wbwood
Troutman, NC
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My wife's neice was talking about them at Thanksgiving that her and her boyfriend use them for camping. Anyone here use them? They look intriguing...
Brian
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robsouth
Covington, GA
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I used one in the 1950's for camping. They are ok if you don't mind sleeping on your back all the time.
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ependydad
Columbia, MD
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robsouth wrote:I used one in the 1950's for camping. They are ok if you don't mind sleeping on your back all the time.
Some of the new hammocks (Hennessy Hammocks and Eno hammocks) supposedly have solved that.
"supposedly" = so I've heard. I've never slept in/sat on/seen one.
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wbrown62
Texas
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I have a Hennessy Hammock and love it. One BIG drawback to using a hammock is that you will be cold if the temps drop very low. The reason is that your body weight compresses any loft in your sleeping bag against the bottom of the hammock leaving your back cold. There are folks that have made heat retention blankets that hang under the hammock and others that have successfully used pads inside.I found the pad a little cumbersome and hard to get under my body once I was inside. I will not use mine in temps less than 45 degrees.
The Hennessy has a unique entry. The bottom of the hammock has a long slit with Velcro. Once you crawl up into the hammock, your body weight actually closes the slit and the Velcro keeps it closed. You do not have to physically mash the Velcro together.......just automatic. The cut of the Hennessy is on a bias and you will actually almost lie flat and not like a banana as in a traditional hammock. I have also slept on my side in the Hennessy. Its certainly not for everyone, but I like it.
At any rate, they are cool and comfy.
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gdoug83
Central Florida
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Hammock tents. Gosh. I haven't seen or heard of them in years. During summer of '60, fresh out of high school a friend and I traveled the USofA frequently sleeping in roadside rest stops, parks and wherever in those. Remember them as comfortable. Of course I was a little more flexible then.  Really like my Adventurous nowadays.
Doug
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wbwood
Troutman, NC
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wbrown62 wrote:I have a Hennessy Hammock and love it. One BIG drawback to using a hammock is that you will be cold if the temps drop very low. The reason is that your body weight compresses any loft in your sleeping bag against the bottom of the hammock leaving your back cold. There are folks that have made heat retention blankets that hang under the hammock and others that have successfully used pads inside.I found the pad a little cumbersome and hard to get under my body once I was inside. I will not use mine in temps less than 45 degrees.
The Hennessy has a unique entry. The bottom of the hammock has a long slit with Velcro. Once you crawl up into the hammock, your body weight actually closes the slit and the Velcro keeps it closed. You do not have to physically mash the Velcro together.......just automatic. The cut of the Hennessy is on a bias and you will actually almost lie flat and not like a banana as in a traditional hammock. I have also slept on my side in the Hennessy. Its certainly not for everyone, but I like it.
At any rate, they are cool and comfy.
I wonder how those silver emergency blankets would work underneath the sleeping back. I wonder if it would be enough to add some warmth.
My main concern with them is that we normally camp at campgrounds and the pads really don't have 2 trees that you can use. you would have to go off the pad. While searching for them, I came across the cots with the tenting on them. Those are cool, but I imagine you would have simialr issues with heat.
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Opie431
Bellevue, MI
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I saw someone who had solved the problem of cold weather camping in a hammock.
As I walked by his campsite he was running an extension cord for an electric blanket to his hammock. I assume that he slept on top of half of the blanket and covered with the other half.
The state park we do most of our summer camping at has lots of trees at the campsites so he had no trouble finding places to put it up.
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tplife
SoCal
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Only the electric blanket (or sleeping inside a heated enclosure) solves the problem of hammocks (or air mattresses or cots) in cold weather. Sleeping over hollow tubes or empty air space means giving up your body heat to the air. You'll not stop the effect until the outside air is the same temperaure as the inside of your sleeping gear. Buy a quality sleeping pad and leave the cots at home for summer camping. Emergency blankets under your sleeping bag won't do anything either. They are designed to retain body heat when used as an enclosure or cover, not as a pad underneath.
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wbwood
Troutman, NC
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Wouldn't the refelective part of an emergency blanket help retain some body heat? i would say not that the cold air underneath would knock it down considerably, but I think it would help somewhat.
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ependydad
Columbia, MD
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It might, but I'd hate to try and sleep with the crinkly noise all night long - fine in an emergency, but not something that I'd want to do.
BUT- it should help with warmth a bit.
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