Hammocks

[Canoedog]

Looking for a hammock or a new hammock? Canadian looking at our dollar’s value and the prices for mostly US based retailer/manufacturers products? Maybe you’re American looking at your dollar’s value vs the Canuck buck? Take a look at a new Canadian manufacturer/retailer - The Little Shop of Hammocks based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He has a small line of hammocks and related gear with a few unique innovations that really made sense to me.

The owner is an enthusiast with a small business manufacturing and retailing hammocks, tarps, quilts along with some DIY supplies etc. I was looking for a new gathered end hammock and prices were a bit disheartening with the Canadian dollar these days and exchange and shipping rates etc. but then I found a new Canadian supplier with Canadian prices!

So, I checked out his website, and videos and started up an email conversation with some questions etc. I had with the goal of purchasing a new hammock to replace my previous hammocks – Hennesey Expedition Asyms. Hands down, the best online retail experience or any retail experience for that matter I’ve had and I’ve had a few in over 45 years of buying gear! James’ attention to detail, answers to my questions, suggestions and follow up was unparalleled and timely. He worked with me to ensure that I got what I wanted, did some custom work on the suspension system and even emailed me when he wasn’t satisfied with the chosen fabric from his supplier. He suggested another fabric, which is even lighter but still strong and durable. There are more than a few companies and retailers who could learn a thing or two about customer service and follow up from James!

Anyway, if you’re in the market, check out his website. I’m just waiting for the winter rains to slack off out here on the wet coast to get out hanging in my new Warrior model hammock – hammock and suspension coupled with a homemade silnylon tarp I had should come in at about 40 oz or so in my pack saving about 2-2.25 lbs over my previous set up! Cheers.


http://www.littleshopofhammocks.com/

 

[red langford]

He sells in US funds though. I talked to James last year about an under quilt and hesitated on purchasing. Figured I would wait until the spring. Mistake....Canadian dollar has taken a huge hit.

Edit: I see it's in CAD now....cool

 

[Rippy]

I like hammocks.

 

[memaquay]

Canoedog, thanks for the link. I'm a hammock virgin, but after the last few clearing trips that I've done, I'm seriously thinking about trying one out. Besides the hammock and the tarp, what else is needed? Do you put a thermarest or sumpin in it?

 

[Rippy]

I love a thermarest in my hammock. Most don't. Bringing a thermarest means I can always sleep on the ground if I have to.

 

[yknpdlr]

For those new to hammocks:
Except for the warmest of summer nights, you will find a bottom chill if not using some kind of insulation under your sleeping bag.. A sleeping bag with your weight on it lets in bottom chill from contact with the air below. Under quilts work, but at added weight and bulk, and are most useful when it is very cold outside.

Note that it is something of a trick to use a thermarest pad inside a hammock. It can be quite humorous to watch the uninitiated struggle through their first night until they get the hang of it. If you simply throw in a pad with a sleeping bag on top, the pad will in short order "squirt" around and find its way to lay on top of the sleeping bag. Not an effective situation.

But there are several solutions. One is to use a light overbag. Put sleeping bag and pad both inside the overbag and your are done. For years I used an old sheet sewn to make a bag, and it worked very well. A second solution is to use a sleeping bag, such as those made by Big Agnes, that has a pocket slot in the bottom that you can slide a pad in. That's what I do now. Or you can fasten velcro to the inside of the hammock and the bottom of the pad.

I left the ground more than a dozen years ago because I travel by foot or canoe where I camp primitively, too rarely at any site where there is sufficient open ground for even a tiny solo tent. With a hammock I can set it up in a couple of minutes over any kind of brushy, wet, lumpy, rocky, or debris covered ground, even on steep slopes. I've done it all and love it.

