Jury Rig a Hammock Between Trees

by CameronG2 in Outside > Camping

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Jury Rig a Hammock Between Trees

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This Instructable will teach you how to use household items to turn an unbalanced store-bought hammock into a much sturdier, prettier hammock. Often, store bought hammocks do not have the correct items to mount them to trees with the level of customizability that most people want. Or worse, they will come with stands that tip very often, which is unsafe, and makes it very difficult to get on/off the hammock. (as if that isn't hard enough as is)

So this Instructable will show you how to use household items to mount your hammock to trees of your liking, which will make it much more natural looking, and more fun to use.

Gathering Supplies

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The supplies you need are:
  • Your hammock
  • a chain (if the hammock does not already come with it)
  • a child's car seat seat belt
  • A tape measure

Optional:

  • You could also use toe strap pictured above, but I have found the seat belts to work the best, and be more common

Finding the Right Trees

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You generally want to find trees that are at least 10' apart, but depending on the size of the hammock, they could be farther apart. Mine are about 12.5' apart. It is also better if they are straight and have many leaves for good shade in the summer.

Strapping

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Next, take the seat belt and tie it. You can also tighten it like you would if it was in a car. The only difference is that it is on a tree.

Adjusting

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Now you can take the chain that you have, or the one that came with your hammock, to attach to the seat belt via a hook that is on the belt. (if you cannot locate yours, you can also use a carabiner clip )

You can choose which link you attach to adjust the height of the hammock. Just make sure it is consistent on both sides. I like to have my hammock about 2.5' off the ground, but you can change this at your leisure if you want.