Hammocks & Stuff

[polecat]

Ok,
After piddling around with cheap backyard hammocks and other inappropriate matters, I'm finally ready to step up to a real "camping hammock".

I have 3 main goals:
1) Avoid the small night critters.
2) Get a good nights sleep
3) Impress my Boy Scouts (and other leaders)
4) weight is an issue but comfort trumps weight anytime.

When I try sleeping in a standard backyard hammock I always end up in the banana position, butt down with my knees locked straight. This quickly becomes painful. If I try rolling on my side my hip is stressed sideways and it slowly gets awkward. Some time around 2 am I end up just rolling out of the hammock to get some sleep on the more comfortable cold hard ground.

Hennesay seems to have solved the problem by sleeping diagonally. How do the other manufacturers handle the problem of creating a reasonably level sleeping surface.

Advice and suggestions especially from those who have tried various different designs would be appreciated.

If it matters, I’m 5 ft 13 in (6-1), 210 lbs, not as limber as I used to be and most of my camping is around Pocatello, Idaho ( juniper, pine, quakie)
:o

[SGT Rock]

The Clark sort of sets you up like a pea pod. The way the hammock is shaped it holds you inside it and then the material is designed so it lays mostly flat as long as you have good tension and level ropes. It does a good job of giving you a mostly flat area while keeping you from tipping over - sort of like laying in the bottom of a cloth canoe.

The Crazy Crib I tried was somewhat similar in it's method.

What I didn't like about these two was the feeling of being stuck in that place, sides hemmed up. BUT, when I say I didn't like it, I don't mean like a hate that would keep me from them. I actually like the Clark and think it is a good hammock too. The Crazy Crib I tried was way too overbuilt for what I feel a hammock should be - easy to set up and light.

[Robcat]

I looked at all the differant hammocks for quite a while before deciding on the Hennessy. With the side tie-out's it seems plenty spacious for my 5'7", 200 lb frame. Very comfy for reading, sitting, "hanging out" and of course sleeping. The rainfly rattles a little in the wind, so I used some standard bungee cords on the fly cords. (between the tent stake and the cord) that pretty much fixed the problem. Now if it's blowing hard enough to make the fly rattle excessively, it's blowing hard enough to rock me right back to sleep. So I roll the hammock up, slide on the skins, roll it up in my foam pad (with wings that wrap around my kidneys/shoulders-thanks for the idea Sgt!) and secure the whole works with the bungees, strap to the pack, click my bootheels three times, and off down the trail I trot.
Robcat