Anyone use hammocks for camping instead of tent/sleeping bag?

F

Furync

Joined
Oct 1, 2008
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I was looking at this hammock and I was wondering if they are comfy to sleep a whole night in them?

I really like the idea of having just the hammock to lug around instead of all that tent/sleeping bag/pillow(ish)/layering foam to sleep in. Just the hammock and a small tarp to lay over it would be soooooooo much lighter.

Anyone ever use em?

Thanks!
 
I hate 'em. My legs go to sleep no matter how I configure the thing.
 
I do use a hammock and love it. That one, however, looks like cheap crap. Save your $ and put it to something else.
 
I've slept is a rope hammock a couple times and find it comfortable.

Don't expect to be able to ditch the sleeping bag though, you don't need insulation any less because you're 2 feet off the ground. :P

My experiences with a mylar blanket and a heatsheats bivy are over here.
 
I love them! Most comfortable night of sleep I've ever had in the woods.


I almost never sleep in a tent anymore - hammocks are so much better!


I'll re-post some other posts I've made on hammock camping setups in other forums...
 
Here's one:

I'm a HUGE proponent of camping hammocks - they are far more comfortable than sleeping on the ground, and as long as you're in an area with trees, they greatly expand your choices when it comes to site selection. With a hammock, you don't have to worry about searching around for some flat ground devoid of rocks, roots, and brush - just find two trees, and hang that sucker up! I've slept in my hammock on the side of a slope, over rocks, and with a stream running underneath me. Try to do that in a tent!


There IS, however, somewhat of a learning curve to be had with hammocks - learning to hang them up quickly, how to pitch a tarp, and how to keep warm can take a little bit of time. That time will be rewarded tenfold when you wake up in the morning refreshed and ready for a long day's hiking, instead of aching and worn out.

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So ask me your burning questions about hammocks, and I'll see what I can do to answer them!
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And the follow up discussion for that picture...

In the picture above, my fiance and I were set up at a popular rock climbing destination, camped alongside two other guys in hammocks who we didn't know. Take a guess which hammocks are ours. ;)


The night was pretty cool, around 40 degrees or so. We both slept very comfortably, and the two guys to the left froze their butts off. Why? Because we were prepared. The wind was blowing in from the direction I'm facing while taking this picture, so if you look closely at the tarp configurations, I've got my tarp (middle of the picture) pitched low on the windward side to help block the air, and high on the other side (using hiking poles to hold the tarp up) to provide an awning for easy access and a place to hang out if it rains.

My fiance has her tarp pitched low to the hammock, with the foot-side tieouts crossing each other so the tarp is pulled closed on the foot end, again to block the wind. She's using a single hiking pole to hold one corner of the tarp up, again for easy access while keeping it close to the hammock and helping trap body heat.

We were both sleeping on Exped Downmat sleeping pads - I can not under emphasize how important that is! Most beginner hammockers don't do anything special for insulation underneath them, and they end up freezing. When you lay in a sleeping bag inside your hammock, you crush all the insulation underneath you, and with the hammock suspended in the air, you're basically completely exposed to the cold. You need to get some insulation under there!




The two guys to the left slept in a friend's tent the next night - they didn't have bottom insulation, and didn't have tarps to block the wind. We, on the other hand, got a great night of sleep, and were well rested for the climbing competition (even ended up winning some prizes!).


Lesson: learn to manage the weather to make your hammocking as enjoyable as possible.
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And some more information on how to lay flat or get comfortable in a hammock....

Pretty much the flattest hammock you can buy is the Bear Mountain Bridge Hammock, by Jacks-R-Better (http://jacksrbetter.com/). However, the way it gets that flat lay is to use a straight hammock with spreader bars and a weird bridge-like suspension. Some people complain that the configuration feels too narrow and squeezes on their shoulders, which sounds like the exact opposite of what you want. If shoulder squeeze isn't an issue, the BMBH is an outstanding choice.




The other way to reliably get flat in a hammock is to get a really wide hammock, and lie diagonally. The further to the diagonal you can get, the more comfortable you will be. For hammocks with bug nets, the best bet is to get hammocks that have an asymmetrical design, so that you're not wasting space when you lay on the angle. Basically, the hammocks are designed specifically with laying on the angle in mind, so you have more room for your shoulders.

The two most popular asym hammocks that are commercially available are the Hennessey Hammock (http://hennessyhammock.com/) and Warbonnet Blackbird (http://warbonnetoutdoors.net/)

Of those two, the HH is made in China, has a funky bottom entry, and is easily available at REI. The REI bit is good, as you can take advantage of their generous return policy if you don't like it. The WBBB is hand-made in the USA, so it's a bit more expensive, but it's WAY MORE SPACIOUS inside, and custom-built to order, so if you're a bigger dude you can get thicker fabric, or two layers of fabric to place a sleeping pad between them.

Pretty much the most spacious commercial asym hammock you can get is the warbonnet blackbird (that's the hammock I use!). I find the lay to be very comfortable and flat, with very little "banana" shape to my back. The trick is to make sure you really lay on the diagonal.



The most important thing to worry about is to NOT try to lay flat by yanking the hammock crazy tight. That will almost always give the opposite effect of what you want. The trick to laying flat is to have the hammock nice and LOOSE, and lay on an angle. Once you've tried it, it will make perfect sense.
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PLUS some pictures and descriptions of a more sophisticated tarp setup I recently acquired...

Speaking of tarps, I got a chance to try out my newest custom ordered tarp (from Outdoor Equipment Suppliers) this weekend, and it absolutely ROCKED!!!