 

[Rippy]

There definitely is a small learning curve to hammock camping. When I crawl in for the night there is a bunch of wriggling around getting settled in for the night. But once I find that sweet spot it's like being on cloud nine. I honestly sleep more comfortably then in my own bed at home. Anyone thinking about hammock camping needs to set up at home and get used to it first before taking off for the woods. I'm not kidding. While you just tie it to two trees to set up, you don't just tie it up to two trees and your done. I usually can get pretty close now the first time now that I know what I'm looking for in height and angle of the suspension. I like the foot end to be higher then the head end or else I'll keep sliding toward the foot end all night. These things come with practice.

 

[Guest]

Unless I'm cuddling with my bride in a tent, I always sleep in my hammock. I liked my original Clark jungle hammock so much, I bought their latest improved model last year. I have 3 different size tarps for different types of trips. One big advantage not often mentioned is the ability to unpack and set up and pack back up under the fly when it's raining. The fly also makes a great rainy day sitting/cooking spot. I wrestled with pads inside my hammock for a year and never won and now use an underpad.
Turtle

 

[Alan Gage]

I use an under quilt for bottom insulation and it's great. In hot weather I pull it off to the side so it's as cool as possible while I'm going to sleep and any breeze is nice and refreshing on my backside. When I wake up chilly I reach under and pull the under quilt back in place to be warm the rest of the night.

I've got a double layer hammock which is made so you can slip a pad between the layers. I never liked that much. I was always slipping off the pad in the middle of the night and getting it back into place, while laying in the hammock, in your sleeping bag, is a real pain in the arse. I think a wider pad would have been better and kept me from slipping off as easily.

I'd recommend not using your sleeping bag as a bag. Just use it as a blanket. Or buy a top quilt and save some space and weight.

I do sometimes have trouble in northern Ontario finding trees suitable to hang from. They're so spindly with shallow root systems that they don't always support the weight. You'd think it would be a snap to find a place to hang a hammock in the middle of a forest but, depending on the forest, that's not the case. Trees too dense or far apart is a common problem. I've always been able to find something that works though.

Then there are other times when the hammock lets you sleep in places where a tent would be impossible or miserable.

That being said I'm seriously considering sleeping on the ground for my trip this coming summer. Many times when searching for a place to hang my hammock I can't help but notice all the spots that look like they'd be perfect for a tent. No doubt I'll have opposite thoughts when I'm looking for a place to pitch my tent.

Alan

 

[sweeper]

I have only been off the ground for a year. I have a 2 layer Blackbird by Warbonnet. You can slide a pad in the lower level and it doesn't move around and it works fine for 3 season camping. This year I bought a good tarp, next year I might go with an underquilt.

 

[Guest]

I have had to tie to weak trees and if so I tie an extra rope to the tree where the hammock rope is tied and string it to another tree or root or rock in line with the hammock rope.
Turtle

 

[red langford]

I have only been off the ground for a year. I have a 2 layer Blackbird by Warbonnet. You can slide a pad in the lower level and it doesn't move around and it works fine for 3 season camping. This year I bought a good tarp, next year I might go with an underquilt.

This is where I'm at too. The WBBB is a very nice hammock and have been using a blue foamy as insulation. Large, light and has better coverage than the therm-a-rest or similar product.

Still the best sleep I have ever had in my life, bar none.

 

[BWCA66]

I tend to hammock most of the time too now. I bought a 40 X 80 sheet of closed cell foam and cut in into an odd shape oval - wider under the shoulder area and narrower under my feet. This works well as far as not moving around or rolling off of, it is a little large but weighs almost nothing. I prefer a pad since once in awhile I love to sleep in the ground, especially under the stars and right by the waters edge if it works out, I try to do that once a trip. The top pic is from a BWCA trip last September, first one with the custom pad, worked well. I am about to see how it works as a 4 season setup as I am headed to the BWCA next weekend

 

[Canoedog]

