Looks simple doesn't it?
it's just some cloth hanging between two trees or in this case a tree and my fence but you have to
insulate it you have to hang it right you got to choose your suspension you got to learn to
use a tarp you got to decide if you're going to use a pad or under quilts or a poncho liner
or just try to sleep in it with nothing at all are you going to use your old sleeping bag are
you going to use that in quilt mode are you going to get a top quilt you're going to get
a full length under quilt or you're going to get a partial you're going to use synthetic or down
you're just going to use pads you're going to use closed cell foam or you're going to use something
that's inflatable or insulated you're going to get a really wide pad or a thin pad you're
going to use straps are you going to use tree straps with whoopee slings you're going to use a
ucr maybe you'll tie a becket hitch maybe i'll just go with straps and buckles
could use daisy chain there's a lot of options that's why we're going to talk
about the hammock learning curve because there's a curve to it yeah it's going to take a little
bit more time i don't want to break your heart but i'm just trying to be honest here a lot of times
we don't really want to hear that do we we want somebody go oh y'all hang it up it's going to be
easy but no so if you're interested in me talking a little truth to you then watch this video if not
it's just hanging there look at it and lately on places like hammock forums and even on my own
youtube channel i see people struggling with their hammock they want to get it all done in a week
ain't going to happen unless you're very intuitive and lucky then maybe you're just a person that you
know that is satisfied a little easier but there's so many things to it so we're just going to do a
little breakdown on some of the things that uh you may face in your hammock quest some of it might be
a little heartbreaking and some of you might go suga i'm so excited i'm ready to dive in and get
this thing going well let's just say you want to learn to play guitar and i remember seeing those
ads and said learn to play guitar in three days well you can't learn to play guitar in three days
you may be able to learn to make a g chord so a lot of times depending on your personality and i'm
not saying one is better than the other i i like let's just say i kind of a poor i kind of detest
um learning curves but i'm kind of drawn to them like a unicycle not gonna learn in a day takes
a while learning an instrument takes a little while to get slightly proficient right now i'm
trying to learn how to pull the perfect espresso shot i'm learning new terms like like dose and
extraction and infusion and a lot of stuff in grams and a one-to-one ratio and a one-to-two
ratio in terms like lungo and restreto and double espresso and a single espresso and on and on and
on and i found out how difficult it is to pull a single espresso shot and i'm really enjoying the
the journey it's going to take a while so this is kind of like that so if you like a process let's
talk about it and i want to remind you just to be patient and once in a while you'll get frustrated
and you just need to walk away
i don't know where i'm going i'm walking away then after you've had a little time away
come back you look at it with different eyes i mean it's the same eyes that in your head but your
your perspective will change and you'll take a breath and you'll center yourself and realize
that you only get to be new at something once so enjoy this journey i am talking
about camping hammocks here i'm talking about bringing your hammock car camping backpacking
camping somehow where you're gonna hang it between trees and sleep overnight or
two or three and you're just one of those people likes to hang your hammock out man
and you're mocking and you're just going to hang out for a few hours in the park chilling
you don't have any insulation you're not putting a pad in you're not putting an under quilt in they
usually don't have a bug net they're usually a double wide hammock and you're just taking it out
to the park or somewhere to hang out relax with friends listen to music try to do your homework
try to get a little close whatever that may be i'm not talking about that process here
i'm talking about taking your hammock out camping and sleeping overnight that's what this is about
that's where the difficulty comes in and that's where you're going to notice like
this ain't as easy as i thought it was going to be what length
hammock they come in all kinds of lengths uh eventually it'll come up with what material do
you want do you want to bug that or not does it come with suspension now how do i hang it
there's actually a lot more to hang in a hammock than you would think
for camping purposes optimally uh 15 to 17 feet some people would say 12 to 15 feet but then again
that depends on if you have a 9 foot a 10 foot 11 foot a 12 foot or a 13 foot hammock or a bridge
hammock so that goes out the window so that's just gonna be something you're gonna have to try to do
