I ordered the RBTR bridge hammock kit .

I decided to go with the precut kit for a couple of reasons. I don't a have a nice large area for cutting fabric and I'm not very good yet with cutting very precisely. The Airweave fabric that comes with the kit is pretty cool, it's kind of stretchy and pretty soft. It should feel nice to lay on.

I decided to add a double layer for bug proofing and to give me a sleeve to slide a pad into. I went with 1.1oz silpoly for the outside layer.

I got the hammock body sewed up in about three hours tonight. It was really simple, with the hardest part being tracing the pattern onto the silpoly and cutting it. Hiker Dad/Bic has a series of great videos showing how to sew the hammock and bug net.

I'm waiting on my order from Dutch ware to finish up the suspension. I'm going to spend a few nights in the hammock before I decide where and how large of saddlebags I want. Once I get that figured out I can add the bug net.

I'll get some pics of the hammock and the RBTR Winter tarp I sewed posted as soon as I get the suspension finished up.

I would love to hear any sil coated fabric sewing tips! I pinned every 12 inches or so and things were still sliding around on me. Wasn't as bad as when I sewed the tarp, but still pretty bad.

Thanks for the tip on the basting tape Tomcat. I'll give that a try next time.

Thanks for testing that. My biggest difficulty has been getting the two layers of fabric to feed at the same speed. The bottom layer seems to feed faster. I'm guessing a big part of it is user error on my part with how I'm holding the fabric. I'll still give the tape and pins a try while also trying to improve my technique.

I'm stuck with my inherited Janome quilting sewing machine for now. One of these days it would be nice to have a heavy duty one with a walking foot.

Thanks for the other suggestions. It gives me a place to start.

Beavers: "
I would love to hear any sil coated fabric sewing tips! I pinned every 12 inches or so and things were still sliding around on me. Wasn't as bad as when I sewed the tarp, but still pretty bad."

Wonder clips. Far better than pins and don’t add pinhole leak areas. I would consider them essential to sewing slippery outdoor fabrics. And they can seal a bag of Cheetos to finish later.

Thanks Muddyfeet. I'll have to get some of those to add to the bag of slippery fabric sewing tricks.

I noticed while doing some research on this that multiple people suggested tissue paper under the fabric to help improve traction. In my case the bottom layer has been feeding faster than the top layer leaving me with excess top layer bunching up at my pins and at the end of a seam. Putting tissue paper under the bottom layer of fabric seems like it would feed that layer even faster making my problem worse. Am I missing something?

I also found that Janome offers an add on
Walking foot for my machine. Has anyone tried something similar? I'm sure it's not as good as a true walking foot, but for only $35 I'd give it a shot if they help.

Interesting topic on sewing sil nylon. Did a quick search and found a video using the same walking foot attatchment. Looks like it works well on the material being used but I don't think it's sil nylon.



Attatchment

Thanks for the video Wingnut. It looks like it works pretty good.
I went ahead and ordered one from Amazon. If it doesn't work I can always return it.

I finally got all my hardware for the hammock and had a chance to try it out. The good news is my stitching held and I didn't come crashing to the ground. The bad news is I don't like the hammock at all. It feels very narrow and tight in the shoulders. I'm only 6' and 190 lbs so I'm not a big guy. I laid in it for an hour and still couldn't find a way to get comfortable. I know there's a ton of people that love their bridge hammocks. It just doesn't work for me, so I'm back to my gathered end hammock were I can spread out more. The kids liked it though so I guess one of them is getting a new bridge hammock.

I got my walking foot and I think it's well worth $35. I tried it on some sil scraps and it seems to feed much better. I discovered it also works great for reflectix. I'm making some new pot koozies and with the regular foot it wouldn't feed at all, put on the walking foot and it worked great. I'm thinking it will come in handy when I start sewing under quilts.

Good to hear your walking foot attachment worked out for you. Does your machine without the attachment rely only on the feed dogs at the base to move material? I have an old Singer 111 that uses the needle to feed material through and has me wondering how mine would handle the slippery material.

Tomcat,
I agree I always test my gear at home first. I like to get it all dialed in first. Plus it's just fun to play with camping gear. I also like checking out yours and others projects for ideas.

Wingnut,

My machine has bottom feed dogs.
Apparently the walking foot attachment is commonly used by quilters. My Mom and MIL both say they use them all the time quilting thicker materials and for sewing on batting.

Beavers, is that hammock symmetrical top to bottom? What is the width of the head bar?

I have a ridgerunner I like a lot but am always looking to shave weight. The RR is plenty wide for me...6', 175, 41" shoulders...but the RR has a 39.5" bar at the head - lots of width.

Regardless, nice build!

Thanks sns

Mine is 36" bars on both ends.

I'm going to set it up this weekend and try it again before I give up on it.

If you ever get the itch to try again you might want to look into the recessed bar bridge hammock designs. The Grizz Bridge Ariel is one such design. The spreader bars are closer to your shoulders so that may ease the squeeze. I made a modified version (50" wide with 40" spreaders) of the Grizz bridge and I really like it. My write up is here:
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php/153219-YARBBH-(Yet-Another-Recessed-Bar-Bridge-Hammock)

Thanks rausrh.
That's a great looking hammock design and nice detailed build post. I really need to take the time to learn SketchUp.