Cost-Conscious Setup

[Speedogomer]

I'd also forgo the ENO.

My dutchware is surprisingly light, although I don't have the specific weight handy. It's also almost half the price of the ENO.

Take that savings and add to your sleeping pad budget. Now you can get an AHE Jarbidge under quilt for $100, most agree an under quilt is significantly more comfortable than a pad.

I'm not really seeing an advantage of using the bivy? I'd just get a tarp. A good, cheap option is the Yukon Rainfly. It's $30 on amazon, or check woot.com often for sales, $18 if you order from there.

Still though, it's whatever works for you. Everyone is dofferent, I agree with meeting up with some fellow hammock users and try out before buying. I wish I could have, would have saved me quite a bit of trial and error.

[Boston]

Definitely shop around. most of your stuff is "main steam, commercially available". Generally speaking this gear is NOT what the community recommends, as it's either made by people who don't understand the activity, or made to be produced cheaply, and sold at a price point - again, not what you really want, and often not even the most economical solution.

The cottage vendors here are basically selling direct from the manufacturer. Often their "profit" is mostly what they charge for their labor. Equivalent mass produced items are usually more expensive, because they have all the middle men.


Hammock: The ENO sub7 is tiny. Tiny is generally considered uncomfortable. consider at least a 10ft long hammock, and really unless you're very short I suggest an 11ft hammock.

Suspension: The dutchware is a good choice. you may consider a strap/whoopie combo to save a little weight and bulk. But the cinch buckle is definitely the easiest to use.

Insulation: The pad is good to start (and you already have it). You'll probably eventually want an UQ. I don't see any top insulation, but you can use the sleeping bag you already have for now.

Weather Protection: I would ditch the bivy idea and get a real tarp. You can go cheap for a weight penalty, like the Kelty Noah, if the cost of silnylon/silpoly is intimidating.

Bug Protection: I'm a fan of hammock with integrated nets (and a spray of permethrin). The problem with a head net, or even a half net is SOMETHING has to cover the rest of your body. And often that something might keep you too warm when it is bug season.

[Floridahanger]

And if you haven't yet done so yet, immerse yourself and jump into the rabbit hole with Shugemery.

Shug's channel has a great series for Hammock Noobs. This is the same series as listed on this Forum front page. The Shug link on the right.

[SilvrSurfr]

Welcome from the Jersey Shore. Your hammock is absolutely miniscule; hopefully you are too (5'7" or less). That's not what I'd choose for my first hammock; it will be hard to get a good diagonal since it's only 3 ft. 11" (47 inches) wide. Most GE hammocks are at least 58 inches wide.

In all likelihood you are going to have condensation problems using the bivy for sleeping, especially with the aluminum coating on the inside. The temperature differentials due to convective air currents underneath will just about guarantee you're going to have condensation. And getting into it will be hilarious - I have a friend who is addicted to his bivy. There is nothing funnier than watching him try to get inside a sleeping bag, inside a bivy, inside a hammock! It takes him about 5 to 10 minutes to get situated.

It will be a real challenge trying to use a bivy as a tarp. Your hammock will be 105 inches, but most of us use a general rule that the hammock should hang (sag) at 83% of the length, which would be 87 inches for the Sub 7. That happens to be the length of your bivy/tarp, so you'll have no overlap protection on the ends. The bivy also uses grommets, which are pretty much guaranteed to fail if you tie your bivy/tarp out with them.

Finally, a head bugnet implies that you either have no problems with mosquitoes, or you are going to always have your sleeping bag covering every body part other than your head. That's difficult, if not impossible, for most people.

I'd probably go a different direction. Skip the bivy entirely, get a real hammock, real bugnet and real tarp.

Cinch buckle suspension $35
Dutch Argon 1.6 hammock $38.00 11.46 ounces
Dutch Fronkey bugnet $57 7 ounces
HH Hex tarp $70 27 ounces

Total $200 3.78 lbs. (45.5 ounces)

[ocnlogan]

I'm in agreement with everyone else. That is a small hammock. My first DIY hammock was ~9ft long and ~56in (4ft 8in) wide. I'm about 6ft tall, and I found that felt small/uncomfortable to me. Since then, I've made two other hammocks, and they've both been made of 12ft lengths, with finished length between the knots being about 11ft 8in or so. They are both much more comfortable.

For the price of a DIY hammock, you could get that Dutch hammock (or very close to it). So that seems like a pretty good buy.

The upside, is that currently you're planning on two bivys as your tarp (and presumably one to sleep in), for a total of $80, which gives you a bit of leeway on the tarp. Ripstopbytheroll sells tarp kits out of their new membrane silpoly (.93oz a sq yard) starting around $60, if you're willing to try your hand at a DIY tarp. I just ordered some of that fabric for a 9x9 tarp (which is smaller than the kit), and all of the materials needed cost me $46, and my math says it should weigh somewhere around 9-10oz. So that really is a good option for low weight and low price at the moment.

Store bought stuff can be had for what appears to be just a bit more (~$100 for the silnylon/silpoly stuff). The Kelty Noah tarps are good and pretty cheap, but comparatively larger and heavier. So you just have to decide what is more important to you.

Anyway, good luck finding something that works for you .

[LBSurfer]

And if you haven't yet done so yet, immerse yourself and jump into the rabbit hole with Shugemery.

Shug's channel has a great series for Hammock Noobs. This is the same series as listed on this Forum front page. The Shug link on the right.

