Hammock Camping Thread

SteelShooter said:
Is it hanging right in the picture, looks like you need a little more distance.
Click to expand...

The recommended way to hang a "real" (ie not one with crossbars) hammock is like you see in his picture.

Personally I like to stretch mine out a tiny bit tighter, but as he has it is a good place to start.
 
atmay said:
The recommended way to hang a "real" (ie not one with crossbars) hammock is like you see in his picture.

Personally I like to stretch mine out a tiny bit tighter, but as he has it is a good place to start.
Click to expand...

Any tighter than where it is and the CRL is singing. I found this spot to be pretty nice.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
CoastieRon said:
http://www.ddhammocks.com/products

Really good prices of hammock stuff for quilts. Shipping to the US included. Wish I had seen this first.....
Click to expand...

I snagged a down mattress cover, hang it from the two ends of the hammock with a bungee. It makes a great underquit, the elastic along the bottom of it pulls it up along the side and snug to the bottom of the hammock.
 
OK, I'm going to play devil's advocate and ask a basic question. Why a fancy hammock instead of a tent?

I can see having one of those palm-of-the-hand net hammocks, but the gear I'm seeing in this thread looks like it will add up to the same weight and cost as a good, truly waterproof tent. A tent is easier to get in and out of, and you can keep more stuff dry inside.
 
cockpitbob said:
OK, I'm going to play devil's advocate and ask a basic question. Why a fancy hammock instead of a tent?
I can see having one of those palm-of-the-hand net hammocks, but the gear I'm seeing in this thread looks like it will add up to the same weight and cost as a good, truly waterproof tent. A tent is easier to get in and out of, and you can keep more stuff dry inside.
Click to expand...

I own a few very expensive, light tents including a North Face expedition and a Big Agnes UL4. Nothing is faster to setup and more comfortable to sleep in than a hammock. I can still store all my stuff under the hammock fly to keep it dry and frankly the fly on my Hennessey is bigger than the footprint of the UL4. If you want to keep stuff off the ground grab a few branches and make a small platform for your pack.

Since getting my Hennessey, my hammock to tent use is probably 10:1.
 
A truly waterproof tent..... does it come with a unicorn?? [rofl]

Much more comfortable than sleeping in a tent, better weather protection, less fussy about finding a good spot to pitch than a tent. Like two hammocks between two pickups on the side of a rocky hill. I don't find the Hennessy entrance more difficult to get in and out of, but it sure is different than a tent. Dry storage is also very different. You can keep a lot of stuff dry under a hammock, but getting to it from in the hammock may not be as easy.
 
KMM696 said:
A truly waterproof tent..... does it come with a unicorn?? [rofl]
Click to expand...
After suffering wet nights in cheap tents all through my teens I decided a tent is one thing I wouldn't go cheap on ever again. I put 10 years on a North Face tent then 20+ years on a Sierra Designs tent and never had a wet night. I recently got an REI 3-season tent. The jury is still out on it, but so far it's kept me dry.
 
cockpitbob said:
After suffering wet nights in cheap tents all through my teens I decided a tent is one thing I wouldn't go cheap on ever again. I put 10 years on a North Face tent then 20+ years on a Sierra Designs tent and never had a wet night. I recently got an REI 3-season tent. The jury is still out on it, but so far it's kept me dry.
Click to expand...

A quality tent will keep you dry.
 
cockpitbob said:
OK, I'm going to play devil's advocate and ask a basic question. Why a fancy hammock instead of a tent?

I can see having one of those palm-of-the-hand net hammocks, but the gear I'm seeing in this thread looks like it will add up to the same weight and cost as a good, truly waterproof tent. A tent is easier to get in and out of, and you can keep more stuff dry inside.
Click to expand...
For me? I have a bad back. I sleep about 3.5 hours at a stretch before I wake up and have to get up and walk around, then go back to bed. This is on my bed at home.

I was using an air mattress WITH a sealy self inflating mattress on the ground in a tent and it was not comfortable to me, and I was sleeping even worse. I had to figure out how to sleep better on Boy Scout trips if I was going to continue being an assistant scout master (ASM).

