No such thing as a "simple" hammock

[ecologito]

Howdy,

I am new to this forum, I stumble upon it when I was trying to learn just a bit more since I got two ENO traveler hammocks and bought some webbing online.

After a few hours reading the forum I have learned more than I would even thought there was to hammocks.

I have a bit of experience with ropes courses, sailing basics, and have done a some camping as well.

While reading about attaching the hammock, suspension systems and what not I have gotten overwhelmed with the information overload.

Could somebody help me to find a starting point to this forum?

It was my hope to find a video/thread on hammocking 101 but so far there is a too much (really great) information on the forum.

Thanks and I will check back after taking a nap on my hammock.

Cheers.

[hipbone]

Start.here and watch the whole series:

https://youtu.be/d7NZVqpBUV0

[cvaty]

Good starting points are

https://m.youtube.com/user/shugemery?

And theultimatehang.com

[dkurfiss]

Welcome to Hammock Forums. Below is kind of my standard advice for folks new to hammocks

My best advise for you is:

1) Read all the sticky posts at the top of each section here at Hammock Forums. You will find all of your questions answered plus questions you have not thought of yet.

2) Go to You Tube and watch all of Shug's videos. He will also answer all your questions but make you laugh. Leave lots of times to watch these

3) Google The Ultimate Hang and read Derek's The Ultimate Hang pages. He does a great of explaining things you did not even know you needed to know. He also does great diagrams so it's easy to understand.

4) Attend a Hammock Forum group hang before you invest any addition $ in your gear. There folks will show you and let you check out their gear so you can make educated decisions based on your own comfort levels

[ecologito]

Thank you,

I found Derek's page/blog before I found this forum and it was pretty helpful especially with all the drawing/visuals. So far I have learned a lot and a few takeaways:

1.- The 2 inch x 10 ft nylon webbing I bought are way overkill. Not a problem for the backyard but hey and bulky for camping.

2.- I need to buy cord for a ridgeline and decide if I want to buy a bugnet or make it myself.

As much as I have learned I will also share my findings and contribute to the forum with the little things I learn along the way.

Thank you for the pointers.

[ecologito]

image.jpg

And here is my first setup with my helper.

Come to find out that with the straps that I have and only two knots setup goes up quickly.

Two half hitch to secure the strap to the tree and a marlin-spike toggle to secure the hook that came with my hammock and we are all set. I do like the idea of not having to worry about additional rope,slings, or hardware for this setup. Until I need it for something else I may stick with this setup.

Now I need to buy some string for my ridge line and figure out the bugnet stuff.

It seems like I am going down the rabbit hole pretty quickly.

[DuctTape]

Sometimes us afficianados make the simple seem complex. In general, hammocks are very simple. Just a piece of fabric suspended between two trees. No more conplex than that. Of course we all like to add different doodads to customize, knicknacks for adjustability, and thingamajigs to enhance the experience. Very little is really necessary though. A bed sheet and rope will suffice, and has for hundreds of years before hf.com. Happy hanging.

[ecologito]

After spending sometime on my backyard playing with my current "rookie" setting I found a more simple suspension setting:

With 10 ft webbing straps I tied a bowline on a bite on one end, wrapped around the tree and a marlin-spike toggle to secure the hammock, That made adjusting the sag really fast and super easy.