After looking at a few of the commercial hammock offerings, I've been playing around with trying to make my own. Has anyone seen a kit or pattern out there that could act as a guide? Alternately, if someone has made one and can offer and helpful hints on materials, designs (spreader bar? no spreader bar?), or pitfalls it would be appreciated.

I've got some uncoated ripstop (WalMart special) that might work for this, but any recommendations on materials would be great.

THANKS!

Probably everything you need to know for starting out you would be able to find in Ed Speer's book "Hammock Camping: The Complete Guide to Greater Comfort, Convenience, and Freedom". Even has an entire chapter on making your own hammock, right down to materials choices, sewing techniques, and sizing. Great book. I must have read it about 8 times and still refer to it when thinking of new hammock ideas.

And Ed Speer sells kits to make your own. I just finished mine (well, actually my wife did). It is simple to make if you can use a sewing machine. Slept in it 2 nights this weekend and it was the most comfortable hammock I've used.

Check out www.imrisk.com/zhammock/zhammock.htm

I sewed one up with ripstop from wally world last week and I'm liking the results.

My wife is sewing up the cat tarp for me from some gray silnylon I also found at wally world in the $1 bin.

Have you made a hammock yet? Risk also has a no-sew TestHammock on his site that you can make in just a few minutes...then all you have to do is hem the edges to make it permanent. It's cake.

Definitely recommend Ed Speer's book, too. Great resource.

Jeff-
Thanks, I haven't made it yet, but Risk's site was very helpful. With a relatively new baby at home, I thought I could sub in some "gear time" at home for trail time. As any parent will know, this is definitely not the case...

After looking at the construction of some commercially available ones, plus a few MYOG pages like Risks's, I think I have a basic idea of what I want to do.

I'm tempted to save the ripstop and go with some $1 walmart taffeta (similar to Risk's test hammock) for the first attempt. Someone here mentioned making one out of pants liner material. Might turn out a little lighter (~.5oz yd2 depending on the material), but I'm worried about durability.

Heck, I might have just talked myself back into the ripstop afterall. With limited free time to sew, I might as well make one that I know will work, and then try and find the time to make a lighter one later.