then there is the angle of the suspension in the hammock world we always recommend kind of a 30
degree hang so if you put your hand out like that and just put a hand against it that's about 30
degrees i normally hang my straps to a tree about as high as my head but i'm going to have to go up
or down a little bit depending on the distance of those trees all these are going to come into play
this is something you'll deal with make it fun and enjoy it don't let it drive you nuts i don't
know what's going to think of that well then you gotta find the sweet spot in your hammock
now some hammocks like this warb on it i always hang and this is recommended by warbonnet and
works with most hammocks hanging your foot end higher now i've got a video on properly hanging
a hammock if you'll just uh look up here you know i'm going to be pointing up here a lot there'll
be links to videos as i talk about things for the war bonnet in a lot of hammocks i like to
hang the foot end of the hammock meaning where my feet are in the hammock closer to the tree than i
do on the head end because that gets me down to an angle and puts me down in a spot that i
call the sweet spot and is more comfortable for me sweet spot is my confirmation name
you know there's some people that are really good at getting the cheapest hammock throwing
the sleeping bag in using it as uh in top quilt motor as a sleeping bag throwing a pad in
done grab an old tarp or use a tarp from somewhere like the home depot
a nice 10 11 foot blue tarp they're happy with that they don't mind toting it done that might be
you now others like me i like trying different things out to finally find what works for me
so that is part of the hammock learning curve may drive crazy may not some of you might find
you get a cheap suspension your tree straps or your or your straps might be nylon rather than
polyester polyester straps don't stretch now they will stretch just a little bit everything will if
you hang your hammock and it's at the perfect height and everything like i'm sitting in this
one right now when you get in it it will probably stretch down if it stretches down to the ground
you may want to look at getting polyester straps next is going to be some of you are going to try
to sleep in it in your sleeping bag then 70 degree or less weather you're going to find yourself
getting cold in the middle of the night because when you lay in a sleeping bag in a hammock it
is compressing that down underneath you so you're losing a lot of insulation you do what you want
to do but at some point you're going to have to insulate this hammock if you're camping overnight
any old camping pad i've got some videos on all that right up here just look at that little box
click on it and there'll be my playlist on pads in a hammock whether it's a double layered hammock
which is another thing you'll have to consider when you get into hammocks single or double layer
do i want wide do i want to like most of my hammocks 60 inches wide or do i want a really wide
hammock meaning i may have to have some floppy fabric a lot of things but do yourself a favor and
eventually you'll probably invest in an under quilt i'm sitting on mine right now which is
a down or synthetic quilt that hangs underneath your hammock or just throw pads in but the hammock
should be joyful should not cause you stress it should not make your buttocks so tight that you
can't walk without bending your knees enjoy it let it flow baby but if you're going to camp out in
a hammock overnight you're going to have to get a tarp tarping is its own art a lot of you have come
from tents might not have ever rigged a tarp so rigging a hammock tarp has a lot of options do you
want to run your guy lines the lines off the top of your tarp which is your ridge line right here
do you want two separate ones do you want to just tie a line between two trees and flop your tarp
over it there's a thing called a continuous ridge line now do you want a tarp made out of dcf or
what they used to call cuban fiber it's expensive it's light it's translucent it's expensive do you
want still nylon this is still nylon pretty tough it absorbs a little bit of water it's waterproof
it's it's strong and it's pretty inexpensive there's still poly now too so poly is a bit
like this doesn't absorb as much water it's a little slipperier
you're going to want doors on your tarp how long do you want your tarp for an 11 foot hammock like
i'm sitting in here i use an 11 foot tarp some people prefer to go with a 12 foot tarp but then
your hand can get weird if you're in tight trees but it's not the end of the world but
center your hammock under your tarp video right up there and do you want doors on the end how
wide do you want the tarp do you want it six feet wide do you want it 10 feet from side to side how
much coverage do you want these are other things you're gonna have to deal with enjoy it it's fun
tarps are your shelter out there you're gonna be living the tarp life it's not like being all
zipped up in a tent you're gonna have to get used to that some people feel a lack of privacy
you'll get used to it a lot of people feel exposed i personally love it because i can see the woods
