Now today, let me talk about the hammock camping again even though I don’t really need any permission to start. We go over some of the pros and cons of it and going to go over all the different gear that you actually need to successfully hammock camp and I’m going to set everything up and show you how all the pieces fit together.
So a lot of people have this misconception about hammock camping that all you really need to do it is just the hammock and in some sense that may be true. But I’d say that most of the time that’s not the case you need more than just a hammock.
A hammock might do in ideal conditions if it’s the middle of the summer and it’s not raining and it’s dry out and it’s warm maybe get away of just a hammock but in most conditions you’re going to need a lot more than hammock. But I’m going to go over all that required gears.
Let’s start with a hammock which is my favourite is just a simple parachute nylon hammock made by Ticket To The Moon.
You will get these real cheap bucks! it’s really compact, really lightweight and it is pretty comfortable. I think that it is durable enough for maximum 10 years usage and big chance that you will have had any issues with them tearing or anything they usually come with a pouch built into the hammock.
Hammock camping gears that you will really need
So, the one made by TTTM is got some carabiners go right into the the nylon fabric if you need. This is their single nest I got and to be honest, I kind of wish I would have gotten their double mass which is supposed to be a double person hammock and a little wider. It is because this one when I’m in the hammock, it kind of constrains you a bit so I do kind of wish that I would have gotten the double nest which I had imagined. It will give me a little bit more arm room. So some of the pros to this is that they’re pretty comfortable. I think they’re very lightweight very easy to set up.
Now, let’s see about the cons! The nylon hammocks though is that this is paper-thin. Sometimes I think that this is probably thinner than paper so the issue that you run into is let’s say it’s windy out. Your bare back is on this hammock when there’s a gust of wind. It just all that gets sucked right out of you so this provides almost no insulation from the elements, whatsoever.
And since you’re raised up above the ground, you have the going below you, around you on top of you so that’s kind of the major concern with these nylon hammocks so they do make hammocks are thicker than this and you can definitely invest in that. Maybe cost a little bit more money even though it will have the same weight, a little bit bigger. But if you’re just starting out a simple nylon hammock, it will definitely do the job and there’s other items that you can bind to address the issue of the code and of the wind blown in these hammocks.
Another item that I recommend is actually hammock straps so these are also provided by the same manufacturer and you may be saying yourself “Man, I got paracord.” So what these straps are? do they’re just some very tough straps that easily wrap around a tree and then provide you with different levels of hooks?
I was writing about this before as you can finds in this blog. It easily just wrapped around a hammock and it’s got these loops built into it so if I wanted to adjust the height of my hammock, you know on the fly I can. If I wanted to adjust where on the tree these loops are, all I have to do is loosen it up and then pull it tight.
I think you will never had these things slip on you. The hammock straps they’re really easy to set up. I really enjoy having me inside. And again these are by TTTM.
Even though you are inside the hammock camping, you will also of course going to need a sleeping bag to go along with everything. Obviously, if you’re in cold temperatures, you want a nice winter sleeping bag. If you’re in summertime, you know you can get away with something else. You’re pretty flexible on your sleeping bag but you’re going to need a sleeping bag along with everything else. So the next item I want to talk about is the under quilt. Remember how before I said that the nylon is very thin and you will freeze your body because of that wind blows right underneath avenges sucks all your heat away.
Well, an underquilt looks to prevent that and it’s exactly what it says; it’s a quilt that actually goes underneath of your hammock. It’s kind of interesting because this can actually be used as a sleeping bag as well as a pod system. So this one you could have it just as an under quilt or you can actually zip it up and it can completely enclose you as kind of a pod going all around your hammock. This is pretty much how I would go about setting up my hammock system.
You can get your cheap nylon hammock camping and an underquilt from the same place which is TTTM and the sleeping bag from another place. The underquilt is really will helps you protect yourself from losing the heat underneath of a hammock. It is actually sagging down a few inches below the hammock to create an air gap there and that air is going to give it heated up on my body’s temperature and it’s just going to stay there as an insulating barrier.
What’s interesting about this under quilt is so it acts as an under club but it also comes with a zipper here on both ends and what I can actually do is fully zip this up, completely around myself. It goes from being just an under quote to a full-on pod system that fully encloses me which is really neat and it comes with a drawstring on the end so I could if I wanted to really cinch this up around my face if the temperature really demanded something like that.
The last item you’re really going to need if you are hammock camping is going to be a tarp. Just in case it starts raining or if there’s any debris or anything that falls off the trees, you know you want a nice tarp above you to protect you from that. Now a tarp will protect you from the rain but also helps insulate you. Believe it or not, especially how you can set up the tarp with different configurations. But if you set it up nice and close to you, it’ll help keep the air in the space warm and help you keep you warm.
Overall, you can also set the tarp off to help prevent the wind or when the wind is blowing over top of you or under you as well. So, the good tarp is definitely something that you’re going to need. I want to talk a bit more about it that you can use. The one that you can also use is from TTTM hammock. It’s like an diamond tarp shape. For me, this is not the usual setup that I would do, right? This is only like half setup just so you can really see into the camp. If it’s cold weather like I said before, I wouldn’t have this kind of a trap because the shape isn’t really preventing me from the cold.
But still, it can really be needed if you are need the one that can be setup quicker. The shape is has as little as two guy points and has the enough length so you can really tie the tarp around nearby supports or even stake it in to the ground. Another option you can have is kind of a teepee shape down and have that kind of come out straight or even up a bit and that way you can have a nice campfire. It’ll kind of reflect that heat back into you. One thing that I love about this tarp is that it actually comes with all the string that you need to lash it up built right into it.
It has the pockets and right in there you can store all the string that you need. It’s quite a bit probably like feet of rain that comes with it for you to tie it up. That’s a big plus in my mind where I finds it very convenient, very easy.
So I will definitely recommend the TTTM’s hammock camping tarp if you’d like to get the diamond shape and also another shape from different manufacturer or shop that obviously a lot of different ways that you can actually attach your tarp to the tree.
I think that those are pretty much everything that you’re really going to need to set up a good hammock camping sleeping system. We have a tarp to go over you, we have an underquilt to go underneath your hammock, we have your sleeping bag, the straps for the tarp and for the hammock and then we have the actual hammock itself. And as you can think, it is definitely more than a lot of people think.
I think we’ve run through everything that you’re really going to need to successfully do hammock camping right. If you want to be comfortable, you want to be right, you want to be warm, you know that those above are all the items that you’re really going to need.
It’s not as simple as just grabbing a hammock and running out in the woods, you know. You still need a few more things as I did. I love hammock camping and I don’t think I’m ever going to go back to regular tent camping. The biggest selling point for me is that I’ve got a bad back and I’m an old man now. And this parachute hammock—it feels great on my back. I love it. It feels so much better than sleeping on the ground even if I’ve got the most expensive mat.
This is so much better by far and also you know you can just kind of chill out and hang out in the hammock. You know it is. It’s a free chair as well as a sleeping system which I really love. So that’s it.
As I said before that I have link to one of the page to the official site on above that talks more about hammock camping. There you can also find the related pages to the hammock shop as well as to the tarp and the other relevant accessories and gears that you are going to need. Check out the site, read their experiences of where their team have been adventured and many more valuable information.