Hennessey Hammocks !! Piece of cake !!

[maddave]

Just got me hammock from woodland organics today, so I got home from work, It was dark, windy and lashing down. So I thought "Let's see if I can put the hammock up in the wet and dark with no torch and no previous experience !!

Tadaaaaaaaaaa!! Not bad for 1st go in foul weather. Granted when I got in it was a bit low to the ground, but not touching !! What a great bit of kit I'd like to see how I'd have got on with say a Wild Country Terra Nova in the same weather !! I don't think I'd have been in the warm and dry in less than 5 mins like in the Hennessy ):

Happy camper here !! Yeehaa

 

[Paganwolf]

Happy days !! glad your chuffed matie, cant wait for mine to arrive! :shock:

 

[tomtom]

is the tarp-y bit attached or separate?

 

[maddave]

is the tarp-y bit attached or separate?

It clips on the top with a cople of hooks attached to prissuk knots for adjustment

 

[jamesdevine]

They are wonderfully simple peices of kit. Good first test.

James

 

[Stuart]

where ever theres trees you'll never sleep on the ground again :biggthump

 

[Moonraker]

Really nice report maddave. Good to see a 'real' test. :biggthump

Just received my Explorer Deluxe, now looking for 2 suitable trees ;-)

One thing I noticed, did you not use the tree hugger strap things?

 

[Adi007]

Really nice report maddave. Good to see a 'real' test. :biggthump

Just received my Explorer Deluxe, now looking for 2 suitable trees ;-)

One thing I noticed, did you not use the tree hugger strap things?

I noticed that too ...

Has anyone taken a hammock with them only to, well, not find trees?! ):

 

[outdoorgirl]

I got a good look at a few of these last weekend on the Hunter's class - even got to sit in one, and they seem very comfy. Andy and I are off to North Carolina next year for a couple of weeks, and we're thinking of getting a couple for the trip down the appalachians...

However, I have a back problem that means that whenever I camp (and often whenever I'm not using my lovely Tempur mattress), I often wake up in the night with a dead hand or arm, having pinched nerves in my back. This can mean for a very sleepless night...

So, does anyone know of somewhere that hires out, loans, or offers some kind of 'try before you buy' system, so that I can try a night out before we splash our cash?

 

[jamesdevine]

First outdoorgirl I don't known of anyone the rents them out but I do Known that it certainly helps my repeaditive strain in my shoulders. You are sleeping in the air to it's to releave the pressure and help to relax abit more also the sleeping position seems to help. This is of course only my expereince.

Adi007 I have this problem as live in country with only 8% Forestry you really have look at the map and hope they haven't cut them down. Always bring my poncho just in case.

James

 

[Moonraker]

First outdoorgirl I don't known of anyone the rents them out but I do Known that it certainly helps my repeaditive strain in my shoulders. You are sleeping in the air to it's to releave the pressure and help to relax abit more also the sleeping position seems to help. This is of course only my expereince.

Adi007 I have this problem as live in country with only 8% Forestry you really have look at the map and hope they haven't cut them down. Always bring my poncho just in case.

James

outdoorgirl: there is some info on the Hennessy Hammock web site FAQ

Most people believe that hammockare uncomfortable to sleep in because they curve your back. The human spine is not straight but is shaped in a a gentle S curve with a convex curve at the shoulders and a concave curve at the lower back. When a person lies lengthwise in a hammock, the curve of the hammock follows the curve of the upper back but provides no support for the recurve of the lower spine. When a person falls asleep in the hammock and their muscles relax, the lower spine often can reverse curvature to match the shape of the hammock, often giving the occupant severe lower back pain for several hours until their spine returns to its natural curvature. By contrast, the Hennessy Hammock is amazingly comfortable. Once inside, most people don't want to get out. The secret is your ability to rest 10 to 20 degrees diagonalyl to the centerline, just like in the Mayan and Central American hammocks. This allows you to rest comfortably on your back, on your side, in a fetal position and a few others you will invent for yourself. For some people, it takes a night to adjust to sleeping in a different bed. For others, it's a great night's sleep the first time!.

There are some testimonials from users here:

Injury/ Arthritis

Lots of comments from back pain sufferers. I guess these problems are individual and it is a good idea to try one out (preferably more than 1 time).

James: could you not just use the HH fly instead of a poncho?