If my boss knew how many Shugemery videos I was watching on company time, he'd not be happy

[LBSurfer]

Welcome from the Jersey Shore. Your hammock is absolutely miniscule; hopefully you are too (5'7" or less). That's not what I'd choose for my first hammock; it will be hard to get a good diagonal since it's only 3 ft. 11" (47 inches) wide. Most GE hammocks are at least 58 inches wide.

In all likelihood you are going to have condensation problems using the bivy for sleeping, especially with the aluminum coating on the inside. The temperature differentials due to convective air currents underneath will just about guarantee you're going to have condensation. And getting into it will be hilarious - I have a friend who is addicted to his bivy. There is nothing funnier than watching him try to get inside a sleeping bag, inside a bivy, inside a hammock! It takes him about 5 to 10 minutes to get situated.

It will be a real challenge trying to use a bivy as a tarp. Your hammock will be 105 inches, but most of us use a general rule that the hammock should hang (sag) at 83% of the length, which would be 87 inches for the Sub 7. That happens to be the length of your bivy/tarp, so you'll have no overlap protection on the ends. The bivy also uses grommets, which are pretty much guaranteed to fail if you tie your bivy/tarp out with them.

Finally, a head bugnet implies that you either have no problems with mosquitoes, or you are going to always have your sleeping bag covering every body part other than your head. That's difficult, if not impossible, for most people.

I'd probably go a different direction. Skip the bivy entirely, get a real hammock, real bugnet and real tarp.

Cinch buckle suspension $35
Dutch Argon 1.6 hammock $38.00 11.46 ounces
Dutch Fronkey bugnet $57 7 ounces
HH Hex tarp $70 27 ounces

Total $200 3.78 lbs. (45.5 ounces)

Thanks for the great info SilvrSurfr. Looks like I can have it all for less $$$ and better setup. Glad I asked.

By the way, I'm about 6'2" and 250lbs in my birthday suit. The sub7 appealed to me because of its weight and rated strength (300lbs). Glad to know it's too short for me.

[Chrisja77]

Dutch has different fabrics for different weights and can be ordered as a double layer hammock so your sleeping pad can go between the layers and it can support more weight also.

I'm 270 and just ordered a double layer from AHE and he did my hammock as a double layer out of 1.9 oz material if I remember right and said it would be good up to 350. Speaking of which, AHE is a great place to look around since they have a starter setup for the beginner. You can get the hammock and quilts all in one place for a price that can't be beat!

[Reubster24]

Thanks for the great info SilvrSurfr. Looks like I can have it all for less $$$ and better setup. Glad I asked.

By the way, I'm about 6'2" and 250lbs in my birthday suit. The sub7 appealed to me because of its weight and rated strength (300lbs). Glad to know it's too short for me.

You won't be disappointed with this setup.

[LBSurfer]

Being the overly analytical engineer I am, I did a little research. Here's what I cam up with:

Option 1 - Arrowhead Equipment New Hanger

Item	Description	Weight	Cost
Hammock	11' Double Layer Hammock	17oz	$240*
Suspension	Whoopie Sling	4.8oz	$0 (inc.)
Under Quilt / Insulation	3S Partial Length Jarbridge	20oz	$0 (inc.)
Bug Net	Removeable HUG	5oz	$0 (inc.)
Top Quilt or Equiv	Current Sleeping Bag	46oz	$0 (already own)
Tarp	HH Hex Tarp	27oz	$80
	Totals	119.8oz (7lbs 7.8oz)	$320

* Cost of entire kit

Option 2 - Arrowhead Equipment Apprentice

Item	Description	Weight	Cost
Hammock	11' Double Layer Hammock	17oz	$410**
Suspension	Whoopie Sling	4.8oz	$0 (inc.)
Under Quilt / Insulation	3S Partial Length Jarbridge	20oz	$0 (inc.)
Bug Net	Removeable HUG	5oz	$0 (inc.)
Top Quilt or Equiv	Owyhee Top Quilt	31oz	$0 (already own)
Tarp	HH Hex Tarp	27oz	$80
	Totals	104.8oz (6lbs 8.8oz)	$490

** Cost of entire kit

Option 3 - Custom Setup w/Dutchware and HH Gear

Item	Description	Weight	Cost
Hammock	DW 11' Argon 1.6 Hammock	11.5oz	$38
Suspension	Whoopie Sling w/5' Huggers	4.1oz	$39
Under Quilt / Insulation	Therma-Lite Pad	29oz	$0 (already own)
Bug Net	DW Fronkey	7oz	$57
Top Quilt or Equiv	Current Sleeping Bag	46oz	$0 (already own)
Tarp	HH Hex Tarp	27oz	$80
	Totals	124.6oz (7lbs 12.6oz)	$214

My current ground sleeping setup (tent, sleeping bag and pad) runs about 138oz (8lbs 10oz). That means, I'd save the following weight from each set-up:

• Option 1 - 1lbs 2.2oz
• Option 2 - 2lbs 1.2oz
• Option 3 - 0lbs 13.4oz

Option 2 is pretty cost-prohibitive for just getting into something I'm not 100% sure about. Option 1 and Option 3 save roughly the same amount of weight (Option 1 only saves 4.8oz - 0.25lbs - more). All that being said, it looks like Option 3 might be the best alternative for me.

And, I still haven't done a tone of research on tarps - both from a cost and weight perspective.

All this being said - I haven't hung in any of these hammocks yet, so it's probably best to try some out before I drop any money...

Too analytical for y'all?