Are Hammocks Dead? - Long Live the Bedroll?

[buckley]

Perhaps the most ridiculous thread ever!

 

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

I was having a go! What are we having a go on? Where are we going? Why? How? I'm tired.. I like beds... they;re comfortable... hammocks are too.. so are bedrolls.... All are comfy... no one person invented any of them.... Sleeping is fun isn't it? (trying to make the subject change as much as possible)

 

[Feral]

Nobody down here uses a bed roll anymore, they mainly use swag, and I'm nottalking about what you guy use, we are talking about a really heavy peice of canvas and 3" - 4" thick matress that know body in their right mind would ever hike with, the average weight is around15 kg, and thats without your sleeping bag, I don't why they call them swags anymore for the are usally sown up and the have poles so you might as well call them tents.

 

[Zodiak]

Perhaps the most ridiculous thread ever!

Oh no.. there will be worse.. yes there will be worse

 

[Stuart MacD]

I'll answer your quesion Ray Mears is a bushcraft/survival expert and been running programs on the subject for about 15 years. If you ever get the chance to watch one of his programs, watch it, i learnt alot from watching. A very respectable bloke indeed.

Thank you thats what i've been trying to say. his shows are full of tips and knowledge

 

[dommyracer]

Another thing to remember is he wasn't alone, had a UCL professor ( who may not liked hammocks ) and a film crew to accommodate.

Haha its never stopped him before! When they go to the jungle the crew sleep in hammock / basha as well!

He always uses the same crew as well, so they should know what to expect!

 

[Bootstrap Bob]

Thank goodness I'm not the only one!
I bought one of MagiKelly's hammocks to try out at the Christmas Moot and discovered it wasn't really for me.

Don't get me wrong the hammock is a quality piece of equipment and I would recommend anyone who wants to give it a go to look out for the next group buy. Unfortunately I just couldn't get on with staying in the same position all night. For short periods it is extremely comfortable.

After the Moot I decided it was back to the bed roll, mine consists of sleeping bag and self inflating mat all rolled up inside a bivvy. I've never been cold with this set up and I have managed to roll it up into a nice sized roll. 20cm diameter by 60cm long which just happens to fit perfectly inside a similar sized dry sack when canoeing.

It also got me thinking about digging out an old surplus camp bed for when the surface is not very flat but the W-shaped legs are very awkward to pack down small. Does anyone else use one of these camp beds and how do you get round the awkwardness?

 

[gregorach]

Don't get me wrong the hammock is a quality piece of equipment and I would recommend anyone who wants to give it a go to look out for the next group buy. Unfortunately I just couldn't get on with staying in the same position all night. For short periods it is extremely comfortable.

You just need more practice - once you're used to it, you can move around inside a hammock quite a lot.

 

[Bootstrap Bob]

You just need more practice - once you're used to it, you can move around inside a hammock quite a lot.

You're probably right which is why I'm not getting rid of it just yet.
I did think that maybe I had not tightened the straps as much as I could meaning it wasn't as flat as it could be. I also had a sleeping mat inside due to lack of underblanket which may of made things difficult.
I do like to sleep on my front which may be a problem however with whatever I do

 

[Stuart MacD]

Stuart, first off I'd remove your email for security reasons, secondly, keep an eye out for Magikelly doing a group buy. I got mine there and I'm really pleased with it!

P

I've had a look at the group buys and the photos there and they look excellent thanks for the heads up

 

[Glen]

Haha its never stopped him before! When they go to the jungle the crew sleep in hammock / basha as well!

He always uses the same crew as well, so they should know what to expect!

True, but 2 presenters plus 3 or 4 crew, all looking for suitable hammock anchor points, in what is after all actually a desert, albeit an unusually vegatative one, might have been too much to hope to find easily.

 

[rik_uk3]

Ray did not start me off in bushcraft, what he did, was re-kindle a style of camping I did as a youngster with the scouts, but then it was called scouting.

30 years ago, the best tent in the world for me and many other winter users, was the Black's Mountain Tent, fantastic kit, but it weighed around 22lb, so I moved to a Vango Force Ten, weighed around half and now I use a tent thats comes in at under 4lb. Same with my stoves, I started off with an old Primus brass stove, moved on to a gas stove, then found the Trangia setup I still use today (with a Nova sometimes). Its the same story with all my kit, and all Ray does is try out new gear, I would change kit all the time if I could afford it. Good luck to the guy I say

 

[jamesoconnor]

The bed roll that Ray used in the programme is a traditional Australian swag bag. They are usually made of canvas and have foam liners etcfor sleeping in comfort. More info here...
http://www.downunderswags.swag.com.au/
and here...
http://www.australianhats.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=165
Oh and here too...
http://www.murphywhips.com/BSPORT3GRSwagBags.html