Check out this method of using the HH without trees :shock: . Nice little bivy

Hennessy Hammock - Use As A Tent

Simon

 

[jamesdevine]

Thanks Moonraker, :biggthump

It's that I couldn't it's more so that all ways have my Poncho(Dutch army) as it's my rain gear. It has snap button along either side so I can and have used it as make shift bivvy bag.

I will give it a go do and see how it works out.

James

 

[Buckshot]

I tried one for the first time at the Hunter course.

It's on the Christmas list !!!! :biggthump

People say how great they are and you think -yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then you try one...

It took me a night to get used to it which is why I looked so beat up for most of the weekend.
The only thing I found was that it could be a little drafty. I tend to sleep cold so I was glad of my artic bag. The first night I was hot which probably didn't help me sleep, the next was just right even though i could feel the draft over my face I just snuggled in. Lovely.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Moonraker]

Thanks Moonraker, :biggthump

It's that I couldn't it's more so that all ways have my Poncho(Dutch army) as it's my rain gear. It has snap button along either side so I can and have used it as make shift bivvy bag.

I will give it a go do and see how it works out.

James

OK I see. Fair point. Do post and let us know how it goes.

 

[jamesdevine]

Will Do Infact if I can I might try it out this weekend. It hasn't see the light of day in month. :shock:

James

 

[outdoorgirl]

OK, I can see one of these going on my Christmas list too...

One last question, that I don't see asked or answered on the Hennessy site: where do you put your backpack? I can see that boots, clothes, etc. can be hung over the ridge line, but what about the rucksac? Does that just sit underneath the hammock and you hope that it doesn't get rained on too badly and no-one pinches it while you're soundly kipping?

 

[Buckshot]

OK, I can see one of these going on my Christmas list too...

One last question, that I don't see asked or answered on the Hennessy site: where do you put your backpack? I can see that boots, clothes, etc. can be hung over the ridge line, but what about the rucksac? Does that just sit underneath the hammock and you hope that it doesn't get rained on too badly and no-one pinches it while you're soundly kipping?

Yes basically.

I know some people use rucksac covers to keep the rain out and I suppose you could use one of those metal nets people use when travelling and then padlock it to a tree if you were really worried.

In fact that's the only thing that worries me slightly. There's nowhere to put your kit and nowhere you can have any privacy except lying down. What do you do if you want to get changed for example?

Cheers

Mark

 

[Womble]

Here are a couple of potential answers to the problem problem of ruksak storage:

1) bundle it in a poncho, put it under the hammock and hope for the best (cheap)

2) buy a hex-fly sheet (as DG had on his Hennessy at the weekend) which gives you an awful lot more space under the hammock for kit (it would still be on the ground, but there would be a much lesser chance of it getting wet), and it goes a "certain" way to solving the privacy question by being that much larger.

Neither of these solves the security issue, though.

 

[led]

One last question, that I don't see asked or answered on the Hennessy site: where do you put your backpack? I can see that boots, clothes, etc. can be hung over the ridge line, but what about the rucksac? Does that just sit underneath the hammock and you hope that it doesn't get rained on too badly and no-one pinches it while you're soundly kipping?

I've tried a couple of approaches. If you keep it inside the hammock, then you can clip/tie it to the loop at either end of the ridge line. Whether this works obviously depends on how large/heavy your sack is and how much room you have I guess.

Just having it clipped to the line and dangling outside the hammock generally works fine unless it's raining and really blowing, in which case you just hope it's waterproof (especially at 3 in the morning :roll. It can be a pain trying to untie/tie things (eg boots) to the line once you're in the hammock though.

Another option I tried was slinging a cheapo (a quid from a boot sale) nylon string hammock snugly underneath the Hennessey, and putting the sack in that just under the entry flap. That did seem to keep it pretty well sheltered and meant that boots etc could be kept in there as well and was much easier to manage than trying to tie/untie them on the suspension line outside the hammock.

 

[MagiKelly]

Another option I tried was slinging a cheapo (a quid from a boot sale) nylon string hammock snugly underneath the Hennessey, and putting the sack in that just under the entry flap. That did seem to keep it pretty well sheltered and meant that boots etc could be kept in there as well and was much easier to manage than trying to tie/untie them on the suspension line outside the hammock.

Brilliant idea. I wish I had thought of that.