Hammock as an multiuse luxury item on a multi-year bicycle tour? Any advice greatly appretiated!

[SoulFood]

Hi everybody!

I have never used a hammock, have no experience with them and definitely don't know anything about different options/uses/designs. But I've grown to love the idea of hammocks, their history, light weight, ability to set up in uneven terrain, so I'm looking more and more into them.

My girlfriend and I will go on a bicycle tour through 40 European countries, from Nordkapp to Greece. Our primary sleeping system will be a tent, mainly because of the added privacy and the ability to sleep side-to-side. But since I've stumbled upon the Exped Travel Hammock and seen pictures of it being used as a tarp, I've started to consider adding two simple hammocks to our gear list.

Since finances are extremely tight, I will be making as much gear as possible by myself (with the help of my dad and a really experienced "sewing lady").

I would like my hammocks to fill four roles:

1.) Both connected and set up as tarps for extended dry space when the weather turns bad
2.) A fast set-up "porch" for breaks (one being used as a tarp, the other as a hammock, providing us with comfortable seating area under a "roof")
3.) Ultimate comfort resting solutions for after-meal naps in cool locations
4.) "picnic blanket", just a universal thing to throw on the ground in many situations

And now the questions...

Am I demanding too much from a hammock?
How could I make a hammock as tarp-like as possible?
What material would you choose in my situation? I really only care about durability, weight won't make much of a difference with 50 kg of gear.

[gargoyle]

Tarps need to be waterproof.
Hammocks ( for best results) need to be breathable or you will end up with condensation/ sweat pooling in the non-breathable fabric.

Two small tarps and two hammocks and a dedicated ground cloth would work best. And offer more options.

[SoulFood]

Yeah... those are the Exped pictures that got me excited about the versatilty of a tarp/hammock frankenstein. Now that I know it's mostly marketing, having re-read the text... They actually call it a "sun shade". But there is a "tarp" in the name, so...

Thank you for showing me the basic error in my brilliant plan!

A nice big seperate tarp, two hammocks and a Tyvek groundcloth may be a better option.

[webhanger]

I agree 3 purposes 3 pieces of gear. Poking a hole in most hammock material whe used as a ground cloth is inviting an unexpected meeting with the ground at the most inopportune time.

With that said a heavy cotton duck cloth like they used on the ond tents might be viable. I imagine that you would be giving up some comfort though. That's the kind if stuff they used on sailing ships 150 years ago to sleep in. Just a thought. Never tried it, and probably never will.

With modern material less weight and space I can carry a comfy hammock and a large tarp that would double as a ground cloth.

[SoulFood]

That is a great idea actually! I've been drooling over tentipis for a while so cottong sounds really interesting. But since it is in no way simmilar to a hot tent, the advantages are even fewer. Bulk and weight are strongly on the side of modern materials.

The only part I would like a direct confirmation that I shouldn't even try to go this way is... How bad would be taking a nap for an hour or two in a waterproof hammock?

If it's just a minor, or even a medium inconvenience, the multifunctionality would still outweigh. I actually don't plan on using the thing as a hammock every day. For quick rests we will bring folding camping chairs. But I love the idea of being able to set up a hammock on the side of some remote beautiful lake, have lunch and hand arround for an hour or two...

But I have absolutely no experience in hammocks and as absolutely all of them are breathable, I'm probably underestimating it.

[SilvrSurfr]

There's only one way to find out - try it. The DD travel hammock/bivi is waterproof.

http://www.ddhammocks.com/product/dd-travel-hammock

Website says, "Please note that as the floor is waterproof it (the floor) is not very breathable - if you'd prefer a more breathable hammock please choose our Frontline (the same design but without waterproof base)."

Personally I like relaxing in my hammock. If it were waterproof, I don't think it would be very relaxing. However, I'd imagine DD sells quite a few waterproof hammock/bivis because "What if I have to go to ground?" is a common concern to people who are new to hammocks. You'll find a million threads about "what if I have to go to ground?" here, but I'll bet this is the first thread ever on using a hammock as a tarp.

[irondog]

...I'll bet this is the first thread ever on using a hammock as a tarp.

