Age: 31
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 7" (1.7 m)
Weight: 185 lb (79 kg)
Name: Brian Tannehill
Date: 5 Sep 2006
Email: tannehillclan(at)gmail(dot)com
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Backpacking Background:

I am fairly new to backpacking, but I have hunted/fished/camped all my life in East Texas, Colorado, and California. My young kids (4, 10, 12) limit me to weekend overnight camping trips, or day hikes Geocaching. I am also an avid mountain biker. Currently I live in Colorado Springs, Co at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Pike National Forest surrounds me at 9000 - 14,110 feet (2743 m - 4301 m). Snow can happen 10 months out of the year and summer is the hottest reaching 85 deg F + (29 C), the other months average 45 deg F (7 C).

Product Information:

Manufacturer: Crazy Creek
Year of Manufacture: 2006
URL: http://www.crazycreek.com/
MSRP: $ 199.00 USD
Listed Weight: 54 oz (1531 g)

Weights as I measured them:
Poles each: 3 oz (84 g) x 2
Aluminum Stakes each: 3/8 oz (12g) x 6
Tie Out Ropes: 3 1/2 oz (100 g)
Rain Fly: 12 5/8 oz (356 g)
Hammock: 2 lbs 3/4 oz (928 g)
Stuff Sack: 1 1/4 oz (36 g)
Total weight: 58 5/8 oz (1,662g)

Field Locations:

The locations of my tests have been in the Rocky Mountains of Pike National Forest just west of Colorado Springs. Elevations have ranged from 7,000 feet (2,134 m) at my house up to around 10,000 feet (3,048 m) in the local mountains. Weather at this time of the year is fairly warm. Temperatures will range from a high of mid 80's (29 C) and a low of mid 50's (13 C) through the month of July to mid 60's (18 C) for a high to mid 30's (-2 C) for the low in the month of October. The terrain is typical for the Rocky Mountain region. Very steep, rocky trails and numerous trees to hang from.

Field Reporting:

I have used this hammock numerous times since my Initial Report.

Hammock Set-up:
I finally figured out how to get my Therm-a-Rest Z Rest into the sleeping pad compartment. I had to do it kind of like putting a pillow case on a pillow. Before setting up the hammock I had to lay it out flat, then start the pad into the sleeping pad spot, then pick it and the hammock up and shake it like putting a pillow case on. Eventually it will slide in pretty easily, and the more I've doen it, the easier its become. I've gotten both the Z Rest and the old green military pads to fit inside the sleeping pad holder.

To answer the question from my initial report, is there a proper way to set up the hammock? My answer is a resounding YES!

In this first set of pictures I had the hammock set up really tight. This is how the pad buckles on me when I set it up this way.

Take note of the red lines I added to the picture below, the hammock bottom is really tight at those points. Because of how tight I had it, the pad tends to buckle and is very uncomfortable. It mainly buckles up at the head and foot section like the picture above when I sit in it. I also think this is part of the reason I felt like it rolled my shoulders in some.

Notice in this second set of pictures, after I added some slack, the difference in the hammock set up. The bottom lays flatter than before and is much more comfortable.

bottomslack

I make sure to add a bit more slack into the hammock when I set it up now. I try to string it between trees right about my waist/mid section. This way it has enough slack to lay flat, and it will not hit the ground when I lay in it.

Rain Fly Set-up:
The rain fly set up was an adventure in it self. All the documentation says the rainfly is factory taped and seam sealed. Upon further inspection neither of those statements were true. I performed two test on the rain fly to make sure. The first thing I did was to fill it up with water around one of the seams and watched the water drip through. The second thing I did was set it up in the rain. The only part that leaked was of course along the seams and where the tie outs are sewn in.

I do not think having the tarp seam sealed would be that big of an issue, except that the main seam runs right down the middle of the ridgeline. I might get wet in this case.

Here is a close up of one of the tie out points. No factory taping and I can actually see through some of the stitching. Thats where I get a lot of leakage from during the rain.
tieout

The rain fly came with 25 meters (82 feet) of small diameter rope to stake it out with. The documentation suggests cutting the rope at 6-10 ft (180-250 cm) intervals for the ridgeline tie-outs and 4-6 ft (120-180 cm) intervals for all others. There was no method to my madness when I cut them as I was in the field and had no way to measure exactly the length of rope recommended. I wound up using my arm span (fingertip to fingertip) of about 5.5 feet (1.7 m) to measure out the rope. Some lines I made two lengths of my wingspan, others were just one. I found that using this method I would actually need more rope than provided so I had to add some of my own rope to it.

There are actually 14 tie outs on this tarp. I can successfully tie it out with about half of that, usually only using 6-8 tie out points. The below picture is looking down one side of the tarp. The two tie outs in the middle of the side are the longest on mine. I think those (two on either side) could be done away with, but then again this is my first real tarp and hammock.
14 tieouts

One thing I like to do with the webbing is criss cross it and use the friction of the webbing on itself to help hold the hammock in place.
webbing

I have not set this hammock up like a bivy yet. I have tried to set it up on my wooden back porch to get an idea of how it would work, but I don't really see a way to stake out the hammock from head to foot. This is something I will experiment with for my long term report.

Some of my questions and concerns:

To answer some more of my questions from my initial report:
Read my Initial Report for clarification of this first question.

Will the material stretch some so the zipper is not as tight?
It does not seem to be as tight as the first time I set it up.

How easy is this thing to set up? How long does it take? Is it easier or harder than I expected?
I find this hammock really easy to set up. The hardest thing is getting the sleeping pad inserted and staking out the rain fly. I've unfortunatly bent one of the stakes driving it into some rocky soil. So far its been easier than expected.

How easy is the Crib to get in and out of?
So far its been easy

Does it balance well? Will I fall out? LOL I've fallen out of every hammock I have used.
Yes I've fallen out once, but for the most part it is really stable.

Does it lend itself to sleeping on my side? Stomach? At a diagonal across the bottom or with my feet off either side?
I've slept on my side in it, not bad. I can not sleep on my stomach, and the pad holder makes it difficult to lay at a diagonal. I do place my feet on either side of the hammock to force it flat.

Can it be used as a quick camp chair? Yes.

How will it stand up to the wind? Unknown so far

Some of the old reports mentioned the lines on the hammock fraying. Has this changed any? No fraying yet

Test Plan:

My test plan will continue to address the above questions as well as using this hammock with a few different sleeping bag configurations. I also plan to use it on the ground as a bivy. I think it will make a pretty nice one man tent/bivy. I will be using it on numerous hikes up a local place called Stanley Canyon in the Pike National Forest. Temperatures are now dropping down into the high 30's F (3 C) to low 40's (6 C) at night so I may move to the ground sooner than expected.

Thanks to Backpackgeartest and Crazy Creek for allowing me to participate in this test.

Brian

Read more reviews of Crazy Creek gear
Read more gear reviews by Brian Tannehill

Field Report

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