Jungle Hammocks.

[Polar Bear]

#6636

I apologize to Duncan for junping on his thread.

The talk turned to jungle hammocks. Dr. Ashby showed some pictures of his and his camp set up. Thanks Doc.

I learned about them in Nam back in the late ’60s early ’70. In ’73 I was stationed in Alaska. A lot of my hunting was pack in. The jungle hammock was a good option. The one I had weighed and packed up like a 2 man tent. What I liked about them is they had a roof, mosquito netting and a place to sling my body. With mosquitoes being able to penetrate the material where your body presses against the fabric I found that a thin light pad put a stop to the problem.

You ca use whatever search engine you wish and find hundreds of different types. They range from very inexpensive to “oh wow”

I really like the set up that Dr. Ashby showed. Less weight than a canteen of water and packs up as small.

Dr. Ashby, if you read this would you tell me where you found your hammock?

[Ed Ashby]

#53268

Polar, I bought my Siam Hammocks in Australia. I did a fast Google search and didn’t readily find a US source but there is one out of Canada. Here’s the link:

http://ovck.com/3AccessoriesF1.htm

I see that they have a sale going on the Siam Hammock. That’s less than I paid for mine.

I first heard of the Siam Hammock when I read somewhere that the US military had ordered 3000 of them for use in special ops applications. Already being a fan of camping in hammocks that really tweaked my interest so I found a source and went to look at them and was sold on the concept right away. By now I’ve probably spent more than 500 nights sleeping in mine, including 3 straight months on the west coast of New Zealand’s south island, where it never stopped raining, and I still love it. It’s a great setup.

Ed

[Ed Ashby]

#53278

Thought it might help folks who look here if I copied over my post from the other thread.

Here’s my two cents worth. I’ve used hammocks for my light camp for many, many years. My favorite is the Siam Hammock. It has the mosquito netting and a pocket for a pad as well as a rain fly. It’s a HUGE improvement over the old Jungle Hammock (which is what I used before I got my Siam Hammock). The complete rig weighs the same as a standard canteen of water, and is about the same size when packed in its stuff bag. It can be flipped over and used as a regular hammock and also pitched in five different configurations as a ground tent.

Here it is setup at a camp in New Zealand. Note the tiny mesh cargo hammock slung underneath it. That’s where my gear goes; up off the ground and out of the rain. I get the small cargo hammocks at WallyWorld.

Here it is in a camp in Australia. My excess gear that won’t fit in the cargo hammock I place under a small tarp.

The cargo hammocks have other usese too. Here one is doubling as my clothes line.

In a longer term camp I use several of the cargo hammocks as a set of ‘shelves’ for storage. Everything is visable and easy to find.

Ed

[Polar Bear]

#53347

Thanks for the link. I like the looks of this set up.

A lot of people don’t realize just how comfortable they really are. Unless you are in really cold weather a good sleeping bag and maybe an extra blanket on the bottom works great.

[Ed Ashby]

#53380

I’ve used my Siam Hammock in genuine sub-zero (Fahrenheit) weather and, with the right setup, it’s still warm and cozy.

There’s a flap in the bottom for a pad. In HOT WEATHER, for mosquito protection from the bottom I use a thin mattress pad in there. In MODERATE WEATHER I just use my light weight sleeping bag. When it’s CHILLY WEATHER I put a thin, foam ‘ground pad’ in there. When it’s COLD WEATHER I add a wool blanket over the foam pad. When it’s BITTER COLD I add a folded over space blanket (reflector side facing both up and down) between the foam pad and the wool blanket. Of course, in the colder temperatures I’m in my sleeping bag too. A word of caution; don’t add the space blanket into the setup until it’s REALLY BITTER COLD. I’ve misjudged a few times and had to get up in the cold of night to remover the space blanket because I got TOO HOT.

Ed

[William Warren]

#53826

Hey Guys,

I was not offended in any way, after all I was talking hammocks too.
Mine is the Eno Single Nest with a “Slap Strap” hanging system from REI. Mosquito netting and rainflys are available. I’m planning to get the mosquito net but I want to use my poncho for a rain fly which should work fine.

I have camped in those WallyWorld net hammocks Dr Ed mentioned. Not as comfortable as this cloth one but served me well on night fishing trips. Get tired of fishing, just find a small island with trees and get some shut eye!

Duncan

[Ed Ashby]

#53836

Thanks Duncan, I forgot to mention that the Siam Hammock’s rain fly is also designed to double as a rain poncho, but I’ve never used it as one, so won’t comment on how well it serves that purpose.

Ed

[wildschwein]

#53842

Dr. Ashby how cold in degrees celcius have you tested a hammock? Northern Alberta can get mighty cold but I love the idea of packing something like that around instead of a tent and all the junk that goes with it.
Oh and did you have any issues with the eight legged creepy crawlies getting into your hammock when you were in Australia? When I was there I was forever having problems and I slept in hostels. Them Huntsmans especially gave me the jeebies, even though they are pretty much harmless (or so I was told).

