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  1. #1
    New Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Kirkland, WA
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    6

    My Aerial bridge, bugnet, and tarp

    Just wrapped up my first backpacking trip with my DIY Aerial, bugnet, and tarp.
    20201003_074024.jpg
    Tarp is a the hex 12 kit from Ripstop by the Roll and (Membrane silpoly). It is 12x 10 and just over a pound with all the cordage. I got sucked in by an unbeatable price for 2nds quality (=1 inch along one edge of 8 yds was a little funny) price. It is really light but I wonder how it will hold up. It was my first tarp and I found the fabric was pretty nice to sew.
    20200928_132936.jpg
    Hammock is is pretty much straight out of Grizz's videos but I made the spreader bars 1 inch longer and I made the amsteel end triangles a bit longer per recommendations from JustBill in another thread. Fabric is Hexon 1.6 from Dutch. Learned my cheap sewing machine is lousy at buttonholes but made it work and after a couple of nights sleeping in it everything looks good. I have a couple gathered end and an REI air bridge but this is by far the most comfortable hammock I have. I use a z-lite pad for insulation.
    20201003_093531.jpg
    20201003_071758.jpg
    Bugnet took some cues from Grizz's Trickin out the Aerial video but I made it full length. sewing all the little magnet pockets and figuring out a way to secure it around the spreader bars (and cover the tips to protect the tarp) took longer than the hammock and tarp combined. It works pretty well but I might stick with a simpler version next time.

    All in all, I am super happy with how it turned out. Besides Grizz and JustBill, I gleaned tons of great info from many here. Thanks to all.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Las Vegas, New Mexico
    Hammock
    DIY dl bridge
    Tarp
    Diy silpoly
    Insulation
    DIY UQ, TQ
    Suspension
    Outdoor ink straps
    Posts
    356
    Looks great
    Sure is fun, isn’t it

  3. #3
    Senior Member WV's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    southeast WV
    Hammock
    DIY
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    Great job! Looks like you have a couple of nice places to hang it, too. What bugnet fabric did you use? I've been frustrated with the .67 ounce stuff with a half length Grizz-like bugnet. I think I'll go back to the slightly heavier mesh that drapes better. Your full length bugbet sure looks user-friendly (plenty of room). I agree that there are opportunities for improving bridge hammock bug nets, so keep experimenting.

  4. #4
    ObdewlaX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Deep In The Heart of...
    Hammock
    SLD Trail Lair, Chameleon
    Tarp
    HG, Zpacks, DIY
    Insulation
    Loco Libre, HG
    Suspension
    MyersTech
    Posts
    1,051
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    148
    Nice work... pretty campsite too.

  5. #5
    New Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Kirkland, WA
    Posts
    6
    Thanks for the kind words and yes, Washington's mountains are full of nice places to hang.

    WV, I used 0.5 oz noseeum. It is really wispy and I don't think it would drape well and any breeze would probably lift it right off. I would be curious to see others' bugnet solutions. On the foot end I just sewed in a strip of grosgrain and burned a hole for the pole tip and then the outer flap of the bugnet covers the tip and protects my tarp. At the head end I needed to be able to uncover the spreader bar to get a big enough opening to get in and out. I made a grosgrain strap to wrap underneath the spreader that secures with a little magnet but it is really fiddly and also not super secure although it has not exposed the pole tip or left a gap for me yet. I have some noseeum left over and am debating a zipper opening next time although I like the fully removable option with the magnets.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Valpo, IN
    Hammock
    Towns-End Luxury Bridge
    Posts
    1,746
    Congrats!!!!!

  7. #7
    New Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Kirkland, WA
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    6
    Thanks, Just Bill. As I mentioned above, I gleaned a lot from various posts you have made regarding recessed bar bridges and it gave me the confidence to give this one a shot.

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Valpo, IN
    Hammock
    Towns-End Luxury Bridge
    Posts
    1,746
    Quote Originally Posted by rainy rider View Post
    Thanks, Just Bill. As I mentioned above, I gleaned a lot from various posts you have made regarding recessed bar bridges and it gave me the confidence to give this one a shot.
    Yar, and I learned from WV and Grizz so thanks to them... and their thanks to TeeDee and the Jacks. And perhaps you'll do fer the next to come along.

    Passing it along as it was passed along a'fore me- best part of this community hands down.

  9. #9
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    1
    Nice!

    I need some help, how do you know how to cut the endcaps???. Looked at "Engineering of the Grizz Bridge Ariel" and in the end he talks about it. Iīve got the pattern on a a4 paper, but donīt know how to get right arc. The larger arc is no problem since itīs the same radius all thrue but the ends arenīt.

    Hope you understand, iīm not native in english

  10. #10
    New Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Kirkland, WA
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    6
    The endcaps were a little tricky. I hung my hammock and threw some pillows in just to get a little tension in the fabric. I then measured the width of the top of each end and a rough depth. I then put those dimensions in a cat-curve spreadsheet, drew it out on some cardboard and then compared my cardboard template to the ends of the hammock. I made the seam allowance a bit generous to give myself some ability to adjust as I went along. The bias tape can hide some of that adjustment. In the end, one of my endcaps came just short of the top of the sidewall (about 1/8 inch on one corner) and they have some wrinkles suggesting I did make them a bit wider than they had to be although you don't want them tight as a drum. Neither of these "issues" affect the function in any way and do not bother my eye (the 1/8" drop hides under my bugnet anyways). If those kind of things catch your eyes I would suggest taking more time than I did with paper or cardboard templates and maybe lay in the hammock (rather than using the pillows) while someone else does the measuring and template fitting so you can really dial it in. If I were to do it again I would make the template, sew the top hem, pin everything together (starting from bottom center) and then lay in it and adjust the pins and lay in it again till I was happy. I would then add lots of extra pins and then sew everything together. I did not use enough pins and I think that is where fabric creep while I was sewing made the one corner come up just short of the top.

    Endcaps don't bear any real load so it really comes down to how much time and energy you want to put into getting them to look as good as your inner quality control vibe requires. Good luck!

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