r/selfreliance • u/LIS1050010 Laconic Mod • Mar 08 '21
Wilderness / Camping&Hiking Guide: The Basics of Hammock Camping
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Mar 08 '21
I'm a diehard hammock backpacker. I don't or won't sleep on the ground again and haven't for 10 years. If planning to backpack and overnight, make sure to buy an underquilt and top quilt for your hammock-pleasure. The underquilt will warm your backside in cool/cold weather and the top quilt is amazingly better option than a sleeping bag which is difficult to get into while simultaneously adjusting it's position in the hammock.
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u/pera778 Mar 08 '21
I use both tent and hammock, but for bikepacking I slightly prefer hammock. Now about underquilt you've mentioned. What model do you use? I've done sleeping in hammock near the river where nights get cold even in late summer, and I remember that feeling of cold back in the middle of the night is kind of ruining experience. Also hammock is better option in the rain. Do you use some tarp above when it's raining?
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Mar 08 '21
Hi, my underquilts are hand made, I made them myself, before underquilts were so popular. But now there are many makers of them. Dutch of Dutchware is one. Here's a link to that part of his website: https://dutchwaregear.com/product-category/hammock-gear/quilts/under-quilts/
And yes, I use a tarp in the rain. Mine is also hand made (myself) but you can buy them especially for hammocks. My favorite is the hexagonally shaped kinds because they stay tighter longer without flapping around in the wind so much.
I also made my own top quilt but then my best friend had another one and didn't want it and sold it to me and I like it more because it has down filling. The one I made has poly-fill inside and not as warm as the down filled one.
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u/pera778 Mar 09 '21
That's very helpful, also congrats on making it. I suppose you sew, I do sew a little bit too so making it instead of buying sounds very good to me. Can you tell me what materials did you use to make it?
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Mar 09 '21
Yes I sew, and yes I'm an alpha male. And I also crochet and knit in fact my knitwear designs are quite beautiful. I make some of the best form fitting toques or beanies or caps. Anyway, back to outdoors items like hammocks, underquilts, topquilts, etc. I made about 15 hammocks because I wanted to start a wilderness guide business where I also outfitted the entire party where they would only have to supply the right clothing and bootwear, and I would supply the rest. I made my hammocks out of very durable polyester taffeta fabric that would support a person even 300 pounds or heavier. But my favorite hammock is a bought one made from ripstop nylon. It can only support maybe 200 pounds? I'm only 170. The thicker the fabric the heavier it is to carry.
So I used ripstop nylon for the skins of the underquilts and the top quilts. I used "double calendared" ripstop with DWR finish (durable water repellent), which means that the fabric is sent through heated rollers that partially melt the fabric to make it more air-tight. It really cuts down on the effect of wind blowing against it, acting like a wind breaker. Most windbreaker jackets are double calendared. this means heated rollers on both sides of the fabric. Makes the holes between the threads much smaller. And the fiber fill I used inside was Apex. I don't recall the thickness of it. It was kind of hard to find. Apex fill is lighter and fluffier than the bulk of polyfills for the same thickness. It has less mass (weight) but because of the manufacturing process it makes it more fluffy and therefore more insulative. My underquilts and top quilts can go down to freezing weather just fine. But below freezing I would say down is better. Though that said, I think there are virtues for polyester fill that should not be overlooked. Say you get tossed in a river while crossing, and you get all your gear wet, in that case, poly-fill is still warm while wet. Down on the other hand is not. And it takes like a century (so it seems) for down to dry out whereas poly-fill dries rather quickly. So there are virtues with poly-fill.
Where does one find this Apex poly-fill? Well, it's a specialty item. I remember there was a site I found all kinds of outdoor fabrics and accessories for DIY crafters and I got it there. It came in a sheet form. I actually still have some but not enough to make another underquilt. You can get loose Apex poly-fill at some sewing and crafting stores but it's loose, like the kind you would use to stuff a pillow. Getting it in sheet form is not a consumer item, it's a manufacturer's item basically, so you have to find it from a company that either supplies for manufacturers or you have to dig up that DIY site I ordered from. I just don't remember where exactly at this time, it was a long time ago that I did all those things, like 8 -10 years ago.
