1
Palm Bay, FL (East coast)
oldsparkey said:
I have found that down here most County , State or National Parks for camping are set up for tents. Nice wide cleared off areas for the tents and parking.

You might also find that now a days, most state parks (if not all) here in Florida do not allow you to tie, nail, strap, hang or attach anything to or from the trees. No tarps, clothes lines, food bags, hammocks...

Could make it hard on you hammock people to hang one up. Could always hang one end from a door post of your vehicle and the other end to......?

DM
mike
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Yep ... I noticed that.

With the little camper in tow there are no problems as where to sleep. Staying cool , no problem that is what the fan is for that I set up in there. :D

Before then I would ask and with the tree savers ( wide straps that go around the tree and do not damage it ) , most of the time it was OK , Just depending on who I talked to. I always got there name or card for my protection.

My guess is it depended on how good of a day they had. :roll: About like there no alcoholic drinks in camp... Just a good excuse to throw out the drunks when they cause a problem for the rest of the campers.

I get a charge when they have that rule and you take something to the trash bin and it is 90% beer cans and a few empty whiskey bottles. Especially the ones near the camp host area. :oops:

When on a river it is the both of them with me , tent and hammock. One normally never gets used. :lol: Campgrounds are for some time outdoors when going or returning from camping , river camping is the real camping for me. No RVs , Electricity , People (except those with you and you are not solo camping ) noise , music , screaming kids , bath houses doors slamming during the night , horns honking , motors running , people fussing , just wilderness , woods rivers , critters and the further from civilization the better. A full Moon shinning down does not hurt matters.
I can stay out in a chair and watch the moonlight play threw the trees and on the water for a long time as it travels it's heavenly path. That is relaxation and one heck of a wilderness night light. The smell of the wisps of smoke from a dying fire does not hurt things at all , No Sir not at all. :D

But ..... That's just me.

Chuck.
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
dangermouse01 said:
You might also find that now a days, most state parks (if not all) here in Florida do not allow you to tie, nail, strap, hang or attach anything to or from the trees. No tarps, clothes lines, food bags, hammocks...
Reckon ya kin hug one.....like Plato, nuthin' kinky like PeeWee Herman? 8) Looks like they dont mind folks settin' out after 'em with bulldozers. :? :? Reckon we slipped over inta Bizarro World? I figger it mite be over near Orlando? :eek:
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Bear...

You really want to kill your wallet , go to the Rat Farm ( Disney) They just increased there rates $75.00 per person per day. Then anything else is a charge with increased rates on them. I can't see paying $20.00 for two lousy burgers that Micky D's sells for a couple of bucks.

Yep the folks around here are up in arms about what they have done. Personally , it does not bother me since I haven't been there in the last 25 years. Went right after they opened and said , that was plenty for me.

As one person put it.........

Be our guest, be our guest, put your income to the test,
Bring a wallet full of money and let Disney to the rest,
You're away form it all, so we've got you by the b@#*s,
Try the burgers, they're delicious - twenty dollars - aren't we vicious!
Ten by ten, twenty by twenty - we're rob you of all your money,
And while we do we'll treat you second best,
You worked so hard to make it, come and let us take it,
It's our quest to rob your nest so be our guest!!!

Chuck.
 

nobucks

Well-Known Member
I bought some hammock fabric from Wal-Mart too, hoping to make one for the Apostle Islands trip. Didn't happen, so I went with a bivy tent, but I still plan to make the hammock.

Especially useful, I think, for commando camping on the shore of Lake Superior, i.e., camping where you're not supposed to. Not that I advocate that kind of behavior, but, as I found out in the Islands, sometimes you just have to get off the water cuz the Lake doesn't want you there anymore.

I've been thinking of doing a bridge hammock, as it is supposed to be more comfy for those who sleep on their stomachs, such as myself.

I'll post details once I start construction.
 

4sons

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2005
46
0
Bear,

I don't know if I can help or not, but I do fit the big boned description. I have a regular HH expedition. Before I lost 45 lbs training for a Philmont trip I weighed about 285 and stand at 6'1". I will say my first night in the hammock was the worse. The ropes had ALOT of stretch left in them and before daylight I was almost on the ground. After that all I can say is that it is the most comfortable sleeping I have. I can't imagine how you ended up with the net in all the wrong places unless you roled the wrong way.

I sleep at an angle and on my side. Be sure your ropes are tight and the guy outs spread the hammock enough. If your ever in LA I'd be glad to do a demo.

4sons
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
87
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
4Sons,

It helps a Hennessy a lot if you put it up, crawl in and roll around a bit to stretch the ropes & knots. Then, retighten the ropes. You will normally get 4" - 6" back the second time, and then tighten it daily.
 

4sons

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2005
46
0
That was about 3 years ago....I can put it up now in about a minute and don't have hardly any stretch anymore.....maybe at my advanced size I pulled all the stretch out of it...