First, thank you to all who have posted and shared their hammock experiences for the rest of us!

I have successfully made the Ariel Bridge hammock (again, thanks for the videos and plans!) and about to start a second build. But before I do, I have a few questions I was hoping to bounce off more experienced folks here.

Channeled vs Four Corner Suspension?
The Ariel has a channeled suspension with the amsteel running the entire length of the body on each side. However, most all of the bridges on the market (and DIY kits) today appear to use a sewn-in strengthener (ie grosgrain) with a turned seam along the body with suspension attached at each of the four corners. My question is simply "why and does it matter?" Has one method proved to be superior? Stronger? Lighter? Less costly? Just wanted to understand if there has been some learning from the original Ariel design that would suggest this design modification.

Also, if the "sewn in" method is best, why not extend and loop the ribbon ends to hold the spreader bars, keeping one continuous line? I would think this would make it stronger vs. using shorter, sewn in pieces to hold the hardware. Thoughts?

Length and Width
If I wanted to increase the length and width of the Ariel design, what factors do I need to consider to not compromise the design? My objectives are to get a deeper, more dropped down lay (wider body) and get the spreader bar out of my face (longer length). Will this work without drastically changing the lay? Do I adjust the cat curve based on the new length only or do I also need to do something with the depth of the curve?

Fabric
For my first, I used 1.9 oz Ripstop Nylon. There is quite a substantial amount of pulling away from seams occurring, especially at the body mid-point. Now, I'm probably (definitely) pushing weight limits and may have sewn with too big of a needle, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this with the Ariel design. I sewed in a second layer in this area (to keep pad) but I can't imagine that is the cause. I bought 2.2 oz HEX70 XL fabric for my next version.

Any thoughts and advice is welcomed/appreciated before I pull the trigger on sewing my next bridge hammock.