How to Make a Hammock Tent
Hammock tents offer a comfortable, lightweight source of individual tentage. If you only need to provide shelter and bedding for yourself, a hammock tent is a sound choice. Unlike many tent designs, the hammock tent is relatively simple to make at home. The easiest way to make a hammock into a hammock tent is to add your own custom-made rain fly to an existing camp hammock tent, and pitch these two together as a single unit in the field.
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Things You'll Need
- Camping hammock
- Measuring tape
- Scissors
- Plastic tarp
- Nylon rope
- Grommet kit
- Shock cord
- Four tent stakes
Instructions
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1
Set up your camping hammock in a typical position and measure how high it is off the ground and how long it is with a tape measure. Also measure the length of the hammock plus its tying straps.
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2
Cut a plastic tarp into a rain fly using the measurements from Step 1. Add margins to both measurements to account for differences in camping sites and hammock set-up. For width, double the height measurement and add 3 feet for a margin. For length, add 1 foot. For example, if your hammock is 6 feet long and typically 3 feet off the ground, your tarp needs to be cut down to a rectangle that is 7 feet long and 9 feet wide.
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3
Measure and cut a length of nylon rope equal to the length of the hammock and its tying straps. This is your rain fly line.
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4
Cut a hole into one corner of the tarp with the hole-cutting tool from a grommet kit. Install a grommet into the hole with the grommet punch from the same kit. Repeat this process for all the remaining corners.
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5
Measure and cut four sections of 1-foot long shock cord.
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6
Tie one end of a shock cord onto one of the corner grommets with two standard knots. Repeat for every corner and shock cord.
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7
Tie a bowline knot into the other end of a shock cord, so it has a solid loop. Form a loop in the middle of the remainder of the shock cord, and then thread the end of the cord through this loop and pull it through, leaving enough space to form a second open loop behind that of the cord. That space will become the bowline loop you will use after tying the knot. Draw the end of the cord under that part of the cord leading back to the grommet knots, then bring the end of the cord up and back to the first loop and thread the line through it again. Pull the knot tight around the first loop. Repeat this step for all the shock cords, so every corner has a bowline loop on it.
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8
Erect the hammock tent by setting up your hammock as directed by the manufacturer. Then tie your rain fly line around the same trees between 1 and 2 feet above the hammock straps. Throw the rain fly over this line, and secure the corners of the fly to the ground by staking the bowline loops.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit hammock image by jedphoto from Fotolia.com
