Over in the general hammock discussions, I enlisted the help of some experience in trying to lighten my hammock experience and I got a lot of good input. Some of it completely different than I expected (such as looking at the entire system and making the changes there instead of the hammock).

I do have one of the BMBH that have the double floor (for the pad) and a zipped in screen. Absolutely love the way this feels when I have my pad in the sleeve. No shoulder squeeze and a completely flat lay. One of the lessons was, don't fix something that aint broke. If you like the hammock, make some adjustments, but do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I reviewed some suggestions and a video that Grizz had out on modifying the BMBH. Good stuff about making some changes to the BMBH to save about 11 ounces.

Looking at that video, I am going to incorporate some changes, but not all. This brought me to a lessons learned when I first got this hammock from the Jacks years ago. This had to do with the rings. On the mod that Grizz talked about, he suggested cutting out the 6 rings and replacing them with some Amsteel alternates. Below is my comment to Grizz on a conversation, so thought you all would gain some knowledge...

I do plan on leaving the two rings at each end and just eliminate the center ring at the top of the triangle. Thought about taking the corners out, but I had a learning experience that prompted me to keep them. I want the spreader bars to have a good bite on the rings. Lot of folks do not realize it, but the spreader bar is supposed to hook into the underside of the ring and not the top. Hooking into the underside distributes the load towards the bottom side of the stitching. Hooking to the topside of the ring allows stress on the corner stitching to the point of tearing (been there / done that). Worried that putting in a loop at that corner (per your video) with the tubing, would create that same stress point. Probably not a problem if you are 165 lbs, but I come in at 215 and that may be too much alteration of the design - so the rings stay.

For us heavier hammock hangers that have the BMBH - make sure you are hooking into the bottom of the ring. When you sit on your hammock and apply the weight, the full strength of that webbing is loaded EVENLY along the entire length of that side of the hammock. If you hook you notch into the top of the ring, it adds localized stress to that stitching and could create an unpleasant experience.

For those who are visual - look at the picture attached. For those who have never seen the flat lay of the hammock with a pad in the sleeve, look at the second picture and notice the board flat lay of the BMBH. It holds this position even when you are in the hammock. Like having your bed in the sky.

Spreader_InRing.jpg BMBH_wPad.jpg