[Ed Ashby]

#53858

wildschwein wrote: Dr. Ashby how cold in degrees celcius have you tested a hammock? Northern Alberta can get mighty cold but I love the idea of packing something like that around instead of a tent and all the junk that goes with it.
Oh and did you have any issues with the eight legged creepy crawlies getting into your hammock when you were in Australia? When I was there I was forever having problems and I slept in hostels. Them Huntsmans especially gave me the jeebies, even though they are pretty much harmless (or so I was told).

I’ve used the hammock at temperatures as low as -24 Celsius (about -11 Fahrenheit). Of course I had my heavier sleeping bag, and the full setup I described above for ‘bitter cold’ but I was perfectly comfortable at that temperature and feel certain that, set up that way, I could use the hammock at even lower temperatures.

I had a really severe funnel web bite on my right ankle while in Australia. I was really sick for several days and have some residual circulatory and nerve damage from the bite. That, however, happened at night in a friend’s house in town, not out in the bush, but I headed bush before daylight and I didn’t start suffering any severe symptoms until mid-afternoon, when I was too far from town to be able to return. Fortunately I had enough along to treat the bite but it was still 5 days before I could get out of bed. Forget about the bad snakes, it’s Australia’s spiders that are dangerous!

Ed

[Polar Bear]

#53872

Dr. Ashby, followed the link. The price is good. Will order one tomorrow. Thanks for the additional info on cold weather. My old bones don’t do very good on the ground anymore. About time I went back to something comfortable and a lot easier to set up compared to a tent. I also like the way you net hammocks. Will need to pick up a couple.

[Ed Ashby]

#53884

Polar Bear wrote: Dr. Ashby, followed the link. The price is good. Will order one tomorrow. Thanks for the additional info on cold weather. My old bones don’t do very good on the ground anymore. About time I went back to something comfortable and a lot easier to set up compared to a tent. I also like the way you net hammocks. Will need to pick up a couple.

Hope you are as happy with your’s as I have been with mine. I’ve used hammocks for light camps for years but, like you, I find my old bones now like the hammock better than any other camp bed.

Ed

[William Warren]

#54902

Dr Ashby,

I have not used a hammock with a sleeping bag or pad for that matter. Do you use a mummy bag for cold weather and I’m curious, how do you get in and out of the bag in the hammock?

Duncan

[Ed Ashby]

#54918

I use oversized mummy style bags (I ain’t no little fell’er :D). This hammock is very stable. I just put the bag in the hammock, unzip the bag about 2/3 down, sit on the bag and hammock and swing my legs in, wiggle my legs into the bag a bit and zip’er up. Not hard at all.

Ed

[William Warren]

#54932

Dr. Ed Ashby wrote: I use oversized mummy style bags (I ain’t no little fell’er :D). This hammock is very stable. I just put the bag in the hammock, unzip the bag about 2/3 down, sit on the bag and hammock and swing my legs in, wiggle my legs into the bag a bit and zip’er up. Not hard at all.

Ed

I hear ya, I bet I won’t fit in my mummy bag now. 😀 Have not been cold weather camping in a while and I’m not as “small” as I used to be either.
In the early season I can probably get by with a fleece bag but later I’ll have to try a heavier bag and pad.
Do you think a the self inflating ground pads will work or do I need the closed cell foam pad?

[Ed Ashby]

#54959

Duncan wrote: Do you think a the self inflating ground pads will work or do I need the closed cell foam pad?

The closed foam ones fit much neater in the hammock, though the thin ‘self inflating’ ones work. The blow-up inflatable pads don’t work well. I just use a closed cell that’s about a half inch thick.

Ed

[FUBAR]

#57909

After another backpacking trip, I have got to get me a hammock. It is just too hard to find a level enough spot for my tent. I know it was impossible in the Smokies.:?

[Ed Ashby]

#58191

It sure is great not to have rocks, sticks and roots poking you all night too. Not only that, I seem to sleep better in my hammock than I do in a regular bed, and I feel more rested the next morning.

Ed

[FUBAR]

#59098

How do you get in and out of this one? The Hennessey has a velcro center opening

[Ed Ashby]

#59101

On the Siam hammock there’s a full length zipper along one side of the mosquito netting.

Ed

[RedTape]

#12032

I’m a big fan of hammock camping. If you want to give it a try for cheap look at the Grand Trunk Ultra-light or ENO Double. You can rig a regular mosquito net over it and its much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. If you find out you like it, you can move up to something like a Warbonnet Blackbird.

[FUBAR]

#12793

Thanks. Never heard of those brands. I’m finding that there are quite a few companys out there

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#12941

Just bought an ENO. Can’t wait to use it.

[wildwills]

#14550

Aside from Hennessy hammocks, you might also want to take a look at the Clark Jungle hammock and the Warbonnet Outdoors hammocks.

http://www.hennessyhammock.com/

http://www.junglehammock.com/

http://www.warbonnetoutdoors.net/

[FUBAR]

#14629

I just picked up a Hennessy for $59 from their site. Display model:P

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