I finally saved enough pennies and made the order to get the fabric and supplies to make my own complete DIY hammock setup.
I started with a simple gathered end 11' hammock made from 1.7 Robic XL in charcoal grey. It has an adjustable 7/64 amsteel structural ridgeline and small continuous loops on both ends. 12' x 1" tree straps using Beckett hitch complete the suspension. The very difficult to see ridgeline organizer is a 1-1/4" gauge net woven from 40# dacron ice fishing line and has a pink mason line top edge (the original black edge proved just too hard to see.) It is attached to the ridgeline via prusik loops so it can be moved anywhere along the ridge.
I just love this wide Robic fabric. My 300# ample frame feels secure in it, with no sign of stress whatsoever. It's going to take me a while to learn to lay diagonal enough utilize the full potential of it, but initial impressions are absolutely superb.
Next is the tarp. I will be using it for more than just hammocks so I needed to keep it rectangular. The main body is 11'x10' 1.9 oz. PU ripstop nylon in A-TACS AU color. It has 1/2" milspec grosgrain tie outs, one on each end of the ridge and five along the lower edge for flexibility in pitching. The ridge is attached to the suspension webbing via prusik loops and the tie outs are mason twine whoopie slings with shock cord tensioners. My only gripe is that the A-TACS pattern repeats too quickly. As you can see, the pattern repeats 5 times and starts a 6th in the 11'. I like the color (most of the places I pitch are not this green), I love the pattern, I just wish it didn't repeat.
Standard mode
Storm mode (I need to pitch the sides steeper so that the doors will close better and I may add another set of tie outs in the middle of the doors)
and Porch mode (costco down quilt will be replaced soon with apex tq/uq)
I'm very pleased with how it pitches even without cat cuts. I worried about being able to get the tarp tight without cat cuts, but now I think that if you don't really need that drum tight pitch, you'll be fine without them. This is this tarps first pitch and I'm sure that I'll be figuring out its idiosyncrasies soon.
A special thanks to everyone at ripstopbytheroll.com. Your website was informative enough that I was able to order without any assistance and I've been more than pleased with everything that I have received. I didn't order kits, because I tend to shun hardware, but your instructions and list of items included in the kits was very helpful. Also, a big thanks to the many members of this forum who have given me the ideas of what I wanted to build and the confidence to tackle this on my own.
Coming Soon ... bugnet, topquilt, and underquilt. Stay tuned.
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