Hennessy Hammock has incredibly dedicated users who love to share information with each other. We want to encourage you to connect with each other, and this is a great place to share some useful ideas.

Send us your tips! By email: click here. Also, remember to use the 'share' buttons that you'll find at the bottom of every page of our website.

John Nigeboer from Seals Action Gear in Calgary showed us how he uses the Hennessy Hammock as a camp chair (more details here).

Also, see “Hennessy Hammock as a Tent” for a way to use your hammock when there are no trees.

.....I am writing to tell you that I took your hammock on the West Coast Trail, and managed to find, every night, a place to hang it. However, to say that there are trees at the campsite to hang a hammock is not an accurate statement.

The underbrush is so thick that it is impenetrable in may spots. Furthermore, most of the beaches on the trail, especially the campsite ones are ringed by steep cliffs.

Therefore, it takes a little creativity to hang a Hennessy. At Tsusiat Falls I had to anchor into the rock as well on one end, and drape one of the tree huggers down a gap between a boulder and the cliff and tie it to a piece of driftwood thicker than the gap to hold me in place.

At Cribs Creek and at Tsusiat Falls easily accessible trees were scarce. I managed to find two overlapping logs that provided me an anchor point to lodge a vertical log to hold up one end of my hammock, but than the other end I had to anchor directly into the rock.

All in all the WCT can be done with a Hennessy Hammock, but not if you expect to camp anywhere, or in trees. I will, over the next few months pick up some more climbing nuts, and perhaps a few cams as well so that next time I am even better prepared! One thing I have started doing is using carabiniers to clip the tree huggers together, I than tie a truckers hitch into the line, tighten it up on the carabiniers and than tie a couple of half hitches onto the 'biner, this makes putting up and taking down very simple.

Letter and photos from Michael Elsdon, Calgary, Alberta..

Since I often hang several items from the ridge line in my Expedition Asym, I came up with a simple way to keep the weight from sliding toward the center of the hammock and from hanging low enough for me to always be bumping into them. I tied two 5 foot lengths of paracord to each clip at the ends of the ridge line. From those cords, I can hang my pistol above my head, my head lamp just above the pouch, small items in the pouch, and my shoe laces toward my feet (with the shoes hanging down just outside the velcro) and have all that weight stay exactly where I put it by tying a quick slipknot around the items with the paracord. This enables everything to stay where I put it and for me to make a quick pull to release them without even turning on the light. To make it even easier, I tie the slip knot for the pistol around the holster so I don't even have to mess with a knot if I need it. When I get up in the morning or pack up the hammock, I quickly tie each end of paracord to the pouch in the center so that the next time I get in, I can easily access both cords to hang things up.

My next idea for this season will be to use the same system, but to tie some more lightweight clips onto one long stretch of paracord that are also clipped onto the ridge line in locations where I usually hang things and that way I won't even have to mess with knots. I'll post again after I give it a try.

Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you again for an excellent product! I tell everyone that I talk with about camping to get the hell off of the ground and to swing in the trees with the rest of us smart monkeys that own Hennesseys.
Cheers,
-Fred Cunningham, Moscow, Idaho.
- Hennessy owner for over 6 years and I still think it's just a bit more comfortable than my bed which cost four times as much.

Tips from Tom

Tom Hennessy is an avid user of his own equipment -- that's why he designed and developed it! So we thought it made sense to include some of his tips in here as well.

Care and Maintenance

Dry and repack damp gear to avoid mildew, mold or color bleeding. To clean, hand wash using mild detergent, warm water rinse and air dry. Inspect for damage after each use. Children under 12 years must be supervised. Do not smoke, cook or light fires inside the hammock. Hammock is guaranteed for one occupant and weight limit of 250 lbs / 113.4kg.

How to adjust your hammock for the best rest

To prevent sliding either closer to the head or foot end of the hammock, level your hammock by making sure that support ropes are equal length and are tied at the same height at each end. If you find yourself sliding either to the head or foot end, raise the webbing strap up at that end a few inches to correct the imbalance.

Body weight distribution

Now for the fine points, you want your hammock to be level after you are in it. Hammock level also depends on body weight distribution. Each person has a different weight distribution, if you are heavier at the shoulders, the rope at the foot end should be raised enough to compensate, if you are heavier at the hips the head end should be raised to compensate. A few adjustments should suffice.

Using a “line level”

Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what level actually is when you’re setting up on a steep slope with no level reference except your brain. A cheap plastic line level purchased from the hardware store can be hung on the ridgeline and read from a reclining position to help you get the hammock angle adjustment exactly right every time.

Ideas to keep your rain fly tensioned

You’ve probably noticed that nylon tarps, tent fabrics and nylon adjustment cords will stretch when wet which often results in a loose and flapping rainfly, which later tightens up and looks great again after the sun dries it out. Nylon stretchess 11-15% and polyester stretches 2-3%.You can tie a few loops of shock cord between the “O” ring and the nylon adjustment cord on each side of the rainfly. Use the stretch in the shock cord to take up the stretch in the nylon when it gets wet.

Improving fly shape

Always tighten the rainfly lengthwise first, then tie the side adjustment cords out or down last. This will result in a better shaped rainfly. If you want to tweak the shape even further, you can tie a length of lightweight nylon string lengthwise under the rainfly between the two "O" rings. Adjust to tension fairly tight and it will hold the fly a little higher, take out a few wrinkles and improve air circulation under the fly.

Tying a weight to each side of your rainfly

Another tip is to tie a weight onto the “O” ring on each side of the rain fly. A weight around 7 to 10 lbs. should do the trick. You can use anything, such as a rock, a chunk of wood off the ground or something out of your pack. As the rain or dew stretches the nylon, the weight lowers the rain fly and maintains tension at the same time.

Gear storage inside each end of the hammock.

All hammock ridge lines are installed with a loop on each inside hammock end to which a small carabinier can be hooked to hold daypacks, water bottles, and other small items which are too heavy to hang over the ridge line. It's dark up in the corners and you have to look but they're there, so - check it out!

ALSO: See info on staying warm in your Hennessy Hammock with Cold Weather Camping.