Hammock Tents - Super linky - got one? tell us about it and post pics here!!

Most hammockers are also lightweight backpackers and they almost lose control of themselves over grams to ounces (kind of like the KTM Vs. BMW debate except grms instead of pennies). They would suffer an anurism if they even saw what my wife and I used to shoulder on our backpacking trips. Our backpacks, tent, and sleeping stuff alone weighed more than their entire set ups now. Our battle is more over pounds and space. I have two fairly new titanium knees and hear you all too well. Plus the thought of floating while wrapped in a lightweight fluffy warm down nest just sounds nicer than any camping I have ever done. It's all about enjoying the outdoors instead of simply surviving it.

Molly Mac on HF has a very neato enclosed gear hammock set up for sale...though it would not be that tough to make one. It suspends tree to tree or even under your hammock tarp in water proof convienience either way. Out of the mud and dirt for me.

tried my gear out last night ... only got down to 29 but i was toasty warm

Marmot sawtooth 20 degree down bag
hennessy explorer deluxe with supershelter undercover/ OCF pad and a space blanket

12x12 kelty noahs tarp pulled to ground meant no cold spots and at least a few degrees warmer inside than outside.....

absolutely no condensation anywhere

If you look close at the rain fly there is a zipper... Cat Cape! use your Rain fly as a rain poncho!!!! great idea!!



it also has a string with lock for tightening around the neck or head...



there are small pouches for the string on the back side of the tarp as seen here





lots more pics!!!

https://hightechcoonass.smugmug.com/Other/Hammocks/14526507_twiF6#1081214237_T3vzU

So adding a quilt to insulate the bottom of the thing doesn't add more gear to carry? Sure, it's compressible, but it's not as simple in the tent comparison to simply take a average tent. There are super light weight tents now that are lighter and smaller than the complete hammock setup when you consider comfort levels as I see them.

I find that hammocks don't allow you to be completely vertical which shows itself when you tend to sleep on your gut for periods of time. They also wrap themselves around you which to me is reduces experienced comfort. It's also a lot harder to move around. Now with exped mats the whole sleeping colder on the ground issues is really a moo point.

Underquilt or ground pad...your call but both take up space. Sleep on the ground tmotten...I don't care. Perhaps your issue here is more one of experience or rather lack of. I don't sleep vertical at all if I can avoid it. Yes I know you meant horizontal and so modern hammocks when set up properly allow flat lay (horizontal). The camping hammock is a rapidly evolving concept. If you slept in a hammock even a few years ago, it can be a whole new ball game now. Just yesterday I found a tent my wife and I used to backpack with during the 70s. My how things have changed since then when it was the high tech tent to own. But back then I was being nice to my wife by giving her a 50 lb pack while I muled a 70 to 80 lb one. Now around 25 lbs is close to the norm. Things change eh?

That said, go thou forth ground dweller and hangeth no more. This thread is for those wondering about the latest improvements in camping hammocks. I am not attempting to convert you.

Mate, I've got 2 henneseys from a few years ago, when I wasn't aware of the down quilt, cause I can remember my freezing arse at a servo outside Barcelona in spring like it was yesterday so would have gladly tried that. So yep, do have experience with it. Was actually sold on the 'new' hammocks because it offered a close to horizontal position.

Not looking to convert myself, or others. Just trying to provide a balanced view to people thinking it would solve their bulk/weight issues. It won't. Nough said. Still got them though.

I've been spending some time nosing around the Hammock Forum. It appears that many/most of them are backpackers/hikers. They were camping in areas that you couldn't put up a tent if you wanted to. Also no worries about a ranger coming around telling you that you couldn't tie anything around a tree. A hammock would definitely be the thing to have there.

Pretty much answered my question about where to keep your gear also. They either hung the pack from a tree or put it at the base.

Again, realizing that some here are also on that forum, you do have to pick your camping spot when using a hammock, same as tent camping. Might be worth having one as a choice on trips next summer.

,

I camp in a Warbonnet Blackbird with a Warbonnet Superfly tarp with doors. (I spent the last two nights in it, actually. )


I find sleeping in the hammock immensely more comfortable than sleeping in a tent. I have some back issues (surgery in Dec. '07), and the hammock is the best sleeping solution that I have come across for me.

I don't think that there are real weight advantages to a hammock over a tent. I don’t give a rat's posterior about that, anyway. I use a hammock because of the comfort. I do find the hammock system a little easier to pack in my panniers than a tent because there aren't many hard parts to deal with.

I took a relatively long trip this summer. I camped 17 of the nights. There were a couple of days when I wondered where I'd hang my hammock for the night, but it worked out. YMMV.

I dealt with gear a couple of ways. Sometimes I put it on the bike under my bike cover. I also picked up a second hammock for lounging (hey,it was on sale ) and strung it up under or alongside my Blackbird and stowed my gear in that.

I'll get some more photos up tomorrow.

I love my hammocks.

Chris

I read your HR (hang report) on HF and loved it! Did you do a RR here? Maybe a link to the HF article would help some here see the hammock end of moto travel. Please!?

great info here!!!! thanks fellows!

Hey LD, I've been snooping around HF and I see you're giving up on your idea of a Clark and going WBBB?

I registered over there and still can't view pics or post replies or questions. Emailed the mods twice and still no response. Is this normal over there? Is everyone out sleeping in their hammocks and can't wake up because it's so comfy?

