Hammock camping options...

rockcity

rockcity

everyday is a chance to get better
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Greenville, NC
the buggies are starting to get close to finished. This means late summer and fall camping with the family! Yay!


I have a nice expedition tent but it's just too nice to bring on a family trip and not that easy to put up with minimal room. Also have the Biltmore House of tents from Walmart. It's huge but not easy and is pure crap.

Soo.... Time to start considering new options.

Considering camping hammocks and the pop up cots like @EdJonesJeeper talks about here Kamp-Rite Double Tent Cot

Anyone have opinions on any camping hammocks? ENO vs Hennessy vs ?? Experiences with pop up tent cots?

ENO is hard to beat for the price but the Hennessy hammocks look really nice but I find it hard to spend $300 for one camping hammock... I'll need 4.

Anyone ever concerned about safety/security with the hammocks from wildlife (bears)? I'll have the family, so I really feel the hammocks tend to be a little less desirable with regards to a sense of safety from bears, etc.

Real world experiences with any?
 
I have 2 Yukon Outfitters hammocks with bug nets and a Grand Trunk Skeeter Beater Pro (my favorite). They have survived beach camping and woods camping for two years now, so maybe look at them. Taking them with me back to Portsmouth Island again this year because hammock sleeping is way more comfortable than anything else, for me.

Best investment for Fall or early Spring camping is an under quilt. Goes under the hammock and keeps you warm, without sacrificing that warm by getting compact under you body weight. Top quilt and a rain fly and you can hammock camp year round.

My rule when camping is nothing touches the ground except my feet. If you are in territory where you might encounter bears, coyotes, etc, hang your food and garbage in separate trees, away from camp, at night and you should be okay.
 
I have a few hammocks and the Yukon is my favorite. Camped in it on the river this weekend, I use an ENO bug net, a Kelty Noah 12 cover tarp and a cheap intermediate weight army surplus sleeping bag. I love my setup. There is a hammock camping forum but they are pretty much "gear snobs" so I more or less just troll over there for ideas. Also YouTube "shugemery" he has lots of kid friendly videos about hammocking and is really funny. My 9 y/o daughter loves his videos but still won't hang overnight, says she isn't going to become a "bear burrito". I love sleeping in mine and the whole setup goes into a 30 liter dry bag with a spare change of clothes and a fire starter kit. The really cheap ($10ish dollar) hammocks on eBay aren't bad for smaller users. The quality to price ratio is pretty good the suspension is just really heavy/bulky.

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Yukon fan here as well. Here is my setup with the Yukon double and a Yukon walkabout rainfly. This was up on Hurricane Creek Road in Pisgah, smack in the middle of Bear country. I use my tent pad and a sleeping bag for a top quilt. I use the ENO Pro straps for suspension cause they are super easy to set up and work great.


hammock.jpg
 
No experience with Yukon, but love my Eno. Gettin the slap straps with them is a must. Think I spent $70 total, it's been great.


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How comfortable are the hammocks to sleep in? After about an hour in our hammock at home I have to get out and walk around as my back starts to hurt
 
rockcity said:
How comfortable are the hammocks to sleep in? After about an hour in our hammock at home I have to get out and walk around as my back starts to hurt
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THIS. My son prefers his elaborate eno set up over our climate controlled rv every time we go out except the coast when its just plain hot and nasty. He has another cheaper BSA unit he got at camp I have been wanting to try out one evening around the back forty with him........cause i got a feeling sleeping like a rolled tortilla is not going to be my thing. I sweat in my sleep and tend to sprawl out. I have an extra large mummy bag for cold backpacking just for this reason.
 
The straps do stretch out, so you'll want to lounge at home a bit before camping. Then you can pull it right for sleeping. I personally prefer mine to be level vs banana shape.
First time camping in mine was first time using it. My straps stretched out and I wound up nearly touching the ground.


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I'm tempted to spend a couple $ on an ENO and take a chance on $65. Even if I can't sleep in it, it would t be a bad addition to the campsite to lounge around in for short periods of time.
 
Oh yeah, get the 2 person whatever brand you get. That gives you the room to make it much better.


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77GreenMachine said:
The straps do stretch out, so you'll want to lounge at home a bit before camping. Then you can pull it right for sleeping. I personally prefer mine to be level vs banana shape.
First time camping in mine was first time using it. My straps stretched out and I wound up nearly touching the ground.


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Yeah, I'd have to be as straight as possible. No way in hell could I even consider the banana shape
 
I've got a Hennessy hammock I bought back in 09 when I got my JK. Been all over the southeast. I've slept in it a LOT, prefer it over sleeping on a mattress to be honest. Set up is 4-6 minutes and teardown is about the same. I leave webbing hooked up to the roll bar in the back and just park about 15 ft or so from a nice looking tree. Definitely +1 on the underquilt and having a sleeping pad is super awesome too. The biggest must have are the snakeskins, thats what makes the setup and teardown so fast!

I also have a full eno sleep system for those days when I just want to sleep under the stars with no cover, normally in the fall. The best part about hammock camping is waking up with no ceiling! Can't be doing that in the muggy, mosquito infested summers though :-(
 
Sleep on the diagonal also, it gives you a flat lay v/s banana back.

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I have done one end on a tree and other on the roll cage of the jeep, pull the jeep forward a bit to get it nice and tight.


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