Biking

 Letters from Bike Campers

"Tom
A buddy and I recently purchased a couple of your hammocks. We like to take our mountain bikes to the trails and camp at some of the more secluded spots that you can reach by bike.  In order to do this we need equipment that is both light and compact. Your hammocks wonderfully fit the bill." 

Fine Job — S. Scopano

"Dear Tom

I have been using the hammock for roughly a year now and it has grown to be one of the best pieces of gear I own.  I am a mountain bike and backpacking guide out in Georgia and with the limited space I have for my own personal gear the 2 1/2 pound, compact hammock is the most valued piece in my pack.  

Mountain bike trips can be one of the harder trips to pack for because you're on the bike for eight to ten hours per day with only a 4000 cubic inch pack. The hammock is well suited for the job due to it's light weight and small pack size. There have been many times in the winter where I have been backpacking and run out of daylight before finding a good, flat place to put up a regular tent. Not a problem with the hammock. Not only that, I don't have to pack a sleeping pad which takes up valuable space and adds extra weight.  

Thanks Tom for designing a functional piece of gear that I can use.  Often time I find myself disappointed in design and function but the Hennessy Hammock is every bit of both."

D. L.

"By the way, I got my Hennessy Hammock. I was a bit leery about it when I opened the package, but I took it along. Put it up (just for fun) at my daughter's place. I loved it, and slept in it for the rest of the trip, even all the way down the Duck!!! I never set up my tent after that. I owe you one for that tip, Chuck! Best $89 I ever spent. Thanks! The Hammock worked great. It took up virtually no room in the Kayak and was a breeze to set-up. I even dug two posts into the sand on the beach of Hand Island (Broken Island Group) and slept on the beach, under the stars, with no bugs one night—it was awesome."

The Hennessy Hammock

The Hennessy Hammock is very quick to set up; it takes about two minutes to tie the suspension lines to two trees, and to tie the four lines that hold the sides of the hammock and the rain fly out to a pair of stakes.  The hammock has a clever feature, a slit from the center of the hammock to one end. You slip headfirst up through the slit, sit down in the center of the hammock, and draw your legs in.  The tension on the hammock brings the edges of the slit together, and Velcro finishes the seal. It is a very stable way of getting into a hammock.

Once you are in the hammock you can arrange yourself on a diagonal and find a position that is very nearly flat from head to toe. I experienced some difficulty sleeping in the Hennessy Hammock because of the slipperiness of my nylon sleeping bag against the nylon hammock. There was so little friction that I felt that the bag and I were pooling in the center of the hammock.  Rolling over was like doing a space walk; without friction, you can move easily.

In wet weather, the rain fly keeps you dry while you take off boots and rain gear and pull your sleeping bag out of its dry bag and into the hammock. Two light bungies pull the sides of the hammock out, providing more space inside and dampening the swinging that comes from shifting your position in the hammock.  The ends of the rain fly are connected to the lines that you tie the hammock up with, and there are two lines on each side of the rain fly, to stretch it out onto cover the hammock. You can set one or both sides of the rain fly low, for inclement weather, or high, to take advantage of the view.

On one of the Hennessy Hammocks we tested, the fabric pulled through a bit of stitching. It didn't compromise the function of the hammock, and Hennessy promptly sent a replacement in the mail.  For a weight test, I loaded a second hammock with my nine-year-old son and two of his friends, then I crawled into the hammock. Our combined weight was about 435 pounds, 185 pounds over the recommended load. Though we sagged deeper, there was no damage to the hammock, and it was crowded but comfortable.  In a pinch, two adults could take refuge in it.

The Hennessy Hammock is a versatile piece of gear, and its compact size makes it reasonable to carry on a paddling trip. If you get stuck you will have a comfortable bivouac or place to retreat from insects.

The Hennessy Hammock weighs only 2.25 pounds (about 1 kg) and packs into a bag about the size of a loaf of bread. Tucked into a dry bag, it is very easy to pack, and cries out to be carried as standard equipment. It sets up so quickly that I find myself looking for excuses to set it up and crawl in.