View Full Version : HH modification
After getting the hang of the HH bottom entry, I'm considering macking it a side entry. My plan is to install a zipper (or maybe 2) to make an L shape in the mesh.
The problem I see is perhaps the stress where the zipper is sewn to the mesh might be enough to cause a tear. Maybe some reinforcement? Maybe I'm just going to ruin a fine piece of gear.
So, any thoughts on this idea. Oh, I don't want to by another hammock that is already side entry.
Thanks.
Why fix what isn't broken?
After getting the hang of the HH bottom entry, I'm considering macking it a side entry. My plan is to install a zipper (or maybe 2) to make an L shape in the mesh.
The problem I see is perhaps the stress where the zipper is sewn to the mesh might be enough to cause a tear. Maybe some reinforcement? Maybe I'm just going to ruin a fine piece of gear.
So, any thoughts on this idea. Oh, I don't want to by another hammock that is already side entry.
Thanks.
you will be better getting a speer type hammock aready set up that way,i prefer the hennessey bottom entry hammock,but i would get a speer type hammock before i would mess with a side entry zipper on a speer hammock:cool: neo
Neo,
I never tried the speer. From other WB posts, I concluded (maybe incorrectly) that the HH lets you sleep "flatter" because of the asym layout.
You know a lot about hammocks, what's your opinion? Thanks
hammock engineer
01-20-2006, 00:13
I purchased Ed Speer's book. It describes how to make your own hammock that allows you to lay rather flat. He mentioned that a longer hammock will also allow you to lay flatter.
I haven't tried any other camping hammocks. I have a HH that I really like. I like the bottom entry. I feel like there is a little more of a barier between me and any bug that want me for dinner. I wouldn't risk ruining a perfectly good HH.
Just Jeff
01-20-2006, 00:51
I don't think the HH lets you lay flatter...it's made from a rectangular piece of material just like the Speers, I think. The pullouts make it feel roomier and keep the bugnet off of you better, maybe.
Anyway - Brian from Tampa installed zippers in his HH and hasn't mentioned any problems with it. The body/net seam isn't really stressed under normal conditions. Climbing into it from that opening might be enough to stress it, though. I would certainly appreciate being able to unzip the bugnet from the HH to increase the breeze or reach stuff on the ground, but I'd probably still enter and exit through the bottom.
I have pics of Brian's mod here:
http://www.tothewoods.net/HammockCampingBugfree.html
I agree with Jeff. If I were to install zippers in the HH I would put them along the bugnet/hammock body seam like Brian from tampa has. If you cut them into the bug net like you are describing the high stress area would be where the bug net connects to the hammock body during entry and extit. When your full weight is applied to the side of the hammock I think it would begin to fail right at the attchment point where the net meets the hammock body. If the zipper runs the full length you would eliminate this area of attchment. Plus, it has already been done, and it works.
As for getting a Speer to lay as flet as a HH, it can be done. I also built an asym Speer that lays just like a HH.
Hana_Hanger
01-20-2006, 06:59
I would have a experience tailor put in the zipper...that is what I would love to do with my HH as well.
But still enter and exist using the bottom entry. Just have the zipper to get extra breeze and reach out and get things would be great.
Maybe one day Tom will make the Explorer or Safari with zippers...since weight is not a big problem with those two models not being ultra light.
(Hint..Hint)
Rain Man
01-20-2006, 13:49
I just bought blaze orange silnylon material to make a pack cover/gear hammock, and started to wonder about being able to reach into it for stuff while in my HH.
I had just started to think about putting a slit between the bug netting and hammock, and wondering if to use velcro, when I saw this thread.
I'm enjoying reading and seeing what others are doing, and like the zipper suggestion, getting a seamstress to do it for me.
Thanks!!!
Rain:sunMan
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Rain Man.
I thoiught about using velcro, but IMO it would be a pain to shut. So, what size zipper would you use? The small ones used on pants and shirts would probably not work.
getting a seamstress to do it for me.