so that is something you're gonna have to deal with it's something you're gonna have to practice
it's something that you're going to have to get used to pitching in the wind in the rain there is
no guarantees in camping and backpacking you're not in control you're in control as much as you
think you can be with what you have with you but nature mother nature she's sassy she's going to
dictate what happens on the trip so be ready to improvise and roll with it and have fun with it
and enjoy handling that and and remember the worst trips make the best stories okay are you kind of
feeling bummed out now were you thinking about trying hammocks and now that i brought this up
and you really don't want to try it at all that's perfectly fine if it frustrates you
if you're having a hard time with it if it is not intuitive you may find it expensive because
hammocking is modular you can do it on the cheap you can go to amazon and get a hammock for
under thirty dollars you can find your old sleeping bag and throw it in there
if you got a sleeping bag you probably have a camping pad closed cell foam anything put
it in there rig up a cheap tarp use whatever you can and you're hammock camping all right
if you want quality gear yes it's going to cost you a little bit but think about your first
investment into camping or backpacking or boating or fishing or golf or tennis any good hobby
any good thing you get into gaming you had to buy the console you had to have a tv or
the computer you have to get the disc everything takes a little bit of investment and there's an
end to that investment that's just up to you if you just want to you know keep buying stuff most
most amateurs don't have just one a lot of people have up to ten some people just have three some
people have two some people stick with one that's up to you that's your personality
you're talking about i'm wondering why i even got into it but i will tell you why
my backpacking was at a stale place and really i just wanted to have a coffee in the morning
in a relaxed position and that led me to really exploring hammocks i got into it it came at a
time in my life when i was really looking to kind of sink myself into something and it reinvigorated
my backpacking for some of you you're going to get into it and it's going to frustrate you so
much you might not want to go backpacking so go back to your tent the important thing is that
you continue to go backpacking or camping or car camping or however it is you like to do it
what's going to happen when a lot of people are new they're going to go in their garage or their
basement or somewhere and hang their hammocks and they're really in too tight of a space so they're
not getting an optimal hang to start with and you know you're going to deal with things you're going
to find you're getting like calfridge calfridge is where there's this ridge right down the middle of
your hammock kind of digging into the back of your knee i have a video on some options to get rid
of that a lot of times you can fix that with the proper hang so that's why you need to get outside
between two trees or a fence or somewhere where you can get about 15 17 feet 13 feet and get in
there and try to get the right hang then you're going to try to sleep in it in your backyard and
that'll drive you crazy because you'll hear dogs airplanes traffic noise neighbors all kind of
night sounds it's cool because you should know what's going on in your neighborhood at night
but the birds will be chirping at like 4 30 5 o'clock in the morning that's not that bad when
you're out backpacking but in your backyard it's weird people are starting to go to work you're
hearing all kind of morning noise and it's too easy to bail out and go home so you'll never
commit you've got to go on a camping trip and commit to being out there walk a little bit get
tired get in that hammock enjoy that learning curve enjoy that learning curve that said on
the other hand you might nail it the first time i think by my third trip i was pretty satisfied
figured out how to stay warm that was the biggest issue for me because i made my own under quilts
and just didn't have them rigged right and it was cold weather and i was kind of having wind to come
through the end of the tarp so i added some doors to my tarp and i made an under quilt protector
then that helped keep the wind from robbing the heat i had built up in my underquilt so
yeah you know me shook i didn't hear right the first time or the second
maybe the third definitely by the seventh and i'm continuing to learn all the time
well i'm just going to thank you for watching i'm going to say buddy all secure in sector 7.
hey uh i don't want to sound like a pitch man or anything but i do have
uh some of my hammock paintings in the prints back in my etsy shop it's stocked so uh there's a link
below in the description box below this video all of you that have procured a few thank you very
much i really appreciate that just to know that you have one of my prints hanging in your house
i didn't think this was going to be easier