Hammock Camping Thread

I pulled my back, but can still watch camp being set up from my hammock.
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So, I think I might be bordering on gear junkie status. Just bought a Dutchware Chameleon hammock with bug net and cover. My daughter had mentioned to me the other day that she wanted a hammock with an integrated bug net like mine and my son's (she has the Kammock Roo with the bug net that drapes over everything, kind of a pain in the ass honestly, and it's now ripped from over use), so I am going to give her my Hammeck Netty, which still has a ton of life left to it.

I spoke with Dutch last night about an option that I wanted:

Good Evening!

Looking to buy a chameleon, but would like sewn in Dutch clips on the Beetle buckle suspension. Is this possible? Would like to order in the AM. What is the turn around time for a chameleon order right now?


One of the kids in my troop got one before the summer and has been rubbing my nose in it all summer (I have a hammeck netty I am passing to my daughter), keeps telling me how much more ninja he is than me lmao...... I can't have that.


Thanks!
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I sent that email at like 10:30 last night. I got the following response 3 minutes later:

That is a good scout.

If you email me your order number after you order I will throw in a set of sew on Dutch clips for free and being a scout leader. Reply to this email so I remember the conversation.

We have about a 24 hour turn around time on Chameleons. Double layer slows us down to about 2 days.


Dutch
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Talk about customer service!

So going through all of my gear the other day, I found I have a cheap net hammock, 4 netless hammocks and misc gear that I am going to put into the community hammock bin for the boy scout troop.....
 
Woot has a pretty good deal on rain flys right now

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I bought 3 (restocking gear for me and the kids). We're passing old gear to a community gear box for our troop. The Dutchware Chameleon came in and I love the design. Will take pictures this weekend.


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Every time I go on Hammock Forums, I end up spending money on new stuff. This month so far, Dutchware Complete Chameleon, 3 TR rainflys for me and the kids and an UGQ Outfitters Penny Pincher tarp for hiking. Damn it.

Gonna be lots of gear going into the community chest

Sent from Ron's tablet of DOOM.
 
CoastieRon said:
Every time I go on Hammock Forums, I end up spending money on new stuff. This month so far, Dutchware Complete Chameleon, 3 TR rainflys for me and the kids and an UGQ Outfitters Penny Pincher tarp for hiking. Damn it.

Gonna be lots of gear going into the community chest

Sent from Ron's tablet of DOOM.
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You should just buy materials from dutch and/or ripstopbytheroll and make your own hammocks and tarps!

I've made two tarps, four (or is it five?) hammocks, an underquilt, two sets of 'snakesknins', a hammock neck pillow, a bunch of stuff sacks, two ridgeline organizers, and a ridgeline pistol pouch.
 
Bonesinium said:
You should just buy materials from dutch and/or ripstopbytheroll and make your own hammocks and tarps!

I've made two tarps, four (or is it five?) hammocks, an underquilt, two sets of 'snakesknins', a hammock neck pillow, a bunch of stuff sacks, two ridgeline organizers, and a ridgeline pistol pouch.
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So um, how do you feel about making me a snake skin lol. I know my limitations.....

Sent from Ron's tablet of DOOM.
 
They're the easiest thing to make! I used some scrap noseeum mesh. Works great for tarps. Makes set up and pack up so much easier. It's a brilliant concept. Worth the cost to just buy some if you don't have a sewing machine.
 
Bonesinium said:
They're the easiest thing to make! I used some scrap noseeum mesh. Works great for tarps. Makes set up and pack up so much easier. It's a brilliant concept. Worth the cost to just buy some if you don't have a sewing machine.
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I have a sewing machine (or thread injector lol), but have zero proficiency using it (my wife is very limited as well). Maybe I'll take a look see and see what is available....

Sent from Ron's tablet of DOOM.
 
New kit: Dutchware Chameleon 11' complete

Bug net panels

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Winter panels

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Vent side:

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A couple of quick comparisons between this and the Hammeck Netty I was hanging in the last couple years:

I find the Chameleon to be roomier. I think this is because you can select the lay (left or right).

I did not have to sleep with a pillow under my knees. In the Netty I was having issues with calf ridge and slight hyper extension so I was sleeping with a pillow under my knees. I had no such issue last night

Beetle buckles: I am use to cinch buckles, so there is a learning curve with the beetle buckles, especially when adjusting while the hammock is up. Other than that, I like them.