The mods are volunteers prolly just like here. Might take a minute or 2000 for one to come home from work to see and approve your membership. During research I went from Hennessy to Clark and ended up buying the WBBB 1.7 double with adjustable webbing. The WBBB has a HUGE following over there and for good reason. I got several PMs about "I started with the Clark but ended up getting a WBBB...don't bother with the Clark" type recommendations.

Mine is very well made and when I got it it seemed almost too flimsy until it got set up. It is more stout than it feels and it feels like a cloud to lay in (disclaimer; once set up properly & YMMV). There is a bunch of room to find my sweet spots and that gear shelf is really neat.

Just before the WBBB arrived I bought a Kelty Noah's 12x12 tarp...blasphemy on HF for the gram counters. Then I ordered a Byer Vario hammock stand because my lower Sonoran Desert yard is not overrun with trees. Now the research begins on UQs and TQs and Socks andandand...

Hennesy makes a fine product (mostly in China BTW) but WBBB stomps them on the overall comfort and design IMO (and it is made in Colorado). Clark is a solid set up but complicated and expensive (and uncomfortable according to my sources). When things get no kidding cold even the Clark needs an UQ and a good tarp. I order the WBBB for around $180 and then begin making my kit custom for my needs (moto Vs backpack). Life is good...just figured out how to stuff my Kelty and WBBB into an old book pack to trek to the local park and lounge with a book. Night hangs will begin when Santa's brown truck brings my stand.

hammocks are perfect for afternoon naps also.

i bring it along even when we take the camper.

k, I've read through this thread a few times now. And I can't say I am any further along, my fault.

Here's what I want, a hammock that I can use for everthing, including in the winter. So I have a few outstanding questions...

- I'd like as flat a system as I can get, I'm a side sleeper.
- I'd like to be able to sit in it before bed (no bottom entry)
- I'd like to be able to either use my BA Insulated pad or a bottom quilt?? Which is the better way or is the BA option possible?
- I'd like to be able to really batten it down for winter camping (typical nighttime temp here of -20c or -5f)
- weight isn't an issue but over all size could be for packing on the bike

Anything else I need to consider?

Shakey,

the BA pad will help, but the underquilt will help more.
Both will be needed at any temp lower than 20 F likely.
Especially if you will keep the hammock tight and flat instead of letting the under quilt 'coccoon' around you underneath.

In winter time there is little to no savings in weight/bulk over a good tent, insulated sleep pad, and down bag, In my opinion.

a down underquilt might get you there, Ive got a thin/cheap synthetic under that is basketball size pack and gets me to mid 20s with a sleeping pad in there too.

For moto camping that must be all you need. A thin, wide pad maybe of that good 1/4" ccf and a synthetic underquilt with a decent top quilt/bag.

The guys on HF seem to count grams and half grams and like it the colder it gets.

For now I'm really not doing any winter camping.

But, once the setup is near there it might be fun. I've always wanted to try it but thoughts of the tent on the snow never sounded very appealing. Hanging above the snow makes more sense.

i've been looking and reading 'bout hammocks, a lot over the last few months. no, haven't pulled the trigger yet.i'm toying with the idea of getting back into backpacking- as long as i can be comfortable/and lighten my backpack a bit. hammocks seem to be lighter by a substantial amout if the temps are above 45degrees. i read with intrest that one member at HF hiked the pacific crest trail, and only had to camp on the ground about 10 nights, this on a trail that takes about 140 day to hike. for that reason, i'm looking at the wbb 1.0dbl- it's going to take a lot longer time to talk myself into buying a cuben tarp

Thanks, Law Dawg.

I did do a RR here. It is largely the same one I did on HammockForums, but the one here has a bit more character in the overall thread because, well, my ADV buddies are a buncha smartasses.

It's called 'Merican Month at 40.

The Hang Report on HF is Hangin' With My Motorcycle.

Here are some of the hangs from that and other trips.

Deals Gap, NC.


8,100 feet in Colorado


In the Arapahoe national Forest near Central City, CO






Difficult Campground in the White River National Forest (near Aspen, CO).


Nine Mile Canyon, UT. See that little thing that looks like a stubby wing on the near side of the hammock? That's the famous and oh-so-cool "shelf" that is part of why the Warbonnet Blackbird is so popular. It's amazing how something so relatively simple is so incredibly useful.




Ochoco Divide Campground in the Ochoco National Forest, OR


The Warbonnet Superfly tarp can be pretty stealthy if you want it to be. See it in there?


I hung my Eagle's Nest Outfitters Doublenest hammock as a gear shelf/day-lounging hammock at the BMWMOA rally in Redmond, Oregon.


Quartz Flat Campground, Lolo National Forest, MT


WestFest in Darby, MT




Outside Glacier National Park, near Babb, MT


Bowman, N.D.


Timon Campground, Black Hills National Forest, SD




Back at Deals Gap, NC



Deals Gap on another trip. (The Flat Henry Adventure)



Flat Henry's rig.


No Clever Name in Langston, AL, a couple of weeks ago.


A HammockForums hang in August on Goat Island, Lake Greenwood, SC.


Camping with LandWife. This is the Eureka Chrysalis.








Rebel Yell 2010 a couple of days ago at Two Wheels Only in Suches, GA.


Hammocks rock.


Chris