A friend of mine, who is also my brew partner, as well as one of the other ASMs for the same troop was up at my place with his family (they were tenting, my family was in our camper) for Memorial Day Weekend. He had a hammock that he had purchased on Amazon (and has heavily used since). I think it's the Blue Sky Hammock. Anyway, it was his first night trying it, and he was out snoring 5 minutes after he got into it.

Now listen, if I can find a way to fall asleep in 5 minutes without being polluted shitface drunk or medicated, I'm all for it. And seeing him fall asleep like that, I was intrigued. So I picked up a Grand Trunk Skeeter Beater Pro. The first night I still had a hard time falling asleep, but that has more to do with my tinnitus than anything else. When I did fall asleep, I was OUT, and I woke up feeling GOOD. I was hooked. That Saco trip was fantastic for me because I was so well rested.

My son and daughter thought they would like to try it out, and they sleep very well. So well in fact, my son wants one in his room, and you know what? I'm going to put onE in there. I bought my son the same camping hammock that my friend has. He (my friend) has since bought his son the same one, and his older son got a Skeeter Beater Pro with a tarp for his birthday as well.

I bought a new hammock more because I wanted to pass the "old" one to my daughter. Her kit right now consists of a simple hammock that I had bought a few years ago and forgot about, with a boy scout bug net and one of my rainfly tarps.

Now, as for water proof; I have not had any issue with rain as of yet. I have had good coverage from each of the three different tarps I have tried. My gear has never gotten wet hanging under the rainfly tarp, hanging from my suspension up off the ground. I have on the other hand been flooded out in my tent, and it was set up in a high spot, and had been recently treated.

I even dropped money on a new tent and new gear for Christmas last year, and I probably won't use it again, because I sleep a solid 8 hours hanging in a hammock. 8 hours. No interruptions. Out like a light, sawing the log. I haven't been cold, I haven't fallen over, I don't have a hard time getting in or out of it, I do not get bitten by mosquitos, and my gear is easily accessible if needed. The hammock kit is noticeably lighter than my Apex 2xl tent, takes less room to pack/store in my bag, and can, if I do desire to do so, be thrown in a compression sack without worry.

One thing I will say, I have not mastered the art of changing in my hammock, but then again, I never really mastered the art of changing in a tent that stands 3.5' tall....../.
 
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cockpitbob said:
After suffering wet nights in cheap tents all through my teens I decided a tent is one thing I wouldn't go cheap on ever again. I put 10 years on a North Face tent then 20+ years on a Sierra Designs tent and never had a wet night. I recently got an REI 3-season tent. The jury is still out on it, but so far it's kept me dry.
Click to expand...

Dry tents I understand - I went through a Eureka, and a nice Sierra over the last 30 years and now have an LL Bean and a Kelty. They're all dry tents, but none of them have been waterproof. Not touching the ground anywhere is where the hammock shines in bad weather. Waking up dry over a newly formed puddle is a great time, until you see one of your shoes float by.
 
I've hung out in my Henessey a few times, it's about 1000x more comfortable than any night I've ever spent in a tent. I also have access to a substantial amount of random bedding for free. I've been able to coble together a nice warm nest inside the hammock for free. If I were hiking long distances it would be trickier but as of right now I "truck camp". I mentioned in the hunting section I have a moose permit, I plan on hanging for the week instead of paying the money to rent a camp.
 
CoastieRon said:
For me? I have a bad back. I sleep about 3.5 hours at a stretch before I wake up and have to get up and walk around, then go back to bed. This is on my bed at home.

I was using an air mattress WITH a sealy self inflating mattress on the ground in a tent and it was not comfortable to me, and I was sleeping even worse. I had to figure out how to sleep better on Boy Scout trips if I was going to continue being an assistant scout master (ASM).

A friend of mine, who is also my brew partner, as well as one of the other ASMs for the same troop was up at my place with his family (they were tenting, my family was in our camper) for Memorial Day Weekend. He had a hammock that he had purchased on Amazon (and has heavily used since). I think it's the Blue Sky Hammock. Anyway, it was his first night trying it, and he was out snoring 5 minutes after he got into it.

