Hi all,
I am newish to hammock camping and have a relatively basic question that has probably been answered before. I have slept in my friend's warbonnet hammock setup and liked it a lot, especially the shelf and the footbox. I suggested this setup to him because I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2011, and that's the hammock that got the most praise from the people I met. I also heard good things about Hennesy hammocks. (side note, Tom Hennesy is a super nice and helpful guy) I really like the warbonnet, and it's made me consider getting my own hammock setup. That being said, I do most of my camping in an EXTREMELY buggy place, and even a double bottom hammock couldn't keep the skeeters from biting my backside at times. Although an under quilt stops this, our summers can be pretty hot, and sleeping without an under quilt for the first half of the night is very nice. I like the ides of an integrated bug net, but a netting sock would be more bug resistant.
That leads me to my question: integrated bug nets vs. netting socks, what are the advantages and disadvantages? I am considering getting my own hammock setup, but I should clarify that it would be DIY if I did. (I didn't post this in the DIY section because I'm not asking how to make one, just which one would best suit my needs)
I would like my setup to be as light as possible, without sacrificing too much comfort. For context, I love light weight gear and the DIY materials nowadays are amazing, but I acknowledge that most of my camping will be done on canoe trips when weight is less important. In other words, I don't want to skimp too much on design, but I'll try to save weight in materials. I've thought about making my own warbonnet style hammock, but it wouldn't solve the skeeter problem without adding something like loose netting hanging underneath. That makes me think that a separate netting sock would alleviate that problem. However, the socks don't seem to be as popular, which makes me wonder why. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
As a secondary thought/question: the other issue I see with a netting sock is that they prevent one from having pullouts on the hammock which pulls it asymmetrically, keeps it from swinging too much, and is also the key to the nice shelf in the warbonnet hammocks. I feel like this problem could be fixed if the netting was designed specifically for the hammock, and the pull out cords were passed through small grommets. This would require one to pack the hammock and netting together, but that doesn't seem terrible. Has anyone done this?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
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