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  1. #1
    New Member Jeff60523's Avatar
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    Help me attach zipper to Grizz/Hikerdad bridge

    I've read the forum posts and watched Grizz's and Hikerdad's videos on making a DIY bridge hammock, purchased and cut out all the materials, and am just about to start sewing.

    Despite rewatching the zipper section of the videos several times, and dissecting forum post photos, I'm not clear on the best way to mate the zipper with the hammock body. Here's a greatly exaggerated drawing of the 3 options I'm considering. It depicts two versions of a cross-section or end-view of the load-bearing seam. I’m leaning towards option 1, but I’m worried that the utility of having the disengaged zipper lay flat and out of the way would be outweighed by the potential tension put on the all-important seam with the ½” webbing. The squiggly line on the zipper is supposed to represent where the zipper pull connects the two halves of the zipper.



    (If you haven't looked at making this kind of hammock, the drawing may not make sense, but the load in this hammock is borne by two lengths of 1/2" webbing, one on each outer edge of the hammock. The drawing is an end view and shows the rolled seam with the webbing in the middle and various fabrics rolled around it.)

    Let the opinions begin! Option 1, 2, 3 or something else?!?

    Thanks Grizz and Hikerdad (and many others) for advancing "hammock science"!!!

  2. #2
    Senior Member WV's Avatar
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    I'd go with option 3 simply because it does away with the bias tape, but see what Grizz says about zipper orientation.

  3. #3
    New Member Jeff60523's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WV View Post
    see what Grizz says about zipper orientation.
    That's what started this. His instructions seem to imply the use of bias tape. I understand the utility of that on the bugnet side of things, but it is confusing on the hammock body. (I did send this drawing to him in a PM, but he has already been so helpful to all of us I didn't want him to feel pressured to respond.)

    I like the idea of not having the open teeth of the zipper always at the topmost edge of the hammock. Even though it will be #3 coil which isn't very prickly, I don't want it to snag on anything.

  4. #4
    Senior Member GrizzlyAdams's Avatar
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    I saw that when I sewed the zipper directly to the webbing there got to be a fair bit of lateral 'twist' on the zipper I didn't like, the difference between the way the zipper lays when the hammock is unloaded versus the way it lays loaded. Bottom edge forced into a curve that the top edge didn't care for. So instead I got nice wide bias tape, sewed one edge to the rolled webbing (on the inside) and sewed the zipper on to the other edge. The 'twist' now happens to the bias tape, not the zipper. Zipper is happy, no undue stresses on it.

    As you are canoeing, if weight is not the biggest concern, there is a dead-easy way to make a bugnet for a bridge hammock. I used netting that is 117" wide (from Barre Army & Navy) and cut a piece that is N x 117 inches, where N is a little longer than the length of the ridgeline from triangle apex to triangle apex. Join the N length sides together with an N inch long zipper, to make a tube. Lay the tube out so that the zipper is centered. The top N inch edge of this laid out tube will be supported by the ridgeline. Join the 'other' edges (I use bias tape. I like bias tape!) except for about 4 inches down from the ridgeline edge.
    Put Velcro or Omnitape on the 4 inch edges so that you can seal it up except for the suspension line getting out.

    Now what you have is an envelope, N inches across and 117/2 inches down, with a zipper across the front.

    The next step is cosmetic. Open the zipper and turn the envelope inside out. At the 'bottom' two corners (away from
    the ridgeline) sketch the hypotenuse of a right triangle where the right angle of the triangle is the corner of the envelope
    and the sides of the triangle are about 18". Sew a line along that hypotenuse, then cut off the triangle (leaving of course
    the sewn line in place to seal). Turn envelope outside out. Done.

    To put the net on the hammock you open the envelope, put the hammock body inside of it, and run the suspension line out of the Omnitaped areas. Hang the hammock, put in the spreader bars.

    I use this rig at Boy Scout camp. The skeeters cannot get to the bottom of the hammock body and its a place where one can kick off a quilt and not have it go to ground.
    Grizz
    (alias ProfessorHammock on youtube)

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