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Enjoying your leisure time with a hammock

A holiday is not really a holiday without a hammock. If you are travelling by car, then his hammock is just as quickly packed up, as you can take it out again and hang it up between two trees. All you need are two roped and two carabiners.

However, if you are trekking, then it is not as much fun, carrying this heavy hammock around with you. Hammocks made of plastic mesh are much lighter. As a matter of fact, they weigh only 200g and are foldable as well. They fit into just about every back bag.

Enjoying your leisure time with a hammock
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It’s the same when you are camping. Weight matters. However, instead of going and buying an expensive hammock one of your program points could be to make a hammock DIY. Then you can test it straight away and spend a night in it.

Constructions – the easy way

What you need is a strong awning fabric, a sturdy blanket or even a tarpaulin will do. Size approx. 300cm x 140cm.

Fold the smaller sides in a way, that you can pull through the rope without that slipping out later. If you incorporate a stone or piece of wood, that will prevent the rope from slipping out.

The next step, you tie the two ropes between two trees and your hammock is ready to be carefully tested. This kind of hammock is done quickly. All you need is the fabric and the ropes.

Here are, however, the building instructions for a more time-consuming hammock:

You need the same kind of fabric like above. However, it can be a little bit smaller. 240x140cm will do. Furthermore, you will need eyelets about 10 – 12 mm which you can set with an eyelet setter.

Fold the narrow sides for about 5 cm. This will give you the strength of 3 layers of fabric. In this narrow strip, you will set the eyelets at a distance of 7 – 10 cm. When finished, you should have 15 – 20 eyelets on your hammock.
At each eyelet secure a nylon rope with a tight knot. Each rope should be about 130 cm. However, if in doubt, make it rather longer than too short. On the other side, all ropes come together and are fastened with a strong metal ring or carabiner if available. To make that look acceptable, temporarily stretch the hammock and also fasten the hook and carabiner to a tree. This makes it easy to adjust all the 15 – 20 ropes one by one and then attach it to the hammock or the carabiner respectively. Should you use twice the length of the ropes (260 cm), then you have to pull the ropes through a carabiner or a metal ring to fasten both ends at the eyelets.

Reinforcing tips:

Folding of the small side of the fabric as described above can be reinforced if you saw it up with a sewing machine. This way you can punch holes which do not easily tear. However, you could also fold the longer sides and sew them as well.

However, a word of caution

Before you start swinging in your new hammock test it carefully first. Deepening on how strong and how old the fabric is and how well the eyelets are put into place, that will eventually determine how much weight your hammock can carry. The chances are that there could be a tear somewhere.

But do not knock it 'till you try it.