Your perfect hammock setup

**ncmtns** · 01-11-2006, 16:05

Considering money as no object of concern, what would be your perfect 3 and 4 season hammock setup? So far for me, a home made speer type hammock with a pea pod.

**QHShowoman** · 01-11-2006, 17:02

I can't believe this thread has been up for like 2 hours and Neo hasn't responded yet.

**neo** · 01-11-2006, 17:19

Originally Posted by QHShowoman

I can't believe this thread has been up for like 2 hours and Neo hasn't responded yet.

hey i just veiwed it lol

neo

**neo** · 01-11-2006, 17:21

Originally Posted by ncmtns

Considering money as no object of concern, what would be your perfect 3 and 4 season hammock setup? So far for me, a home made speer type hammock with a pea pod.

if money is no object i would go with jacks r better

neo

http://www.jacksrbetter.com/

**Just Jeff** · 01-12-2006, 00:56

Hrm...tough one. Go as warm as possible or as versatile as possible?

For pure warmth, I'd say a Speer-type hammock with integrated down insulation and a waterproof/breathable bivy that completely surrounds it. Have to have a good way to vent breath while keeping the weather protection, though. Then a matching top quilt. All out of eider down (you said money's no object, right?).

For versatility, it's tough to beat the JRB set. Unless you found a way to make the hammock body rugged enough to double as a packbag or something.

Better yet, the perfect hammock setup is the one that I don't have to carry. How about a ridgepole with sherpas on each end - they can carry me IN the hammock! And bring along a swimsuit model instead of an underquilt. And another for a top quilt. (Marketed in male and female versions so no one feels left out...also an option for extra insulation - you choose top or bottom.)

**peter_pan** · 01-12-2006, 09:18

Originally Posted by Just Jeff

Hrm...tough one. Go as warm as possible or as versatile as possible?

For pure warmth, I'd say a Speer-type hammock with integrated down insulation and a waterproof/breathable bivy that completely surrounds it. Have to have a good way to vent breath while keeping the weather protection, though. Then a matching top quilt. All out of eider down (you said money's no object, right?).

For versatility, it's tough to beat the JRB set. Unless you found a way to make the hammock body rugged enough to double as a packbag or something.

Better yet, the perfect hammock setup is the one that I don't have to carry. How about a ridgepole with sherpas on each end - they can carry me IN the hammock! And bring along a swimsuit model instead of an underquilt. And another for a top quilt. (Marketed in male and female versions so no one feels left out...also an option for extra insulation - you choose top or bottom.)

My wife says, JRB can't market the accessories (either gender) for your shepa model .... since we are sure that you will want enhanced body warmers top and bottom, synthetic would be better anyway. Good luck on this one.

Pan

**The HotDog** · 01-12-2006, 13:42

What about a hammock thats also your pack. kinda like gear skin that you sleep in like a hammock that way your shelter and pack are on in the same.

**hammock engineer** · 01-12-2006, 13:50

I like the real women under and over quilts, although I think my girl friend won't. The synetic ones, however would be less work over the course of a thru.

After that I think the HH with snakeskins and the JRB 8x8 tarp. The JRB quilt setup if you like down, or the KAQ setup with a top quilt if you like synetic.

**txulrich** · 01-12-2006, 14:07

I would readily volunteer for field testing of the swimsuit model top and bottom quilts!!!!! I would venture that if the market demand was strong enough, Pan's wife might be overruled!

**2Ply** · 01-12-2006, 14:24

The Clark "North American" has 3 pockets on each side. Leave the sleeping bag in the hammock, place clothes and other soft stuff on one side, other gear in pockets on the opposite side. Use the ropes to tie the hammock together at the top and you can use it as a sling pack. Adjust and change shoulders as needed and you have everything in one neat package.YMMV

**Just Jeff** · 01-12-2006, 15:43

For a while I was considering making a hammock into a sling...I forget the proper name for it, but one of those sling things that people carry babies in. A few waterproof stuff sacks approximate the size/shape of a baby and you're ready to hike! There are several ways to wrap them, so you could haul your stuff over one shoulder, both shoulders, in the front, back, or both. You'd have ready access while hiking, etc.

The downside is that, when fully wrapped (like for a full food load), ventilation options might be limited. You'd also have to pack sharp or hard objects more carefully. And snagging a pack on a branch is easily repaired with duct tape - a ripped hammock is not so easily repaired.

Anyway, it was just a thought...never made it past the "what if" stage, but I'm sure it's workable. Just maybe not worth the effort.

