One of our European colleagues requested some info about my hammock chair/lounger, so I am posting it here for others to see if they wish.
What it is:
A 90 degree hammock chair with built in leg support. It’s like being able to take a La-Z-Boy recliner out in the woods, with patented rocking motion! (Sorry about the pictures, I'm not a very good model!)
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Is it comfy?:
YES! I find it very comfortable, and I have to admit that I am a “princess and the pea” type person. My body wants everything “just so” to be comfortable. My wife loves this thing. Our typical weekly routine is to hike 3-6 miles, put up the hammock chairs, have lunch, and take a nap. My wife practically throws a temper tantrum if I suggest a hike that doesn’t involve lunch in the chairs. We took a couple of friends who aren’t big hikers on a hike and set them up in hammock loungers, telling them we would probably hang out for a couple of hours. One friend confessed later that his internal reaction to this was “What the heck are we going to do for a couple of hours?” When they got in the chairs, they were amazed at how comfortable they were, and I ended up having to wake them so we could hike home.
One of the happy accidents of this design is that it turns out to be a great rocking chair. It will rock for a strangely long time, sometimes long enough for me to fall asleep. And, of course, the rocking motion is forward and back instead of side to side in a standard hammock.
Note that in actual use we almost always use under quilts to prevent cold butt syndrome, but I wanted people to be able to see the actual body position when sitting in the chair, which is hard to see with the under quilt on:
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Finished weight:
13.5 ounces, with no attempt to make it really light. (Not including tree straps.) It could be considerably lighter, depending on materials used.
How hard to make:
I would say definitely harder than a standard gathered-end hammock, but easier than a bridge hammock. How hard it is mostly depends on your skill at hemming curves.
If you do the chair without the lounger leg support section it will be quicker and easier to make, but much less comfortable IMO. And you won’t get the effortless rocking experience.
Making it:
There are 2 different parts to the hammock lounger:
1. The main section that you sit in, which takes most of your weight and which is like a (very) shaped gathered-end hammock.
2. The leg/foot section, which uses “wings” for support and to position your feet and legs relative to the GE section.
Here is the finished sewn hammock laid out flat:
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It is a little hard to see the actual shape in the picture. A simplified diagram of the gathered end section (the orange part of the hammock) looks like this:
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The template for the sides that I actually use looks like this:
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Now, you don’t need to do all the little curves. They create my ideal comfort position, and give some lumbar support. But you don’t have to have them, and many people won’t really miss them; plus, they make the hemming more challenging.
Also, note that this pattern is proportioned for my body. I am about 5 feet and 9.5 inches tall (176.5 cm), with a very average build.
Some people won't want to do the big curve at the head area. I do it because I use an inflatable pillow, and the curve lets me put me head back if I let air out of the pillow, which lets me be more reclined for napping. If you just want to use it as a chair and don't want to use a pillow, do something more like the simplified diagram.
The trick to the GE section is cutting the ends in a pattern and hemming that pattern. To make it easier to follow the curves when hemming, I just fold the fabric over once instead of twice like you would for a standard hem. The result isn’t as finished looking as a normal hem, but once the end is whipped no one will see it anyway.
I use 1.9 oz ripstop nylon for the GE section. If you are not heavy, you might be able to get away with lighter fabric, but there is pressure because of the different widths of the fabric, so I personally wouldn't use ultralight fabric.
Tie the ends of this section the way you would a normal GE hammock. For example: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php/15205-Instruction-Gathered-End-Hammock
The ridgeline I am using is about 45 inches (114 cm). Changing the length of the ridgeline will change how the hammock feels, as well as changing how much view you have and how much shoulder squeeze you feel (although I have not found shoulder squeeze to be a real issue).
Since the ridgeline is less than 4 feet, it can fit between trees that are much closer together than a standard hammock.
The ridgeline is very important; unlike with a regular GE hammock, you really need the ridgeline unless your trees are VERY close together. There is a lot of tension on the ridgeline, so I use pretty thick Amsteel for it.
Here is the leg/foot section laid out flat:
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The red numbers are the lengths of the sides of the triangular "wings".
The trick to the foot/leg section is the “wings”. The wings support your legs’ weight and create an adjustable cradle to position your legs comfortably. The fabric you use for the wings is important, because the wings don't work right if the fabric stretches. Most fabric will stretch on the bias (diagonally), so the only fabric I have found to work well is either Cordura with a coating or Tyvek. Tyvek is considerably lighter than most Cordura, and has proven to be quite durable.
I use 2 different kinds of fabric for the leg section. In the picture, the green material is 1.9 oz ripstop. The blue material is lightweight Cordura. I use the Cordura because that is where my feet will be, and I wear my shoes in the hammock chair, so I want more durable fabric there. The green ripstop nylon is softer, so it feels better on my legs if I am wearing shorts.
The dimensions of the 2 leg/foot sections are:
Top square (green in the picture):
20 inches deep by 22 inches wide
Foot square (blue in the picture):
18 inches deep by 22 inches wide
To attach the wings to the end of the GE section I use either whoopee slings or 1/4" buckles with 1/4" webbing. The webbing/buckles allow you to make adjustments while you are sitting in the hammock; it is much harder to do that with whoopee slings, although the whoopee slings are a little lighter. I connect the webbing or whoopee slings to the GE attachment points using a soft shackle, but you can attach it any number of ways.
I think if you are a motivated, experienced hammock maker you could make one of these from these instructions. If I got many requests I might be convinced to make an actual how-to for this, but I don't expect that.
Good luck, Michael! (aka short_handed_norse)
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