Wooki on GE Hammock

[Intimidator]

I also noticed my darien doesnt have big whipped ends like the Warbonnet products which the wookie uses for an attachment point. There are so many doo-dads out there that Im sure I could find something to attach the wookie to the darien with.

I could also see the difference in width possibly being an issue. It appears that the sides kinda just hang there unless pressure is being applied to it. With the wookie being 2 inches wider, I wonder if that would cause more of a gap and more likely to let cold air in? Or.... it might have the opposite effect...

Just use a mini carabiner... Will work flawlessy and there is no doodad needed


As far as width: This is semi-important but really the width doesnt matter as long as you lay on the insulation portion to make contact with it. The width is important because the most comfortable diagonal has different geometry depending on the width and length of your hammock.

At any rate, just adding a simple knotty mod would allow the quilt to "wrap" around you more if you need that.

[Red Wing]

Just use a mini carabiner... Will work flawlessy and there is no doodad needed


As far as width: This is semi-important but really the width doesnt matter as long as you lay on the insulation portion to make contact with it. The width is important because the most comfortable diagonal has different geometry depending on the width and length of your hammock.

At any rate, just adding a simple knotty mod would allow the quilt to "wrap" around you more if you need that.

Agreed, I only need to add 2 prusik lines, head and foot and get the lengths and positions right to be able to vent when hot and sit where I went when I need it.

WB hammocks really have a large torso pocket. Really lift the leg end. My chameleon requires I add about a 10 inch line to the head and a two in to the bottom and that nailed it for me. Given the real estate of the CL, those numbers can fluctuate a bit. Just clip in and done.

[oldgringo]

I'm curious about the rubberband. There's almost no stretch available, and it seems unnecessarily bulky and complicated. What function does it serve that a cl of shockcord wouldn't? Hard to believe B went to this on a whim.

[Red Wing]

I'm curious about the rubberband. There's almost no stretch available, and it seems unnecessarily bulky and complicated. What function does it serve that a cl of shockcord wouldn't? Hard to believe B went to this on a whim.

Interesting. I definitely dont find the rubberband "bulky".

The point is you want the suspension to really pull the quilt against you. That's why other UQ makers added loops to the sides of their quilts, for adding shock cord to put over your ridgeline in case you're not getting a good seal.

The rubberband is much smaller than the shock cord suspension and performs night and day better as well. IMO. It's also essentially EPDM which is what commercial roofs are made of. So its UV, weather resistant with exponentially more rebound than the shock cord.

[warbonnetguy]

I'm curious about the rubberband. There's almost no stretch available, and it seems unnecessarily bulky and complicated. What function does it serve that a cl of shockcord wouldn't? Hard to believe B went to this on a whim.

A CL of shockcord is going to create alot less force than a thick EPDM rubberband, It will not create enough force unless it is bottomed out and if you're going to bottom out the shockcord why use shockcord at all. More force is important in this situation because it takes a reasonable amount of force to make the Wooki conform to the different contours of your body, if you just tensioned it somewhat loosely instead, you're going to have air pockets all over the place, like right under your knees, between your elbow and hip when they are beside eachother etc. The hammock body itself conforms perfectly to your body because the fabric is under quite alot of tenison, The Wooki works so well as an underquilt because it simply mimics that fit in regard to both the shape/design of the Wooki, and in the higher than normal tension that make it conform to more of your minor contours better.

You don't want much stretch at all, you want tension. My thinking was that you "Need" a little stretch I think in case you have say a heavy person in a lighter hammock, the hammock fabric stretches more than for other people, if the quilt were hooked on static in that situation the quilt could possibly see too much tension (some of our quilt fabric is 10d, some is stretchier nylon, some is less stretchy polyester) would the fabric just stretch or could you risk damaging the quilt? There's also an issue of tolerance and accuracy, hammock and quilt both have end hems, if I made it a static connection and somebody gets a hammock where the end hems are a tiny bit smaller than spec (thereby making the hammock a tiny bit longer) and they happen to get a Wooki where the end hem got made a tiny bit bigger than spec (making the Wooki a tiny bit shorter) would that slight difference in opposite directions be enough to rip the 10d nylon or the 20d polyester or would it just stretch and be fine? I erred on the side of playing it safe and built in a tiny bit of shock absorption, just a tiny bit of travel but with enough force to get good results. The bands are a pain to install and they have to be doubled over to get the tension we want...maybe at some point I'll play with a static version and see if I can get both a good fit for a lighter person in a heavy double and for a heavier person in a single layer, if that is the case then maybe the bands could be done away with, depends on how much margin of error there is.

[oldgringo]

Makes sense...thanks for your reply.

[Rouskof]

I hadn't thought of the many possible parameters induced by the hammocker's weight per fabric's stretch ratio.
In my case, I experienced this problem of the loose ends of the wooki (shoulder and feet), and solved it by redoing the rubber band attachment (it is a pain, I confirm...), so that it is doubled and the tension is therefore increased ; and by attaching the wooki higher up on the suspension, so that it is more tensioned, again. In fact, I was a little frustrated because imo, my Wooki is too big for any hammock I own, and particularly, ironically, for the Warbonnet hammocks it is supposed to fit to like a glove. Since my combo is an XL one, I even thought of ordering a Regular wooki to go with my XL Traveler and XL BBXLC hammock models...
After several trips where I was always having to improvise ways of attaching it higsher on the field to make it snug, I resolved to shorten the Wooki, by making a figure 8 knot right below the rubber band. I cautiously inserted a folded continuous loop in the knot, so that I could untie it, should the need arise. Now I just came back from a 3 days trip with that set up and am really satisfied: I can now attach the wooki directly on the hammock's ends, possibly extending the head end wooki connecting strap with a little piece of guyline - much easier to do than attaching the wooki higher up!
Despite all these frustrating trials and errors, it is still my favorite underquilt. I find regular underquilts have air pockets all over the place, particularly under the calves, and do not insulate as well as the wooki, by far. Not to mention the wooki is the stealthiest underquilt you can think of: no disturbing shock cords that come in the way, no contorsions to have something rectangular attached at each end take a diagonal position....
Now I am happy with my knot system although some might find it absurd. Redoing the hem would be more logical indeed, it is just that I was concerned I would mess up something, and just wanted a reversible system for now.
Giving this underquilt more tension really solves all the problems you might have with it, from my experience.

I am worried though I will loose the extra rubber band Brandon sends with it (and actually I noticed some wear on one of them,- am a little anguished at the moment when it will break on the field and I won't have any replacement one with me...). I have no idea where I could buy the same high quality rubber bands, - good to know they are called "EPDM", I see they exist on the Internet.

[hutzelbein]

I am worried though I will loose the extra rubber band Brandon sends with it (and actually I noticed some wear on one of them,- am a little anguished at the moment when it will break on the field and I won't have any replacement one with me...). I have no idea where I could buy the same high quality rubber bands, - good to know they are called "EPDM", I see they exist on the Internet.

I have had good success with a 3mm shock cord with extra strong pull. However, Warbonnet has been selling replacement rubber bands for a while now: Wooki Band (single). If you don't want to order in the US, I have them in stock also.

[Red Wing]

I have had good success with a 3mm shock cord with extra strong pull. However, Warbonnet has been selling replacement rubber bands for a while now: Wooki Band (single). If you don't want to order in the US, I have them in stock also.

You can also use cut up bicycle inner tire in a pinch too.

[hutzelbein]

You can also use cut up bicycle inner tire in a pinch too.

Will that break before the Wooki does if you happen to accidentally sit in your underquilt?