Just checking back in and I can see there are more hangers hanging around this forum I started hanging about 12 yrs ago and all my back related aches and pains from ground sleeping disappeared. All the advice is pertinent and some kind of under insulation is necessary for sure! I use a Prolite thermarest in summer with a couple of "wings" made from some closed cell foam to widen the shoulder area. In late fall, winter and early spring I use both the thermarest and a homemade underquilt. Lots of options and products out there. The hammock forums at - https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...6bd2f6f3b7c59b will give you more than enough info and ideas around all things hammock

 

[Cookannapurna]

I do nothing but hang, unless I'm with my 9yo son. I have several hammocks but use my Hennessey almost every time. I used to use a custom cut piece of foam, but several years ago invested in a Jacks R Better down under quilt and will never go back. Like stated above, I slip it to the side if I'm too warm.

I mostly camp in New England/Adriondacks so finding trees is never an issue, I usually have a harder time choosing which view I want.

 

[Guest]

One magical hammock moment was when camping in the ADKs and having strung my hammock so one side was almost over the water I was awakened early in the morning. It was some loons paddling so close,i could have unzipped that side and touched them! A real neat set up,but I reminded myself not to get out on the wrong side.
Turtle

 

[Uncle_Skwid]

No Title

I'm a big fan of the hammock, in terms of space, not having to carry a pad, etc. In some respects the hammock in the last few years has revolutionized not only possible sleeping spots but the possible rivers and streams upon which I can now spend multiple days. Rocky spits of narrow land in a small stream now make excellent campsites. This is my first winter, however, testing the lower limits of the "cold butt syndrome" common in hammock camping. Last weekend I did fine down to about 30 degrees F. Unfortunately, on the water this weekend I found that 14 degrees F., even in a zero degree bag with a liner, left me fairly cold on the lower side (sleeplessly cold after about 1AM unless I kept up an almost continual rotation, like a rotisserie chicken on a spit). It sort of felt like sleeping with a damp backside. And then if I add an underquilt I'm essentially carrying two sleeping bags, which seems sort of inefficient, somehow.

So I suppose I may attempt the various sleeping pad arrangements suggested here, which sounds like a slippery sort of non-entertainment. We shall see...

 

[Alan Gage]

And then if I add an underquilt I'm essentially carrying two sleeping bags, which seems sort of inefficient, somehow.
So I suppose I may attempt the various sleeping pad arrangements suggested here, which sounds like a slippery sort of non-entertainment. We shall see...

If you don't mind spending the money buy separate top and bottom quilts. It will be less weight and bulk than trying to get by with an extra heavy sleeping bag to try and combat your backside getting cold. You're compressing the insulation of your sleeping bag when you lay on top of it so it doesn't do much good anyway.

I like the wide custom cut pads a few people here have shown. Biggest problem I had with a pad was only having a narrow one. I think it would have been doable for me with something wider which, unfortunately, I never came across.

Although expensive an underquilt really is nice. If you're not using any bottom insulation now you're in for a treat once you do, even in warm weather. I got by without any for a couple years, which included spending a few nights in sub-freezing weather, and the difference is night and day.

Alan

 

[Rippy]

I already had a large thermarest when I got my hammock so I adapted it to my setup. I am happy with it. In my case it helps fine tune the small of my back by letting some air back out till I'm comfy. Most of my BWCA camping has been spring and fall and am comfortable at 20* F. Below that I would need more top insulation. Bottom never gets cold with my pad.

 

[DuctTape]

I have been in a hammock for quite some time now. Even the sub zero winters. In the extreme cold, I use ccf pads for my bottom insulation. Having the right sized pads and a double layer hammock all but eliminate issues ppl have with the pads. For their weight, they provide significant insulation. Volume in the pack is the drawback. As others have said, hammocks open up areas to camp which would be mostly impossible with a tent, or any ground set up. Of course there are places where a hammock is not the best or impossible. Last summer, being unsure of whether I would be able to use my hammock, Ibrought my tent on a 10 day trip. It reaffirmed my desire to sleep in a hammock whenever possible.