extended stay in a hammock

[brack]

hello there i have a hypothetical situation...

if you were a poor college student looking to save as much money as possible and you had a friend that lived close to your work and campus (easy bike rides both ways) and this friend just so happened to have a backyard with some incredible trees evenly spaced apart for a hammock or two. what would be the ideal set up for you knowing that you were going to be sleeping there for the next 5 months (early august to early december) in the northeat georgia weather. you know ideal hammock, tarp, bug net, underquilt, etc... etc...

i mean im just wondering who would actually do such a thing?

brack

[SGT Rock]

I lived in one for about 6 months in Iraq. It can be done.

I used a Hennessy Hammock with Army closed cell foam pad, with two layers to take it up to about 3/4" thick for winter and a synthetic bag (also Army issue) as my quilt. I did experiment with a poncho liner underquilt but was not impressed much with that particular method.

If I were to do it again, I would have a No Sniveling or Nest underquilt, a closed cell foam pad pad is 28" wide at the top cut to a mummy shape about 18" wide at the bottom, A good quilt or bag for sleeping in, and depending on how much you plan to "live" in the hammock I might suggest getting a alightly bigger tarp so you can spread out some of your more permanant stuff under there. I kept the stock fly the whole time and was fine even in monsoon season which was so wet that I ended up suspended over 6" of water the morning following one storm.

For bug protection the Hennessy was perfect as long as I was inside for sleeping. standing around outside wasn't so great.

If you plan to "live" in one, you will probably need a space to store other stuff like your books since you are in school. I kept a desk and a wall locker inside the Troop CP to keep my work, food, equipment, and clothing. A hammock is a nice overnight or short term camp, but you can't really live in it.

That is not the only solution, just examples of how I did it and what I would do different. I now have a slightly larger Hennesssy that I will take when and if I go back.

[Rambler]

Hey Sarge, I'ld like to see that 28" closed cell foam hat!

[smokymtnsteve]

I saw it Rambler he wore it in the hiker parade