Hammock & Tarp

[Anonymous]

Hi guys and girls, i am looking for the benefit of someones experience here.....
I would like to purchase a GOOD QUALITY hammock and tarp combination to use, the only problem is findiing something that is well made and will last. I am also 6ft3 so i would need something big enough to cover myself and my kit. As far as the tarp goes it would be handy if it had poppers so that i could join a couple together when making a larger shelter. Could anyone suggest any makes and suppliers for me ? or can anyone tell me about any kit that they have used that they wouild and would not reccomend ?

I hope someone can help me with this,
Many thanks
Dan


may your shadow never be hairy

 

[Gary]

Dan,
The best hammocks I know of are the Hennessy ones - check on the net to find the best place for them.

Tarps - the Aussie hootchie is good but quite expensive for what it is - the new british ones much the same. The american poncho is good and cheap at around £20 and having a hood also acts as a waterproof too. Pop the the sides together and you have a sleeping bag cover or pop two tegether and ... you get the picture. Oh ya and you can by liners for then so they can act as a light summer bag too.

Hope that helped.

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for the information, i had a look at those hammocks and.....well....i guess quality doesnt come cheap !

Does anyone else have any recommendations on this topic ?

 

[qweeg500]

Hi Dan,
My own personal choice for tarp is the Aussie Hoochie. It's definately expensive but comes all the lines and the quality is good. My wife bought me mine so I didn't worry too much about the £60 tag.
My hammock is a cheapy tho. It was £20 from Nomad Medical. These are based on the Thai Army hammock which have 2 layers. You can either get inside it or wedge your 3/4 length Thermarest inside to insulate your back.
I seem to remember from my last visit to the Ray Mears site he's doing a some sort of sleep system deal in the near future. May be worth hanging on to find out more.

 

[Bob]

I bought a good tarp earlier this year - I think it was from Outdoor Essentials (www.outdooressentials.co.uk or 'phone 01342 843373) but I'm not 100% certain on that. I remember though that I found it after a search using 'hootchie' on the Yahoo UK search engine (the advertisement blurb also said something along the lines of "as shown / used by Ray Mears" - but I wouldn't want to mislead you there!!)

The tarp is olive green in colour, has plenty of eyelets around the edge, central suspension straps, and popper halves to receive other similar tarps. I unfortunately do not have it to hand to measure at the moment but I would think it adequate for your height. It is also a pretty solid construction. It cost £20 + around £ 2.50 P&P which I thought was a very reasonable price.

The first night I used it, it rained solidly for 7 hours but I stayed completely dry by suspending it lower than normal and using long hazel wands stuck in the ground inside to 'hoop' it out slightly - needless to say I was happy with its performance!

Hope this helps - apologies the supplier info. is a bit vague :-?

Happy hunting

Bob :-D

 

[bigjackbrass]

Golite (www.golite.com or www.golite.co.uk) make a range of very good tarps, originally based on designs by Ray Jardine. They are hellishly expensive - I won mine by signing up for their e-mail list - but the material is a very water resistant and exceptionally light silicon impregnated nylon, extremely tough stuff. They now make some more traditional tarps, as the early ones are rather more involved than a simple sheet. Guylines are a trifle thin on these, to reduce weight, so you might want to change those. One nice feature is that they make specific bug-proof "nests" to fit the tarps, but I reckon they would negate the use of a hammock.
Or is that "an hammock"?

 

[al]

when i was a marine we used to bin the issue tarps and use aussie light weights(hoochie) also used to fit large bungees on them too for getting them up quicker in wooded areas etc,but always had the guy lines to hand incase ,cheers al :-D

 

[Tony]

Kathmandu Trekking have some excellent kit, they specialise in lightweight quality bashas. I have used the Kathmandu Trekking Basha-Tent for about 6 years and its brilliant. They have just moved to wales and I'm not sure of the address, I will get it up as soon as I can. The owner Julian Miles is really helpful and he knows what he is on about. He can also do a bespoke service. He made me a bivi bag to my specs.

We have a few of his items to review in the next couple of months so you can read more when they go up.

 

[bigjackbrass]

I tried to find details about Kathmandu a few months ago after hearing a recommendation and could find nothing, so any contact info you can post would be tremendous.

 

[Anonymous]

I tried to find details about Kathmandu a few months ago after hearing a recommendation and could find nothing, so any contact info you can post would be tremendous.

Here you go - Kathmandu Trekking - Pantyffynnon, Uchaf, Ystumtoen, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion. SY23 3AF Tel/Fax 01970 890425.
The chaps name is Julian Miles and he is really nice and helpful. He has no web presence which is a huge shame. Some of the SOF shops (Liverpool, Chester etc) sell his gear, well they used to 5 years ago!
Call him for a catalogue, well it's more photocopied pages!

Chris Townsend (of TGO) uses his stuff a lot which is where I first heard of the stuff about 7 years ago.

Drop bcuk in the conversation somewhere :mrgreen:

Have a good one

 

[Tony]

That was a post from me in thick mode :biggthump

 

[tedw]

Ray Mears claims to have a tarp & hammock system available by the nd of this month - check out his website.

 

[Tony]

It looks quite like a Hennessy, it will be interesting to see the differences.

 

[bigjackbrass]

Thanks for the Kathmandu info Tone, you're a gent.

 

[Kev P]

I managed to get hold of a couple of Aussie hootchies together with a net hammock plus 50m of hootchie cord direct from Aus, online at Wellington Army Surplus(I think?). The whole lot including postage was less than a single tarp on the Woodlore site.
Unfortunately I cannot seem to locate the website again!! If any one finds it let me know.

 

[Martyn]

Was this the one?

http://www.wellingtonsurplus.com.au/

 

[Kev P]

Yeah cheers Martyn
They seem to be out of stock on all there hootchies at the moment, but there is a lot of other good kit on the site including swag bags.

 

[MartiniDave]

You can get British Army issue ones from Strikeforcesupplies.co.uk

Lots of good stuff on their websit

 

[Neil1]

I have been using a British ArmyL/weight OG Basha for many years, from what I have seen the Aussie Hootchie is identical (apart from the camo & the price).
I inherited a Thai Hammock from JWTC (Brunei) several years back, which I have copied in different fabrics, adding features to suit my needs. My current one is geared to the UK for year round use and features PU nylon base, midge netting and a dedicated therma-rest pocket.
I can send instruction for making the basic model as a word doc if anyone is interested. All you need is 4 mtrs of fabric & 45 minutes.
Neil1

 

[giancarlo]

The hammock / hootchi setup i'm using at the mo is this:
S.A.S.S Hootchi and Bushkit Pro Pod.
I got the hootchi off ebay for about £25 and the Pod from wildday.com for about £45 (which is expensive but is great, wildday seems to have a £10 off on them at the mo)


S.A.S.S Hootchi
http://www.sass-kit.fsbusiness.co.uk/ ("foul weather shelter" section)
It's massive and is really well made.

they say:
A) 9 long nylon webbing loops (one in centre of Hootchie) to go over branches if necessary.
B) Eyelets in each corner, and middle of shorter side, for Bivvi Poles.
C) Large size. Approx 280cm x 180cm.
D) Made from high quality, lightweight, DPM nylon with a polyurethane coated underside and flurocarbon proofed topside for outstanding waterproof quality.

£45.00


BushKit Pro Pod
http://www.bushkit.com
The pro pod is designed as a double, i guess the single pod is just as good.

they say:
the main hammock sheet is made of a strong nylon with a water resistant, technical coating.

measuring 3m x 2.5m when fully open.

all seams have been triple stitched

All high stress areas have been webbing reinforced


Cheers
Carlo