Now listen, if I can find a way to fall asleep in 5 minutes without being polluted shitface drunk or medicated, I'm all for it. And seeing him fall asleep like that, I was intrigued. So I picked up a Grand Trunk Skeeter Beater Pro. The first night I still had a hard time falling asleep, but that has more to do with my tinnitus than anything else. When I did fall asleep, I was OUT, and I woke up feeling GOOD. I was hooked. That Saco trip was fantastic for me because I was so well rested.

My son and daughter thought they would like to try it out, and they sleep very well. So well in fact, my son wants one in his room, and you know what? I'm going to put onE in there. I bought my son the same camping hammock that my friend has. He (my friend) has since bought his son the same one, and his older son got a Skeeter Beater Pro with a tarp for his birthday as well.

I bought a new hammock more because I wanted to pass the "old" one to my daughter. Her kit right now consists of a simple hammock that I had bought a few years ago and forgot about, with a boy scout bug net and one of my rainfly tarps.

Now, as for water proof; I have not had any issue with rain as of yet. I have had good coverage from each of the three different tarps I have tried. My gear has never gotten wet hanging under the rainfly tarp, hanging from my suspension up off the ground. I have on the other hand been flooded out in my tent, and it was set up in a high spot, and had been recently treated.

I even dropped money on a new tent and new gear for Christmas last year, and I probably won't use it again, because I sleep a solid 8 hours hanging in a hammock. 8 hours. No interruptions. Out like a light, sawing the log. I haven't been cold, I haven't fallen over, I don't have a hard time getting in or out of it, I do not get bitten by mosquitos, and my gear is easily accessible if needed. The hammock kit is noticeably lighter than my Apex 2xl tent, takes less room to pack/store in my bag, and can, if I do desire to do so, be thrown in a compression sack without worry.

One thing I will say, I have not mastered the art of changing in my hammock, but then again, I never really mastered the art of changing in a tent that stands 3.5' tall....../.
Click to expand...

I allways never sleep good camping . I normally had to get plastered to pass out .
Air mattress . cot , sleeping pads . Nothing helped . I normaly slept better passing out drunk in a chair by the fire .

I got got the Same hammock and straps for less then 100$ . Never slept better . It's nice cause you can flip it over and chill in it with out the bug net during the day. Toss in two cheap tarps and you don't have to worry about rain . One for the ground and one tossed over the hammock with a rope .

If I'm camping with my male friends I'm gonna use the hammock . Takes little more space then a soft ball .

If I'm going with the gf I'm gonna use a suspended tent . It's just as comfatable as the hammock but no god dam rocks and you don't feel like your crushing your gf.
 
Loving my new kit this weekend!

30ed8c249c2f11e32b61970a9555a44b.jpg


Arrowhead Equipment KAQ New River, Hammeck Netty, Yukon Outfitters Walkabout Rain Fly

We have 3 adults and 7 kids hanging this weekend! (We set up 2 kits as a trial lottery before dinner for kids that were interested, a few hours AFTER I took picture)

dce76304c36df4d5e18413f720ae895e.jpg


Really easy/quick egg sandwiches I made this morning using a muffin pan:

13e35ba7230f68990af3c6487720bfbe.jpg

f4913ef1acedf6b7abf86625834b5cff.jpg


Great weekend up at Camp Fatima!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Just spent the last 4 days hiking and camping on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state - rainforest. It rained solid for all 4 days, I took my tent because I was not sure where we would be and the other guys had tents so I thought I would be safe with that. Glad I did. With the way it rained and blew there would have been very little chance of getting away dry with the hammock unless I could have gotten a full covering on all sides, in essence a hammock inside a tent. I got so spoiled with the hammock and sleeping well I went out and bought a new Exped mattress for the tent, which was great, still not as good as sleeping in the hammock though. I used the REI quarter dome UL1 and stayed dry except for some internal condensation hitting my sleeping bag. I hiked in with a 35 lb bag and hiked out with a 50lb bag because everything was so wet!