Rain:sunMan
that's about the only way i can sew... vicariously... :D
Rain Man
01-20-2006, 18:56
I thoiught about using velcro, but IMO it would be a pain to shut. So, what size zipper would you use? The small ones used on pants and shirts would probably not work.
I had the same thought about velcro. Don't have a clue about the zipper. If I hired a seamtress, then I'd let her/him decide, since I'd be relying on her/his expertise anyway.
My intention is to be able to reach out to the gear hammock, right next to my HH.
Rain:sunMan
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peter_pan
01-21-2006, 00:35
My intention is to be able to reach out to the gear hammock, right next to my HH.
Rain:sunMan
Take a good look at JGH/PC... rigged at the foot of a HH it offers waterproof off the ground storage that is easily accessed from the entrance slit verry convient... saves doing a mod on your hammock.
Pan
General concensus is cutting and sewing the bug net is a bad idea. I agree, so how about this---install the zipper in the hammock material just below the net/hammock seam. Compared to above the seam, and into the netting, this is only a couple of inches lower. Plus, sewing the hammock material is lots easier the the netting. And while you are sewing, add some connectors (or something) to hang "stuff."
Okay, this might work.:clap
To quote ScottP: "don't fix what ain't broken" or maybe more prophetic, "If it ain't broke, fix it til it is." messing with the net is dangerous.
I think the "try speer" suggestion is a viable one, because although the HH is asym, and THEORETICALLY more flatter I find myself footing up to the peak just as much as trying to lay crossways, which is only a marginal improvement. In my case, find my head scrunched sideways when I do that, which leads me to believe I need something longer for my 6' frame than whichever model I bought.
Just Jeff
01-21-2006, 12:28
bogey, have you tried tying the foot end about 4" higher than the head end? That should help keep your feet from sliding to the peak.
Also - while the HH may not be "broken" it's also not "fully functional" if I can't reach out and cook from inside my bag (like I can in a Speer-type). So it's all perspective.
I purchased Ed Speer's book. It describes how to make your own hammock that allows you to lay rather flat. He mentioned that a longer hammock will also allow you to lay flatter.
I haven't tried any other camping hammocks. I have a HH that I really like. I like the bottom entry. I feel like there is a little more of a barier between me and any bug that want me for dinner. I wouldn't risk ruining a perfectly good HH.
ed speers hammock camping book is excellent:cool: neo
Rain Man
01-21-2006, 20:30
Take a good look at JGH/PC... r
JGH/PC??? Greek to me.
Rain:sunMan
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Dances with Mice
01-21-2006, 21:54
JGH/PC??? Greek to me.Rain:sunMan
.http://www.jacksrbetter.com/index_files/Jeffs%20Gear%20Hammock-Pack%20Cover.htm
I made a slit at each side of my HH (by my head) and use velcro and never have a problem. I also put a hook on the outside of the hammock ( by the slits) where I hang my pee bottle. I just open the slit and grab my pee bottle. When I finish I put the bottle back on the hook and close the slit. Corsican
I made a slit at each side of my HH (by my head) and use velcro and never have a problem. I also put a hook on the outside of the hammock ( by the slits) where I hang my pee bottle. I just open the slit and grab my pee bottle. When I finish I put the bottle back on the hook and close the slit. Corsican
OK, I have to ask and I am not trying to hijack this thread. But how do you pee in a bottle in a hammock. That has got to be awful hard. Maybe you can explain without getting everyone all stirred up, because I have tried and I could not do it. The best thing I found was if you did not want to get out of your hammock at night was not to put anything under the entrance slit and you could scoot down and lay on you stomach and pee out the entrance.
I had a military Jungle Hammock when I was a scout in 1959. It had a gusset in the hammock (a round hole with a sleeve) near your head for reaching things outside. I have no idea what this would do to structural strength of the HH but a round hole with a sleeve sounds easy.