We are up at the annual scouting Catholic Retreat at Camp Fatima this weekend. 8 boys hammocking.


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New UGQOutdoors "Penny Pincher" 12' cat cut tarp. I wasn't expecting it to come in today.

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The two maples in my back yard are the perfect distance apart. I also got the continuous ridgeline with alien clips and amsteel. Very slick. I made guylines from shock cord and they work awesome with this tarp.


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enbloc said:
17 years? Damn! When is Arbor Day?
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We used to live in the house on the lot behind us. We built the house we are not now and devided the lot. When we were in the old house, the yard was all fouled with different trees, like a quarter acre forest until we thinned it all out. Except for those two maples and a bunch of apple trees.

When we built our current house, all the apples came down, but the cherry tree and the two maples stayed. It just worked out well I guess. The boss said she wanted to take one of them down. That's going to be a great argument.....,



Sent from Ron's tablet of DOOM.
 
What are you guys using for packs these days? I'm in between my 28L NorthFace Borealis backpack, which isn't really suited to non-flat items (and is crammed full) and a 62L frame pack which is not likely durable enough for the type of woods I'm in. Cordura is my preference, vs whatever normal hiking packs are made of. I'm not hiking far but always making a second trip for the rest of my stuff is getting old.

Pretty soon I'll be actually overnight camping. Right now I'm just getting my camping area set up, clearing trees, etc. I use a hammock for seating and to take the occasional load off but once I need to include a tarp and underquilt I'll be making three trips from my Jeep. The DD below would get me 25% more storage in the main bag (37L) plus three additional bags (2x5L & 8L) for basically double the volume I have now. I've looked at the ILBE/ALICE/other surplus packs and I'd entertain them but they seem to be either too big or too small.

I had my eye on this guy (http://www.ddhammocks.com/us/product/dd-bergen-rucksack) but I guess a lot of people think it's too small or maybe not the right dimensions to be useful. I like that it's just a bucket with removable external pouches and isn't full of a bunch of useless pockets, pen holders and such that turn packs into glorified schoolbags. I keep my stuff in ditty bags, Maxpedition type organizers, etc. so I don't want all the built-in organizers.

My original price point is in the $100 range but I'm pretty flexible. Made in USA is a preference.
 
I have a 75l internal framepack from EMS. I use the bottom compartment for my underquilt and top quilt. My hammock goes in one of the side pockets, as well as my tarp. I can fit everything I need for a weekend pack in pack out trip in it. Right now my kit consists of:

Dutchwear Chameleon Hammock
UGQ Outdoors Penny Pincher 12' Tarp
Arrowhead Equipment White Cloud top quilt
Arrowhead Equipment New River under quilt

I made guyropes out of shockcord which is working out pretty awesome.
 
Our EMS just closed. It was the only reason I ever had to go to our dying mall. Deals were frequent and I like to get my hands on stuff before buying, plus the employees tend to be outdoorsy and have actually used what they sell. Anyway, I'll take a peek at the EMS stuff. 75L is probably bigger than what I'm looking for but it's a good starting point to see what they have.

ETA: The backpack I use everyday is an old EMS bag that I bought in the mid 90s. It looks used but it's still in great shape. I've had to repair a few parts that got damaged (clips, etc) along the way, but the thing is bombproof.
 
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ToddDubya said:
Our EMS just closed. It was the only reason I ever had to go to our dying mall. Deals were frequent and I like to get my hands on stuff before buying, plus the employees tend to be outdoorsy and have actually used what they sell. Anyway, I'll take a peek at the EMS stuff. 75L is probably bigger than what I'm looking for but it's a good starting point to see what they have.

ETA: The backpack I use everyday is an old EMS bag that I bought in the mid 90s. It looks used but it's still in great shape. I've had to repair a few parts that got damaged (clips, etc) along the way, but the thing is bombproof.
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I find that I have just enough room with the 75, and I pack the crap out of it. My son & daughter each have a 65L and they are able to back the same exact way. It sucks that they are closed but they were more known as Expensive Mountain Shit.....
 
You must have been paying retail. It seemed like everything was always on sale at ours. It was still expensive but good quality. A lot of it has seen heavy use and is still in good shape. But I was buying mostly clothes and if I can pay 50% for an off-season color I'm cool with it. I'm not stylish.

Maybe I'll try my frame pack out again and see how I like the volume. I'll probably be wishing it was bigger once I start bringing the 4 season underquilt, vs no underquilt for just sitting down from time to time.