20150919_150020.jpg

Big mutha tree, maybe 250' tall

20150919_150047.jpg

50 feet long log bridge to scoot over
 
xtry51 said:
No rain fly on your hammock?
Click to expand...

I have a big rainfly on my hammock - it was like being underwater, lol, the air was wet everywhere unless you could lock it out. I know the rainfly would not have worked, I have the a sum hex rainfly which is huge, but needed the monsoon rainfly which I think still wouldn't have been enough because it's open on the bottom.
 
I've been using an ENO DoubleNest the last few years in my back yard. I haven't spent the night in it yet because I can't get comfortable (translation: warm) enough during the day to reliably fall asleep. I made a pad for it out of a yoga mat and some Reflectix (from Home Depot) that seemed like it would do the trick but my cat pissed on it before I got the chance to try it. Maybe I'll set it back up and give it a try one evening this week.

I've been eyeing the Hennessy Expedition Asym Classic for years now but never could justify buying another hammock. This fall/winter I plan on doing some more camping and realized for the price of a good sleeping pad I could just buy a good hammock. But now I have the underneath warmth problem again.

Does anybody use the Hennessy Super Shelter? It seems too good to be true, but then again it seems like a 3-season item and not meant for winter.
 
Everyone in my family (5) has the Hennessey. We all love them.

If you get the under quilt it is fine for winter. Even without it I've slept in 20F, albeit that's survival sleeping, not "Hey I love this vacation" sleeping. I'm picking up the under quilt shortly as winter approaches here so I can spend a few nights out when it's super cold.
 
xtry51 said:
Everyone in my family (5) has the Hennessey. We all love them.

If you get the under quilt it is fine for winter. Even without it I've slept in 20F, albeit that's survival sleeping, not "Hey I love this vacation" sleeping. I'm picking up the under quilt shortly as winter approaches here so I can spend a few nights out when it's super cold.
Click to expand...

When you say "the underquilt" do you mean "an underquilt" or "the SuperShelter"? I would absolutely love to camp in the snow this winter but I can't stand being cold. I don't mind spending a little money to get the right thing; I just want to spend it smartly.
 
I picked up the Supershelter rig in the group buy, but not cold enough yet. The previous owner of my hammock had bought the overcover, too. I've never used it, but I'm curious how cold I can push the Hennessey this winter.
 
KMM696 said:
I picked up the Supershelter rig in the group buy, but not cold enough yet. The previous owner of my hammock had bought the overcover, too. I've never used it, but I'm curious how cold I can push the Hennessey this winter.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I saw one review where the guy said the overcover bought him another 10 degrees F. They look like they'd trap moisture something fierce, but they aren't waterproof, so it should wick through.

The more I read about the Hennessy hammocks, the more I like the idea of the bottom entry system. I'm kicking myself for not getting in on the group buy, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for a sale.
 
The bottom entry was weird at first, but I got used to it quick. There's an outfit called 2QZQ that adds zippers to Hennessey screens, so you could have both entries. when I first got the hammock, I was sure I'd have the zipper added, but after a couple years with it I still haven't bothered to. Probably not going to bother at this point.

The overcover does have a big vent hole in it to help deal with condensation, too. In the temperatures they suggest the cover is for, it's going to be frozen condensation anyway. It appears to be made of uncoated nylon, so it should breathe a bit.
 
So you guys with the Hennessy setups, do you run the standard rain fly or did you get something bigger like the hex? That seems like it would be nice for giving the hammock a "porch" during the day.
 
Hex on all of ours. The Hex has the added benefit of basically forming a tent if you set it up lower to ground. This will block a lot of wind if you set it up perpendicular to it and allow you to store you're gear under it to keep it dry as well. Pic below isn't mine. I keep my rainfly tied to the hammock support lines. I don't know why you have it separate like this image, it's more work for no reason.

BerzTesting3175.jpg



You can even just use it like a tarp tent with some hiking poles and sleep on ground using the hammock basically as a bug net.

DSCN2024.JPG
 
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Hex on mine, too. Propping up one side of the hex with trekking poles or sticks improves the view during good weather or makes a nice spot to hang out.
 

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