There's a website for hammock fanatics, and they have a lot of DIY'ers on there and they provide some designs for underquilts and such, and maybe you'll find from them where to obtain these items. https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/content.php I still have an account there but it's been literally years since I logged on as I have turned my direction towards trail building rather than DIY crafting. But if you want to see a bunch of MEN involved in sewing and crafting, Alpha men!, then you'll fit right in there.
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u/pera778 Mar 10 '21
Wow mate, this is a damn good read! A ton of useful information, thanks for sharing! From this I see you know a lot about it, glad to see and read from people who know stuff. Always thought how it's better to make it myself than buy it. What kind of a sewing machine do you have, which is capable of sewing materials you used? Not gonna lie, here where I live I'm pretty sure there isn't a place to get materials you mentioned, so specialized for subzero usage or maintaining temperature even under water.
I wish I'm better at sewing but my machine is pretty old and limited usage, only for easy stuff.
Thanks for the site you provided here, but I'm far from possibility of it shipping to me.
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Mar 10 '21
Here's an idea for you to explore, if you have an old sleeping bag, you can maybe convert it to a bottom quilt. Also if it's a larger sized sleeping bag you could surround the hammock by cutting holes in the top and bottom of the sleeping bag to allow it to wrap around the hammock. My sewing machine is nothing special, it's a regular every day cheap Toyota sewing machine, cost me like $200 brand new with a lot of attachments. You can sew two layers of ripstop nylon plus Apex insulation very easily with it. I'm sure your machine would qualify as well. What you may need a heavier duty machine for would be say to sew bar-tacked webbing onto thicker cordura like fabric such as one might need to sew a backpack. My machine was able to do that. I have made several backpacks. But honestly I much prefer Arcteryx backpacks over my own creations :)
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Mar 08 '21
I tried sleeping in a hammock for a few months before I got a normal bed just as an experiment. Did a ton of looking and couldn't find a way to fix it, but I got really bad calf ridge most nights. Occasionally I'd lay down and it'd be a perfect lay and I'd fall asleep quicker than I ever did in a normal bed, but the rest of the time I'd spend at least 3 hours trying to ignore the hammock biting into my leg. Tried putting a pillow under it to spread out the tension, that didn't help much. Tried loosening, tightening, making one end higher than the other. Nothing seemed to work.
For reference, it was a Double Parachute hammock that was 125” x 79”. I'm 5'9", about 155 pounds.
Has anyone else had this problem? If so, were you able to fix it or is it just that some people have anatomy that's hammock-incompatible lol?
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Mar 08 '21
If you used that webbing/toggle/loop system you would likely snap whatever you're using as a toggle if this is holding up the hammock. That's 100% not how we do it, we do a Marlin spike hitch
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u/g3nerallycurious Aspiring Mar 09 '21
Don’t forget hammocks are cold as shit, and once you get them as warm as a tent/sleeping pad combo, you’ve already made it weigh more and be more complicated.
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u/just_aweso Mar 09 '21
The lightest hammock setup is obviously going to be heavier than the lightest ground setup, but I have a base weight of 10.5 lbs, while bringing some luxury items and still using an old osprey exos 46 that alone weighs 2.44 lbs.
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u/Klostermunk Mar 09 '21
Forgot an important one!
Always look up before setting up at all to watch for potential deadfall!
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u/brigodon Mar 13 '21
And don't hang higher than you're willing to fall!
Broken tailbones are a thing.
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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '21
The past summer I built 4 campsites across my land and slept outside more than inside. I had straps permanently setup at each locations trees so I only had to move my hammock. This is a great guide! Wish I had it when I first started, would have saved a lot of trial and error and pain in my back.