So I was approached to do a blog about the “lightest” hammock set up from a hammockforum member deGuerre. I have to say the Monkey is a bit apprehensive about this. Why? Well first I have a biological advantage in this hammock world than most people. I’m short… Like really short.
How short am I?
Some short jokes from my friends:
I’m so short I can play handball off a curb
I’m so short Oompa Loompas look down to talk to me
I’m so short I have to reach up to tie my shoes
I’ve even been called a “Brownie” from the movie WILLOW…. Stupid Dikinies!
Oh it goes on. And on. And on. These guys don’t stop with the jokes! Luckily I’m a sexy bitch or else I’d have problems finding dates when I was younger!
My actual specs are 5’ 4” and I weigh between 150 – 160lbs depending on various goals of mine and if I decide NOT to hit the gym for a while or stop taking weight gaining protein shakes to build up muscle mass.
But I digress… Being born this way allows me to attain a much lighter weight than most “normal” sized human beings. I can use the lightest hammocks without fear, use the lightest suspension straps, get custom top quilts which are shorter and lighter, and 2/3 under quilts are really like 3/4 under quilts to a person like me.
But in this blog I don’t want to discuss the lightest hammock set up for me. I’m going to modify things for you normal peeps and like I stated in my Tent vs Hammock Weight Saga Blog the normal person will be about 5’10” tall and weigh in between 180-200lbs and we are gearing this toward 3 season (lows from 32*F and up). Also, I want to gear this toward the NON-DIY folks out there to make things easier:
Hammock, Suspension & Bug Net:
Grant Trunk Nano 7 Hammock (less stock suspension) – 5 oz ($80)
Dynaglide Whoopie Slings (pair) – 0.6 oz ($19)
6 foot polyester Tree Straps (pair) – 2.4 oz ($10) NOTE I did not include toggles.. you can use sticks out in the wild so Man UP!
Tulle Bug Sock (by Papa Smurf) – 2 oz ($60)
1.75mm Zing It Ridgeline (108” Long) – 0.2 oz ($20 you are gonna have to buy 50’ of this line)
Total Hammock Weight & Price – 10.2 oz or 0.64 lbs ($189)
Tarp & Guylines:
Cuben Fiber Tarp 11’ x 8.5’ *No Doors* (Zpacks seems to be the lightest) – 5.7 oz ($235) NOTE: Weight includes seam sealing with SilNet
Guy Lines (Z-line 1.25mm) 3-4 feet each of the 4 corners – 2 oz ($13 you are gonna have to buy 50’ of this line)
Single Line Tarp Ridgeline approx 30’ long Amsteel with soft shackle prussiks – 1 oz ($24)
4 Ti Stakes approx 7” long – 1.5 oz ($15)
Total Tarp Weight – 10.2 oz or 0.64 lbs ($287)
Insulation (Good down to at least 30*F):
Top Quilt (Black Mamba) – 19 oz ($250)
Under Quilt (Yeti 2/3) – 12.5 oz ($190)
Gossamer Gear Thinlight Pad 1/8” – 1.5 oz ($10)
Total Insulation – 33 oz or 2.1 lbs ($450)
TOTAL COMPLETE LIGHT ASS MOTHER OF ALL THINGS HOLY – 53.4 oz or 3.3 lbs ($926)
Some Additional Notes:
You can probably lose 1/2 ounce by going 1.75mm Zing It line as your continuous tarp ridgeline but I’ve had more success with the amsteel as the prussiks lock down better on that material. The weights listed is the weight of my Whoopie Slings Continuous Ridgeline set up with figure 9 and knot bone attachments. You could also go lighter by using dutch’s tarp flys and dutch hook.
I chose Warbonnet’s insulation system because to me that is the lightest things out there with the most reliable weights listed on their site. I’ve weighed them and they are accurate to within 0.2oz. My scale seems to measure them lighter than what’s on the site. You could get them lighter but Brandon doesn’t do custom orders. You could contact HammockGear.com and have them do a custom order with Momentum fabric which is lighter and you can probably shave an ounce or two.
Good to mention I’ve gotten the insulation system down to 27*F using the yeti, mamba and the 1/8” GG thinlight pad.
Hammock Gear is integrating cuben fiber in a lot of their top and under quilts. This is really new (Aug 2011) so the long term durability is still in question on those. This is making their top quilts a bit lighter (somewhere in the 17-18oz range) but the yeti still seems to reign supreme on the weight savings. Will have better results in about 1-2 years of constant use from others who have bought these items.
Long term usage of cuben fiber tarps is still debatable and we wont know the true durability of this fabric for at least another year or two (2012 – 2013). However, this fabric is easily repairable with duct tape or cuben fiber tape sold by Hyperlite Mountain Gear (you have to specifically ask for it)
I haven’t layed on a Grand Trunk Nano hammock so I’m not sure of the comfort that this hammock provides. These specs were obtained from Sgt. Rock’s write up on hammockforums.net: CLICK HERE FOR THREAD . As far as weight limit… Sgt Rock easily falls into the normal mark of 180-200lbs…. Sgt Rock I’m not callin you fat, for the record… Strong Like Bull!
Z-Line is really tough and withstands winds up to at least 30-35mph. I had a real windy day and these things didn’t snap… DURABILITY WARNING… I used a rock on top of my ti stakes to prevent them from up rooting due to the wind. The zline was rubbing against one of the rocks and it almost cut the Z-line in half. So don’t use anything that can be rubbed against the Zline. And BTW I really didn’t need the rocks on top of the stakes they would have held just fine. Don’t use the Z-line for the hammock ridgeline… it will snap. Ask Sgt Rock.
Ti Stakes – Lawson Equipment seems to have some of the lightest ti stakes available. I have mine from him and they are very good.
Tree straps you can go lighter by cutting the straps down. Depends on the trees in your area.
There has been success with IX Underquilts At Tree to Tree Trail Gear which are much lighter than down under quilts. Not as compactable but worth looking into if you are doing strictly 3 season.
Total possible additional savings is perhaps 3oz making the set up at 50.4 oz or 3.15 lbs
And this is how the Water Monkey Rolls:
Trail Name - Water Monkey 
Great post Raul. Let those tenters try and criticize that setup!!
Hmm. That would be a nice set up. Its a bit on the pricy side, but by the time anyone builds a hammock set up with all the fix’ins like that it gets up there in price. Quilts are next on my list.
Your tree straps are way too heavy. If you are going light, replace them with continuous loop slings with twigs or popsicle sticks inserted vertically under them to distribute the load. That drops at least an ounce. Maybe two.
yes I was told recently you can go that route. My question is… wouldn’t that be a pain in the ass to do on a regular basis on the set up process?
What are “continuous loop slings”?
Thanks for this post. Very good read. Love the blog.
Hug life,
deGuerre
$926; I need a job like yours if you can swing this and still find the time to get out and hang..
Have you looked into the Hummingbird Hammock?
I use the Grand Trunk Nano (I jumped the gun and purchased the 8 oz version — around 6 oz without suspension) with my set up and find it to be very comfortable. I wake up to roll over and usually grab each side in my hands to make sure I stay centered on the hammock. Before I started using this trick, I fell out of this one once because I was so used to my much wider GT Ultralite! Coincidentally, I’m also 5’4″ and range from 140 – 150 and this works well for me.