How to Make a Stretch Hammock

The stretchier a hammock is, the more comfortable it can be.

All hammocks have a certain amount of give, letting them conform to your body’s shape. Hammocks with solid spreader bars are easier to get in and out of because of their continually open position, but pay the difference in decreased stretchiness. Compensate for this by making your hammock out of semielastic cord, allowing it to retain the bounce of a bar-free hammock while maintaining the rigid variety’s ease of use.

Things You'll Need

• 3-foot rope
• Semi-elastic cord
• Netting shuttle
• Knife
• 1-inch diameter stick
• 2 33-inch wooden bars
• Drill
• 2 steel rings

Instructions

1. Loop the rope over a solid object, such as a chair leg or tree branch, and tie the ends together. Wrap cord around the netting shuttle until full. Cut the free end and tie it to the rope loop.

2. Hold the stick horizontally just behind the point where the cord is knotted to the loop. Wind the elastic cord tightly around the cord without stretching it and pull it out through the loop. Tie a half-hitch knot around the entire loop as close to the stick as possible, and then pull the shuttle to the right.

3. Do this19 more times, forming a knotted row of loops along the stick’s length. Carefully slide the stick out of the loops, and then turn the work over so the shuttle is on the left. Hold the stick horizontally behind the loose part of the cord again.

4. Repeat this step 53 more times, tying each subsequent row of half-hitches to the series of cord loops above them rather than to the starter rope loop. Always work from left to right and reload the shuttle whenever you run out of elastic cord.

5. Cut the rope loop, untie it from the cord, pull it free and discard it. Cut 40 lengths of elastic cord, each 30 inches long, and tie one to each of the loops in the hammock’s first and last rows. Drill 20 holes at equal distances from each other along the length of both wooden bars and thread the loose cords through them, one bar at each end. Tie the free cord-ends at the head of the hammock to one ring and those at the foot to the second. Hang the hammock at a height of 6 to 8 feet.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't use overly elastic cord. The stretchier the material, the greater the curvature of your body when lying in the hammock and the higher you'll have to hang it.

References

• Hammocks.com: How to Make Your Own Hammock