AND as a picnic blanket/thing-to-throw-on-the-ground! Asking too much from your hammock? *No way!!* You should be able to find a nice, affordable model that'll give you ALL that, in a compact, hyper-light, mosquito-repellent, self-cleaning, self-propelled, fully automatic, 100% natural/pure synthetic, fully breathable/totally waterproof, portable WiFi hot spot, G.P.S. integrated, solar powered, butterfly hugging, back rubbing, soft whispering, applied nano-stealth technology, E.U. compliant unit. Taxes, import duties, levies and customs fees to/in Slovenia may exceed your budget, though, so factor that into your overall expectations.

[Tendertoe]

If you are set on using a tent as your main shelter, I would suggest a 4 season tarp and an inner net instead. This would have the same functionality of a tent but you could also use the tarp separately over the hammocks and it will weigh less overall and take up less space.

So, instead of having to carry a full tent, plus a tarp, plus 2 hammocks; you'd only need to carry an inner net, a tarp, and 2 hammocks.

The Bear Paw Wilderness Design Net Tent 2 fits perfectly under a Warbonnet Superfly tarp and acts just like a traditional tent (jump to the 8:30 mark of the video below to see it in action).

For lounging, you can throw the tarp over a pair of inexpensive tablecloth hammocks.

With this setup, you'd have an inner net and tarp and 2 hammocks for around the cost of a decent tent would cost just by itself.

[Bike-N-Hike]

I've done some bicycle touring and what I found was I got tired of even setting up the tent. After 3 months of camping every night I found myself just going to ground on my sleeping pad and sleeping bag on top. I did my touring before all this super light stuff came out so I guess you feel you can carry '2" forms of shelter with you. If I were to do it again which I hope to when I retire is go ultralight. The more stuff you have the harder it is to stash when your touring cities or hiking. I would take a ultralight backpack in lou of the redundant shelter. I would use bus stations and train station lockers to place all my panniers in so I could roam more freely. My opinion would be to pick a single shelter, the lighter the better. You can experiment with hammocks later.

Of coarse it only my opinion and you can always lighten your load later if you found you have excess stuff.
I wish you the best of luck, I would love to have the opportunity to do what you are doing but I submitted to the system 25 years ago.

[Snowball]

Ambitious project. Cool

Since you are going to sleep in a tent I assume you will bring sleeping pads so I don’t think making the “universal devise” out of waterproof materials would make much of a difference as long as its only for a nap.
Something to remember is in a hammock you will be cold on the back relative fast unless it is relative hot and even then you have to consider the wind going under. I would say unless its 25°C or above its time to use the pad. When you are on a bicycle tour you cannot afford to get back problems and you could risk that.

As you say 50kg so a little more doesn’t matter. It does in the long run! Its not only the weight but the mass. Think of the poor bike your weight and 50kg on top of that. I would claim you can do it with less if you are committed to it. When packing think need to have and nice to have. E.G chairs they are nice but you don’t need them.

For a tarp solution something like Silnylon would be the best but it would not last for long if you sit on it on the ground, one or two small nicks made by a stone and it would be useless as a hammock.
Depending on your height for a hammock to be comfortable I would say it has to be at least 320cm (I prefer longer but never mind) and most fabric is 152 cm (60”) wide from the roll, and then often there is a raw edge and you have to hem the fabric. So the question is would these measurements do it for you as a tarp?

I don’t know your sources for fabric but one option could be http://www.extremtextil.de
The first fabric that comes mind is this http://www.extremtextil.de/catalog/G...-sqm::460.html I bought some of it a while ago for a ground sheet (not as a hammock) but I am fairly sure it could be used for a hammock but with limitations but I can’t promise anything. When sewing use polyester thread! A lot of us uses Gütermann Mare 70 but it can be hard to find in Europe for unknown reasons. There are other brands that work just as well.

For dedicated hammock fabric, the good stuff you have to look overseas (US).
I assume it’s this summer you are going so IMO you are pressed for time. Delivery of fabric will take 1-2 weeks depending on customs and then you have to make the gear and don’t forget to test it before you go.