I never would have thought a folding saw and hatchet would have a place in my camping gear, but boy oh boy are they nice to have. They don't have exposed sharp edges, but I worry that they might start punching holes in the pack.
 
I’ve got a Tactical Tailor MALICE pack that’s taken years of abuse and is bombproof, but the frame isn’t very comfortable for carrying a load. Now that I’m doing more recreational backpacking, I splurged this spring and bought a new Osprey Atmos 65L pack. The Osprey is amazingly comfortable with a load compared to the ALICE frame.
 
I spent the first night in my new woods last night. First of all, I planned for it getting dark early but not well enough. The woods in the dark by yourself gets a tad boring after the first 5 hours and doesn't improve after that. Then I froze my ass off in the hammock. My under quilt is a 0 degree from KAQ but it turns out the DD top quilt is only rated to 35, which I assume is more like 45, and overnight it was 25. I had on about 20 layers plus gay quilted (but usually toasty) camp slippers, a balaclava and a fleece hat and still barely managed to stay above a shiver. Even my eyeballs were cold. It's amazing how cold it gets when you aren't moving.

I have to take a look at my 0 deg mummy bag and see if I can fit both it and the under quilt in my pack. I gave the 62L pack another run and it was a tight fit with the bigger quilts so it's a good thing I didn't impulse buy something smaller.

Dat full moon doe. At first I didn't know what it was as it rose behind the mountains. Then it looked like E.T. was about to get left behind. And then I recognized it for what it was: The Great Pumpkin.
 
ToddDubya said:
I spent the first night in my new woods last night. First of all, I planned for it getting dark early but not well enough. The woods in the dark by yourself gets a tad boring after the first 5 hours and doesn't improve after that. Then I froze my ass off in the hammock. My under quilt is a 0 degree from KAQ but it turns out the DD top quilt is only rated to 35, which I assume is more like 45, and overnight it was 25. I had on about 20 layers plus gay quilted (but usually toasty) camp slippers, a balaclava and a fleece hat and still barely managed to stay above a shiver. Even my eyeballs were cold. It's amazing how cold it gets when you aren't moving.

I have to take a look at my 0 deg mummy bag and see if I can fit both it and the under quilt in my pack. I gave the 62L pack another run and it was a tight fit with the bigger quilts so it's a good thing I didn't impulse buy something smaller.

Dat full moon doe. At first I didn't know what it was as it rose behind the mountains. Then it looked like E.T. was about to get left behind. And then I recognized it for what it was: The Great Pumpkin.
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Don’t know if you adjusted your fly, but I move mine down really tight (but not touching) to the screen when it’s really cold, and also make the fly touch the ground. If your back and underneath is warm and close down the air flow your eyes won’t freeze! I have first hand knowledge of frozen lashes in a hammock!
 
SteelShooter said:
Don’t know if you adjusted your fly, but I move mine down really tight (but not touching) to the screen when it’s really cold, and also make the fly touch the ground. If your back and underneath is warm and close down the air flow your eyes won’t freeze! I have first hand knowledge of frozen lashes in a hammock!
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It's funny I was just telling some people about looking at the fly in the morning and thinking "Huh, probably should have brought that all the way down". I'll be sure to do that next time. I have the HH top cover that's supposed to close you in in colder weather. It was pretty gappy this time. I have a couple ideas for rigging it up better that I'm going to try.

I love the woods in the winter but if I can't figure it out I might just admit defeat and wait until it gets warmer. I'm not sure I want to spend another night like last night. I still don't feel right.
 
ToddDubya said:
It's funny I was just telling some people about looking at the fly in the morning and thinking "Huh, probably should have brought that all the way down". I'll be sure to do that next time. I have the HH top cover that's supposed to close you in in colder weather. It was pretty gappy this time. I have a couple ideas for rigging it up better that I'm going to try.

I love the woods in the winter but if I can't figure it out I might just admit defeat and wait until it gets warmer. I'm not sure I want to spend another night like last night. I still don't feel right.
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In my case I was at a campsite, had to get out of the hammock and spend an hour in my car to thaw out! Had icicles off my eyelashes! The trick is to remove all those air flow openings, it’s actually easier if you have some snow to work with too. Like I said, if you can keep your back warm, you’ll be ok
 
I met up with 2 other dudes and we hung our hammocks in an other dudes basement from the floor rafters Saturday night. It worked out quite well and was better then rock/paper/scissors for his couch.
 

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