**Youngblood** · 01-12-2006, 17:35

Hopefully the perfect hammock is the one you're using. If it's not, you may never find it because there likely will be someone trying to convince you what you have is not as good as what they have or what they want to sell you. Course I'm not going to tell you how many hammocks I went through before I found the perfect one.

All kidding aside, sometimes what we have doesn't do what we want or need it to do, but other times the secret to being happy with what you have is simply to appreciate what you have and not worry so much about what others have... if your's does what you want it to do and you're happy with it then it is the perfect hammock setup. Hammock backpacking as well as backpacking in general shouldn't fall into that materialistic tradition of mine is better than your's and if you don't have so-n-so then you ain't as good as me or not stylish or not smart, etc. That's not what backpacking is about, not even hammock backpacking... nor should it be.

**Smooth** · 01-12-2006, 21:48

Thank you for this thread! I am a hammock camper, sometimes. I own the HH and a couple from Byer (?) in Maine and the upgrade cheepie string net hammock I carried on my Thru Hike in the year 1242. There was only one other person out there with a hammock that year, and I did not carry mine the whole way. I want a hammock that will be warm in the winter on the bottom. I also want a pad to sleep on the ground. I know, I know.......You can always find a place to hang a hammock.......B#^s*%t. I need a light, bug proof, light, warm, light, durable enough that I can throw it on the ground for a drop cloth when there is no trees, type of hammock. Oh, did I mention that I want it to weigh less than 8oz ? All you hammock pros...help me out....what is your hot setup that is not so specialized that I must hang? Who has a bug proof hammock not so hot as my HH in the summer? Who has a warm hammock for in the winter use, and the under quilt will not fly until it stays puffy when I throw it in the dirt and lay on it(camp). I see a lot of Hammock Dudes on this web site, just not a lot of them in the woods. See my hammock photo in the photo album.

I dream of the day...when I can hang my bivy sac from a tree.

Smooth, Walking.

**hungryhowie** · 01-13-2006, 03:03

OK, I can do that for you. Mirage came up with a system last year that, when adapted, could easily meet your criteria. Make a speer-style hammock out of 30-denier 1.1oz ripstop nylon. Make it 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. Use 0.75" medium-weight webbing for tree huggers (42" per side), and 20 feet of 3.5mm Vectran rope (better slip resistance than pure spectra). Whip the ends and use a 300lb test spectra line for a fixed ridgeline. weight is roughly 8oz.

Next, make your bug netting out of an 8-foot strip of nano-noseeum netting. Fold the netting in half length-wise and hem the ends. Leave a half-inch hole near the center fold, this is what the suspension line will thread through. Now, hem the bottom and install a shockcord drawstring. This netting can be installed when needed and tightened with the shockcord. weight is roughly 5 ounces.

Use a down quilt for your top insulation. weight is roughly 16oz.

Use a Big Agnes Insulated Air Core pad (with segmented pad extenders) for your bottom insulation. weight is roughly 26oz.

Choose your tarp and you're done. The pad weighs you down, but it's not a bad start, considering you're not satisfied with just hanging in trees.

-Howie

**g8trh8tr** · 01-13-2006, 10:34

Realize first that the Army has no vested interest in letting you disappear on hikes for that length of time, except for the conditioning which you get in other ways already. The Army has a mission first mentality(rightfully so) and what you are talking about is way way secondary. Having spent 12 years in the Army I would say use passes and leave days and hike as much as you want.

**neo** · 01-13-2006, 10:41

this here some of my set ups and gear

**Smooth** · 01-14-2006, 21:24

Gee...Thanks, Howie and Neo. Howie, I think you understand what I am looking for, However, I have not made a piece of gear in 15 years (though I still do use some of what I made). Mirage??? a new company I have not heard of yet?
Neo, I think I have clicked on every Hammock link you post (how do I make a link?). Neo, I do not want a underquilt as there are places with no trees (Max Patch, any prairie or desart). What do you find as the best pad insulated winter hammock? And, since I need bug protection here on the east coast, what do you find to be the easist to use bug proof hammock? Do you know of one that would do both well? Thanks.

I dream of the day.......when I can hang my bivy sac from a tree.

**Just Jeff** · 01-14-2006, 22:15

Easiest bug protection is the HH, hands down.

For going back and forth between hanging and the ground, probably a Speer with a SPE. That'll give you a big ole tarp with a pad for ground-sleeping, and you can use it as a bivy for bug protection on the ground. Add or subtract pads as needed for the weather. For really cold, make a TravelPod in addition to the pads...or drop the $$$ on a PeaPod.

Either will work with the SPE and as a bivy (as will several other models), but I find my homemade Speer-types more comfy.

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