Hammock camping with 2 kids

**copperhead** · 10-01-2010, 14:44

Has anyone camped with three hammocks together. Adult and two kids. Im thinking if I should buy two more hammocks or a larger tent. Post pics of your setups if you have any. Also, what would be a sufficient size tarp?

Thanks,
Max

**beep** · 10-01-2010, 14:50

Originally Posted by copperhead

Has anyone camped with three hammocks together. Adult and two kids. Im thinking if I should buy two more hammocks or a larger tent. Post pics of your setups if you have any. Also, what would be a sufficient size tarp?

Thanks,
Max

IMO everyone will sleep better in hammocks...and, of course, it partly depends on the ages and inclinations of the kids!

**Buffalo Skipper** · 10-01-2010, 14:53

Welcome copperhead. I have no experience hanging with kids (yet--I have kids, they just don't yet hammock) but it is good to see more locals on the forum.

**pgibson** · 10-01-2010, 15:05

It depends on the kids a lot. Last year when I started hanging my oldest son had to have his own hammock, own tarp and his own spot. He hangs where he wants to, with me close of coarse but he wants his space. He would much rather be in his set up than share space in the tent like we used to. Plowhorse has some pictures in his gallery section of him with 2 of his boys hanging bunked above his hammock stacked 3 deep.

**Muskrat** · 10-01-2010, 15:30

I have recently taken my oldest daughter on her first backpacking trip. Upon her request, we hung bunk bed style and it worked out well. My youngest daughter is eagerly waiting her turn to hit the trail. Both girls have their own hammocks (Hennessey Expeds)and have camped with me in the backyard. They both would do very well in the bunk bed setup with me and/or momma nearby.

**Stavros** · 10-01-2010, 15:34

Yep, it´s nice and it´s working to hammock with 2 kids at the same time. We slept out this summer all of us but I needed a really big tarp to cover us. I bought a cheap one from the gas-station that was about 19ftx15ft. A little overkill but my 10ftx10ft wasn´t big enough.

I made the setup with all hammock-headends at the same tree and the footends at each tree (about 5ft apart).

Picture:

**donmacn** · 10-01-2010, 15:43

hi there,

This is also something I'm very interested in. I have two kids (9 & 12) and as yet haven't done any hanging with them, but keen to try soon.

My concerns are that over here (scotland) where we seem to have a 'poorer selection' of trees - or maybe fewer 'consistently good opportunities to hang' might be a better way of putting it - I might struggle to find a suitable spot. From info. gleaned from months of 'lurking' here a 'three tree' spot seems ideal, to allow a feet together/heads apart setup, but I worry that finding that could be a challenge.

Then, in our typically blustery, damp conditions what style/size of tarp would give the best hope of a reasonably dry night?There's a saying over here that if it's not raining, just wait 5 minutes... So I've tended to go for pretty large and square tarps so far to maximise coverage.

So - I'll be following this one to see what comes along!

Cheers

D

**heathenchef** · 10-01-2010, 16:02

I've got two kids as well and I started taking them out with me hammock camping this summer. They took to it like naturals. The setups varied. Sometimes I paired the kids up under a tarp and sometimes we all hung solo but close together. When its just me and one of them we always hang close together under one tarp. Best times we've ever had camping. I love backpacking with them.

**copperhead** · 10-01-2010, 16:41

My boys are still a little young. One is seven the other is five. We are going canoe camping in two weeks, this will be the five year olds first trip. I will probably bring my hammock and let one of them try it this trip and see how he does and sleep in the tent with the other one. I will let you all know how it goes.

max