I got my sewing machine from a thrift store earlier this year, played with it a bit, but never put it to work.
Now I'm going backpacking with my nephew, he needs an underquilt for his hammock, and instead of buying one, I made a rough copy of mine.
It's a little shorter, and heavier, but it's probably a little warmer too 😬
I still have to put the shock cord on the ends, so I haven't tested if it will hold its shape properly, but I think it will.
I cut up an old throw blanket that was gifted to us years ago, we never use it, and it's not pretty, so... 🤷♂️ I was gonna cut the tassels off and sew all the edges, but I ran out of gumption. I still might, it would be a weight savings, but I doubt my cuts will be clean and straight, it'll probably look worse.
Edit:
So I tested it out. I was warm at 50 degrees with no breeze, but the temp went up to 55 and a steady breeze started blowing, I definitely felt... Cool, underneath me. So I think it could be decently warm, it just needs some wind breaker material added to it to stop the breeze from sucking away the heat.
Speaking of flat ground, have you looked into tensa style hammock stands? The idea is that with 4 lightweight collapsible aluminum poles, a couple stakes, and some careful movements, you can hammock on flat ground, sans trees.
I've been meaning to build one from wood to play with the idea at home, but haven't found the time.
I really like hammocking, and have no desire to buy into a tent/pad, etc for trips that have no trees. Specifically thinking of the Grand canyon eventually. It might be worth it to me to bring the extra weight if the poles, not sure yet.
That looks really cool. I've been wanting something like that to throw in my car. Looks like it's heavier than you'd want to carry around, but still useful for car camping. I've seen people park by a tree and string a hammock from their car to a tree before.
The other thing I made recently (inspired by the fact that I wish I had my hammock on my recent trip) is a hammock bug net. Mosquitos can bite through a hammock, so technically you need netting completely around you, but if you have an under quilt and/or a sleeping bag, you don't need it on most of your body. I made one roughly following this design. Instead of noseum mesh, I used monolite, which is a lightweight/see-through nylon ripstop which should be stronger than the noseum mesh.
If I make a hammock completely from scratch with an integrated under quilt and bugnet, I might go with a bridge hammock design.
My ultimate goal would be to make a setup that i can deploy while in the rain without getting wet. I've already made a poncho that's usable as a shelter (ripstop by the roll kit), and you can string it up while wearing it. It's a little smaller than I'd want as a permanent solution in rainy weather (single width of fabric doesn't give you much to work with), so maybe I'll eventually gift it to someone and build a bigger poncho/tarp.
That's a lot of info packed into one comment! Wow!
Ok so, that bug net, how does it work? It looks like there would be a big gap between your body and the top edge of the hammock walls? I can't wrap my head around this.
Also I had never heard of a bridge hammock. Very cool design, I'd like to see how one feels.
And finally, I can't picture how your put it up in the rain style hammock would work, but I love the enthusiasm. And I've never heard of ripstopbytheroll! I made an account, but the projects seem to just be pictures? Are there no instructions? At any rate, this has SERIOUSLY piqued my interest, and I'm contemplating making my own hammock now 🤣
It's a problem because I already own so many, but really only one of them is the proper length for me to sleep in while hiking. The rest I mostly just enjoy setting up while glamping, so people can hang out and chat.
The bugnet basically goes completely around the top half of the hammock, but then there's enough extra fabric at your waist level that it drapes down and forms a "good enough" seal. You can either attach it to a ridge line, or you can have your ridge line pass through a buttonhole or grommet (what i did), so you still have access to the ridge line above your head so you can hang stuff off of it.
Setting up in the rain is a bit of a trick. If you are wearing a poncho/tarp, you start by lashing the front left corner to a tree. Next you grab the back right corner, and step back and lash it to another tree. You will have to pull your head out of the poncho hood at that point to be able to see what you are doing. You can then stake the other two corners out. You'll be completely out of the rain at that point, so you can string up the hammock.
The "projects" tab on ripstop by the roll is user submitted, so some people give a lot of pictures/instructions and some don't. Each of the items they sell as DIY kits have a YouTube video to explain how to put it together, though. Their YouTube has a lot of useful stuff, too. They also do a podcast.
The other place people buy stuff is dutchware gear. They have a lot of similar stuff, so just check to see who has what fabric you want cheapest.
Thanks for everything!