Hammock/Tent

Regenerative & Transitional Technology Shelter
#1

So, tooling around like I do on the web, I stumbled across this neat little concept. Actually, I was “researching” the concept of having a hanging tent that one could put in a tree. It keeps you off the ground, and generally allows rain to fall off the sides (as well as being sheltered to some degree from the rain by the tree itself). My biggest obstacle in the entire design process was: “How can I make this out of natural materials…?” Needless to say, I was a little more than hesitant about suspending myself 20 ft into a tree using wet sinew and buckskin…

Then I came across this: http://hennessyhammock.com/

I thought the idea was really neat - a small, enclosed shelter that’s portable, reasonably waterproof, easy to "heat, etc. The bonus being that I’m pretty sure I could make something like this out of buckskin and sinew without risking breaking myself in the process.

So - the skinny: I’m looking for ideas or suggestions about what to make various components out of. I’m pretty sure I can make the body of the hammock out of buckskin, which will keep me nice and warm, and keep the wind from getting me too bad. I’m also reasonably sure that sinew (or maybe rawhide?) for cordage could support your average Joe, even when wet (but I don’t have much experience with either material just yet… feel free to correct me).

Things I’m pretty lost on:

  • Rainfly. Can I make this out of buckskin, too? Provided it’s not touching the hammock itself, and no lines attach to the hammock that water can run down… but again, my lack of experience with buckskin is biting me hard, here…

  • Insulation. I imagine that cat-tail down and white pine boughs could put a little distance between me and Old Man Winter pinching my butt while I’m asleep… but I could still use a few suggestions.

  • Cordage. Something I can support my weight with (maybe the weight of two people if I can figure out a “delux” (hubba-hubba) model?

Imagination seems to be the limit. I think I’m going to order one of the above models to see how all the little details work… then I’ll probably set to work on a “primitive” copy. That is… if I can finally get my hands on some skins and brains!!!

#2

I live out in the boonies so I’m on ultra slow rural dial up. The website you linked to is taking a long time to load. But I have some suggestions.

Weave your hammock out of cedar inner bark and make the ropes from that too or something similar. If your worried about strength when wet let me just say that the people on the NW coast made halibut lines from cedar bark. Strong when wet and minimal stretch.

Padding/insulation? How about sheep skins or deer or caribou with hair on. A rain fly or roof is a problem. Buckskin is not waterproof at all. The only way tipis worked is because the sides were so steep the water ran down. hmmm.

I used to have a woven goat hair poncho from Ecuador that was totally waterproof. I wore it in Oregon coast downpours and stayed dry.

#3

pine pitch is a really great waterproofer. it is used for sealing birch bark canoes and water baskets. however it will turn whatever you put it on fairly stiff.

#4

I am still trying to figure out this picture posting thing on this forum. I guess you have to be logged in to see the picture.
Making cedar bark halibut line. This would be a very strong line.

#5

I love that photo! :smiley: I love hammocks, too. Sometimes I fantasize about sleeping in one. (If I ever live on the houseboat that I fantasize about building, rest assured (har har) that I will be sleeping in a hammock.)

Has anyone made cord from nettle stalks and would it be appropriate for weaving a hammock? (TrollSplinter…? :))

#6

Thanks for the input so far, everyone - I really appreciate it! Keep it coming!

#7

I can see myself wiggling in my sleep and falling right on my butt out of the bottom of that. You guys must sleep a lot more still than I do if you think you can sleep in one!

#8

you would need a lot of nettle stocks

#9

You would definitely need to harvest a field of nettles. But check this out.
picture attached

#10


Heres one from there site http://www.hennessyhammock.com/photos.html
That should be me;-}

#11

As children my siblings and I would bicker over who got to sleep in the hammock. We had a light weight cotton canvas hammock with no cover. The mosquitoes worried us more than falling out. When I shifted the hammock would rock. If I tried to roll over it would sway big. If I succeeded in rolling over I would wake just before I was face down in the pine straw. The Hennesey as well as the the Clark Jungle Hammock http://www.backpacking.net/clark-hammock-review.htmlhold you securely. The folks of http://www.watertribe.com/ swear by them

SandyBottom Sleeping
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 1:45:00 PM
Category: General Comment Keyword:
I’m usually so tired sleeping is not a problem, else you should still be paddling. Once I napped on a very small mangrove island with only my butt on the ground and my legs and arms straight up tangled in the mangrove roots.

I’ve not always had balogh outriggers up when I’ve slept in the Dreamcatcher, but on those occasions it was shallow enough that hull was on land. Wasn’t about comfort, but I got sleep.

I’ve also slept in my NDK Explorer, tied to 2 other boats hiding behind a mangrove to get out of weather. Not comfortable, but tired enough.

Preference is always for the Hennessey Hammock.

Dawn

http://www.watertribe.com/Default.aspx?ucPtr=Discussion/Threads.ascx This is their forum. It’s open to all. I just started a thread on hammocks there.