The basic design of the tarp goes like this: Take a Speer Winter Tarp, but make it 12x10, instead of 10 x 11, and add six extra tieouts - in the center of each of the largest cat cuts, as seen in this picture. The BLUE tieouts are the ones that I had added, which are not on the Speer tarp, and add tons of flexibility in pitching options

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So, that gives you four extra tieouts in the centers of the left and right sides, and two extras along the long side.


What do all those extra tieouts do for me? Why, I thought you'd never ask.

They let me do things like this:

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So what you see there is two hammocks, hung from four trees, but it would work even better with a three-tree hang. On the narrow end, where the trees are close together, or if there was only one tree at that end, I tied the main center ridgeline tieout to the tree. That's the end farthest from you in the picture.

On the other end, where the two trees are spaced farther apart, I tied the two tieouts in the centers of the cat cuts to the trees, so the roof of the tarp formed a triangle between those three tieout points. This makes it absolutely cavernous inside, and I was able to stand fully upright in between the two hammocks with plenty of space to spare.

Add some hiking poles and ground stakes to make walls on each side of the tarp, and we've got a good bit of rain protection with a huge space in the middle.

In fact, there was so much space in the middle, that we hung the Blackbirds with their openings facing in towards the center, rather than out. That means, during the storm, I was able to set my Clikstand and Trangia burner up on the ground between us, and we could cook breakfast together, while chatting and sitting comfortably in our hammocks. It was absolutely awesome!!!!!


Here's another view of the tarp, with the two-tieout end to the right and the single tieout end to the left, to make it a little more obvious how it's pitched:


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Once in a while I will use a hammock/tarp combo. Mostly because my son picked it out and he and my wife gave it to me for christmas. Very big deal for him. I do like the bug net on mine. I am pretty indifferent on one over a tent thou. I always feel like a bear burrito when I am in mine.
 
Two of my friends hiked the entire Appalachian trail using Hennessey (sp?) hammocks. They swear by them. Site selection is easier because you don't need flat ground and you don't have to smooth out the rocks and roots. They're lighter than a tent and enclosed from the bugs and rain just like a tent. Best night of sleep you'll ever get. At least that's what they said. They're not cheap but I'd love to have one.
 
My own experience with hammocks have been very good. That being said they were always made in the Merida region of Mexico and in the summer. I will be embarking next week on a trip in a wilderness area in southern colorado and you can bet your ass I will not be in a hammock but in a bag since it will probably get down in the mid to high twenties before sunrise. So I would say if in Guatemala yes. Southern Colorado No!
 
David M said:
it will probably get down in the mid to high twenties before sunrise. So I would say if in Guatemala yes. Southern Colorado No!
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BAH!!!! Bah, I say!!


I've slept comfortably at 20 deg F in a hammock with a down sleeping bag and an exped downmat 7 deluxe for under insulation. This winter I'm getting a proper underquilt and hope to push my system below zero.


Hammocks are slightly trickier to get warm, but if done right they can keep you plenty insulated on the trail. There are guys on hammockforums who have gone to negative double digits in their hammocks.
 
I guess that maybe I need to take another look at hammocks. In the past I've always woken up with a sore back from the big curve in the middle. But with the pictures that you're showing MustardMan, I think that it's worth another try. What kind of weight are you talking for the hammock?
 
Man I hate sleeping on the ground. I will never go back to tent camping if alone. With my wife, thats another story.

This is the most comfortab;e nght of sleep I have had outdoors.

ctgathering2058.jpg


Like someone else said, make sure you use a sleeping bag in cooler temps. Also alot of hamocks are single walled nylon, which mosquitos can and do bite through. This one I have is the double walled, which mosquitos can not.
It is the jungle hammock by Tom Claytor

http://www.mosquitohammock.com/junglehammock.html
 
Generally, a carefully chosen set of hammock gear is comparable to a lightweight tent option. I have cut a few corners expense-wise, so mine is slightly heavier than modern ultralight tents, but it is still lighter than many "backpacking" tents sold at places like REI.

In general, IMHO you won't save tons and tons of weight by switching to a hammock from a comparable ground setup. What you will gain is a more comfortable and flexible sleep system.


For example, the last two weekends I camped out in my hammock, and got completely rained out. Since I had the large space under my tarp, and was able to sit in my hammock as a chair, I was WAY more comfortable than I would have been sitting on the ground inside of a backpacking tent. I was even able to set my stove on the ground underneath my hammock and cook breakfast while it rained and I sat in the hammock. Very cool and very tough to do in a tent.
 
I've been tempted to try hammock camping, but my biggest fear is my friends. I'm usually the last to get up & I can see them pulling a "Hey watch this" as they shake the hammock or something.
 
We have had many hammocks in the bush in Peru and 99.9% of them I cannot sleep like a banana with my legs and back all curved like that. We actually had a guy that had the above Claytor hammock and I tried to get comfortable in in but same problem. Thaty same hammock was hotter than hell when the tarp is down enough to keep the user dry too. Not enough air can get through there. The hammocks I have tried that I do like weigh too much to pack in and carry . We don't even take sleeping bags so that isn't an issue. All of the hammocks pictured above would cause me grief to sleep in because they don't sleep flat. But I believe it boils down to some folks can and some cannot sleep like that. I cannot. Jeff cannot.

But if you can there is supposed to be a huge psychological advantage to being off the ground. There is a pretty good discussion about this and hammocks in Cresson Kerney's book called "Jungle Snafus and Remedies" if you are interested. ALso a pretty good knot called a Venesuelan hammock knot that is slip proof for trees. Man if you can do it in one of the really light ones it is worth it for having a real portable shelter....if you have trees.:)
 
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