concept, bridge, new design?

[WV]

Grizz, that was the point to make it plenty WIDE so nothing rubs anything. Like a mattress, Maybe something you could get lucky in.

It seems I kicked a bees nest and I've given up. Much like the net tent Fiasco. Better to keep my ideas and experiments to myself.

Not a bit of it! Keep experimenting, and share what you can. That's what Grizz, Just Bill, TeeDee, Dutch, and others have done. We're all the better for it.

[Just Bill]

Grizz, that was the point to make it plenty WIDE so nothing rubs anything. Like a mattress, Maybe something you could get lucky in.

It seems I kicked a bees nest and I've given up. Much like the net tent Fiasco. Better to keep my ideas and experiments to myself.

It's a free country and your time an money.

Build the prototype you designed.

Advice and cheerleaders are easy to find and free if you just wanted someone to tell you to go for it:

Go for it


I've landed on my arse, gotten punched in the face, cut by a few broken spreaders, wasted good time and some serious money.
That's even after all the good council and in depth help generously shared here at Hammock Forums.
Big bridges can get fairly dangerous if you happen to get unlucky when trying to get lucky...Worth a few beestings to the ego to avoid something more serious.

Knowledge is hard won and expensive.
I'm grateful to the many here who have shared it... and try to do the same when possible.

[GrizzlyAdams]

It's a free country and your time an money.
Build the prototype you designed.

Especially because what works in one's head does not necessarily work in practice. This the the Voice of Experience speaking.

I spent untold amounts of time and way too much money trying to build the lightest bridge ever by making the body of cuben fiber. Worked great in my head. But...
Turns out in the end to be a whole lot easier to bestow that award on Just Bill!

And then there was my many-posted efforts to make a spreader-less bridge hammock by pulling the corners apart rather than push them apart. Defeated by geometry and static mechanics.

But learned a lot in both cases. Trying it, and seeing where my head model was off was valuable. And validation when the head model is right is even more fun.

So there's much to be gained by building a prototype.

[XJ35S]

Alright. I haven't even thought about what I'd use for spreaders yet. Might be easier to tie a army cot to the trees. LOL!
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[Just Bill]

Alright. I haven't even thought about what I'd use for spreaders yet. Might be easier to tie a army cot to the trees. LOL!
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Yar... I try not to reinvent the wheel. Or at least try to define a few goals when designing something new so I'm actually designing something I want when it's all said and done, lol. Other than the fun of it or reward of doing something fer yerself... for the most part it costs you more time and money to make something than it does to buy it. And rather than sitting in front of the sewing machine scratching your head... you can be out using your gear.

Maybe not quite as wide as you wanted, but at roughly 5'x7' this is flat, holds two comfortably and having had sex in one I can confirm it meets that original goal-
https://www.runoutcustoms.com/store/...ortaledge.html

But it's heavy as hell and if you don't hang it against a wall it spins all over the place. It might be slightly more expensive than designing a bridge from scratch but not by much.

Some of these hold at least two people if not more, so if you get exceedingly lucky these would certainly be fun-
https://www.tentsile.com/collections...SAAEgI5VPD_BwE

Course now you need three trees and a few more bucks... though you'll probably spend less than Grizz did on his cuben fiber bridge experiment.

The only real advantage to a bridge (in my opinion) is that you can actually backpack with it. Otherwise if weight, packability, etc... were no object... a tempurpedic mattress floating on a platform drifting in a hottub seems a nice way to sleep.

Technically my wife and I can both lay in my Big Guy bridge... but my belly makes that less than ideal. It's more party trick than actual good nights sleep. For me, and many of those who full time sleep in a hammock; that's the point. If I were sleeping easily I'd just go back to slapping a sleeping pad on the ground. Sleeping well and feeling good means there's plenty of energy and interest do do interesting things during our waking hours.

Technically I could get lucky in there but we're 40 and don't really care about gymnastic feats of adventure.
Besides, I sleep in a bridge because my back is messed up and it's unlikely my spreader bar is long enough to get lucky enough that I didn't throw my back out in the attempt.

More likely, practical, and useful... one can hang the bridge a bit higher and use it more like a swing... Which is a solid trick for many gathered ends too. So where there is a will, there is still a reasonable way.

If you wanted to look at your original design... you could sew up a 13' long gathered end out of HyperD300 or Robic 420 or some heavy pack fabric and just shove a 2x4 strongback in there to spread it. If you sanded the edges clean and wrapped them with 1/4" pack spacer webbing you'd likely be able to do it. You still wouldn't be able to climb in or out without assistance... but it would work once you got in there. An above ground swimming pool ladder would get you in and out.

Spreader bars are the weak link in the formula. If one is fine with a home or car camping model... I can draw you a pattern for a huge bridge in a few minutes. Really you could just scale up a basic Hiker Dad/Bic bridge or Grizz's Ariel as wide as you wished if you were willing to use a section of pipe or other heavy wall bar. Nail up a few 2x4's into an I-beam shape and use 2" webbing and you could likely make a 4 person bridge that you and three friends could have happy fun time in. If you could sew a nice inverted cat cut structural seam I could even tell you how to design the body so you had a few separate sleeping areas if you actually wanted to sleep.


That's actually the heart of the matter in the double bridge plan.
If one wants a smooth bedspace to hump and bump... it's pretty easy provided you size the spreader bar properly. (or you're 18, like to spoon, and more fascinated with sleeping with someone than sleeping)
If one however would like to sleep without collapsing into the center and bumping all night... that takes some doing.
But then that center bump makes your hump less desirable on at least one partners rump so now perhaps you see why a designer may become a grump.

At some point though... what do you have...

For me the answer is always-
If I wouldn't at least consider taking it backpacking then it's not really worth building.
If I'm excited to take it backpacking... it's really worth building.

It's the act of limiting the parameters of design that keeps the prototypes and building productive in my opinion.
Even with failures, as Grizz mentioned, so long as you are moving in the right direction you're learning.

I do build for several full time sleepers who rely on a bridge to sleep on a daily basis... so I am expanding my mind as a designer.
Sleep apnea, injuries, medical issues, and a host of other reasons have pushed me to keep working on that more.

If I recall correctly one of the old patents Grizz dug up was for a bridge hammock designed as a medical device. At the time I chucked at the silliness of it.
Not that I care to make any claims... but some of the heartfelt stories from testers and customers have led me to believe there may be some truth to the idea.
To quote one person 'therapeutic sleeping device' was the term used. Even had a few folks lose weight and buy a smaller bridge which was pretty awesome.

The point being... build stuff.
You never know what good can come of it. The best inventions are often the ones you didn't intend to build.