Hammock camping

[grumman581]

While living in Naples, FL, I bought a bunch of Dade County voting machines for a dollar apiece after the '04 election and have used the aircraft quality aluminum legs for hammock stands that collapse into a gym bag.

When you said "voting machines", I thought of the type that I remembered from where I first voted:



I suspect that is not the type you are talking about...

[Mechanicalmayham]

I began using a hammock awhile back. I actually bought a single ENO and liked it but felt slightly confined so I bought the double. It is very comfortable. Typically I use a poncho liner and mummy bag during the spring but have used a wool blanket during the fall months here in PA. Here's a pic from an outing. Notice the dog in the right hammock. She's a Pit Bull and has very small hair so she gets cold quick. I let her up with me and cover her up with the poncho liner. She slept well but snores loudly!

I am hoping to get some time this year to go and backpack out with my hammock. Figure I will just wander out into the National Forest and see what I can see.

[Victor N TN]

Some where in our storage junk, we have 4 nylon fish net hammocks we have used for napping in summer time camping weekends. Our kids were early teens then. Our baby girl is 40 now. No one in our group ever spent the night in one. I can never get really comfortable in one. After a 45 minute to 1 hour nap in the summer afternoon I feel like **** most times. I think I paid less than $5 each at a local camping store.

After looking at the link above, I may have to rethink looking at the newer hammocks.

Good luck.

[Gelandangan]

Fishnet hammocks cuts into you after a few hours on them.
Definitely not something to be used to overnight in.

[Grendl]

When I was kid..... My old man had a couple of jungle hammocks that he had bought from a surplus out fit. They were the BEST camping gear ever made. Rain or shine😃

[00buck]

Thanks for the pics! I'm going to try hammock camping.

Gilligan and the Skipper used them

[Mechanicalmayham]

As an update, a friend of mine had an idea to cluster the hammocks as close together as possible. We worked out some ideas and intend to put them to practice to see how feasible it would be. Basically we intend to put our flys out as points on a star while leaving a central are about 10'x10' open. Here we intend to raise a tarp 12'x12' above the rain flys only higher, 8' or so. We were thinking of a small cooking fire/ smudge fire.
We did have 5 hammocks at on time in the same location as the pics I posted. It was nice but we were spread out over a 20 yards square. The middle area was terrible rocky and several sprained ankles were had.
I also will have some pics this year camping with my Jeep. I will post them up here once I return.

[Four Fingers of Death]

There was a guy on YouTube with a scout troop that he designed a set up like that around a tree.

[IDSS]

I switched to a hammock last year and it has served me pretty well.
When I embarked on my move from NM to MT, I left ahead of the family, just me and the dog; kind of like an advance party. I pulled a 5x8 trailer with the essentials and headed up to report to the new job.

I stayed in the hammock each night. I think I spent a total of $11 on lodging the whole way up.

Farmington, NM


Provo, UT


Idaho Falls, ID


The hammock is a Warbonnet Traveller, double layer. This trip was in August, so the poncho liner under quilt was plenty. I have slept in the hammock down to about 16*, though, with an iso-mat between the layers.

[Hickok]

Everytime I tryed to get into a hammock, I somehow pressed the ejection button accidently! Never could find that button, but I knew it had to be there somewhere!

[IDSS]

Everytime I tryed to get into a hammock, I somehow pressed the ejection button accidently! Never could find that button, but I knew it had to be there somewhere!

That's those evil spreader bar hammocks they sell for backyard lounging. Tailor-made to pitch you out.
A gathered-end hammock is nothing but stable.

[Hickok]

That's those evil spreader bar hammocks they sell for backyard lounging. Tailor-made to pitch you out.
A gathered-end hammock is nothing but stable.

IDSS you hit it on the head, my trys were not with hammocks of the quality seen on these posts.

After hitting the ground, I would do a "complete system check" to make sure everything was working, "toes wiggle-check, move fingers-check, test vision-check."

[rking22]

"After hitting the ground, I would do a "complete system check" to make sure..... "
And that no one saw that happen

I use a Hennessey , wonderful thing. easy quick setup/breakdown. Only thing is to give thought to sleeping pad /underquilt as the bottom side can get kinda cool, and the skeeters can bite clean thru from the bottom if you happen o fall asleep it it with just a tee shirt! I like fleece , but I don't camp in the miserable cold..

[xpaholic]

if your considering hammock camping, definitely check out hammockforums.com. tent sleeping has been out for me for years now, because of several back surgeries I had when I was younger. my favorite two hammocks are both bridge hammocks, one by jacks r better and the other by warbonnet outdoors. I am a side and stomach sleeper and both allow me to sleep that way. actually during the warmer months I sleep in one or the other most of the time, I seem to sleep better due to the better air circulation. when it gets colder I made an underquilt and overquilt along with a tyvec, windproof, hammock bag . I have use the three along with a "tarp" I made, to sleep in -5* temps and was warm all nite long, I have never been able to get even close to that in a non heated tent. if you find the right hammock that fits you, you won't want to sleep in anything else. xp

[JTeale]

If you have any interest in using hammocks for camping, you need to go to this site and spend a few hours reading. These aren't your grandfather's hammocks.

https://hammockforums.net/forum/content.php


I use a hammock that is about 10 feet long and 7 feet wide, and I sleep diagonally across it, on top of a thermarest pad. I carry it, a 12 foot square fly, and the pad with me in the car on trips to primitive rendezvous. If I have to stop overnight, I don't have to open up the trailer and dig out my primitive camp. Using the hammock, I can be in bed 15 minutes after I find a camp site, and be gone in the morning in 10 minutes.

[S.B.]

Decades back(1960s) I had a military issue jungle hammock that was perfect for overnighter. Wish I still had it.
Steve

[S.B.]

Does anyone make something comparable to the U.S. tropical hammocks anymore?
Steve

[John Allen]

After years of using tent for camping, a couple of years ago on a hunt I got caught in a rainstorm.
After the storm, the ground is really wet and muddy, even the floor underneath the tent gets squishy..
and LEECHES!! wow, there are PLENTY of leeches coming out and climbs my tent, I can see them from the shadow on the tent walls..
Yuck.. I still shivers thinking of them.

Since then I have been using hammock to camp.
Beside the advantages of getting away from wet floor and leeches, I actually carries a bit less gear since I do not need mattress in a hammock,
in winter I carry a piece of mylar coated bubblewrap to isolate the cold.
I also sleep a lot better with cooling breeze below and above my body (Australia is quite warm most of the time).
I could use the hammock for a comfortable seat, rather than sitting on a rock or log.
I hang my boots on the harness so creepy crawlies do not get in during the night.
On rainy days, the tarp (which is naturally hung high) provides good shelter where you could cook (cannot cook inside the tent)
I even made my own hammock that with mozzie net, harnesses, tree huggers and tarp totals to about 1.2kg.

Yeah, I like hammock camping.

I do the same thing I got an underquilt for mine which makes it nice and comfy.

[Mackay Sagebrush]

[Mackay Sagebrush]