Accidents!

[Warthogiam]

Has anybody ever had a hammock fail on them whilst sleeping? Either the webbing or the material.
If so what injuries if any were sustained and do you still use a hammock?

 

[Mesquite]

I know of one...

Andy2112 use the Twang-twang-thump method on his hammock... he seems pretty on now, no lasting injuries

 

[decorum]

I know of one...

Andy2112 use the Twang-twang-thunk method on his hammock... he seems pretty on now, no lasting injuries

That wasn't so much an equipment failure though ~ more a failure to understand and appreciate basic physics


I believe a certain John Fenna had an interesting adventure when mass and gravity seriously interjected with 'a terminal fabric malfunction'

 

[Globetrotter.uk]

My DD did start to come apart but it lasted the night when I used it while out with a friend last year. The only accident I had was I missed getting back in it after a call of nature, I found the nettle though. And my mate he stayed a sleep despite my scream.

 

[Harvestman]

Have had the green webbing on a DD hammock fail as I was getting in - Thud!
Fixed it, in the dark, got in - Thud! (other end snapped).
Fixed that, got in - Crack! Thud! (branch the repair was tied to snapped).
At this point I'm getting fed up and remembering why I'm usually a ground dweller. Fixed it (to something more sturdy), and .... slept really well.

 

[John Fenna]

That wasn't so much an equipment failure though ~ more a failure to understand and appreciate basic physics


I believe a certain John Fenna had an interesting adventure when mass and gravity seriously interjected with 'a terminal fabric malfunction'

That is right - the stitching on the end loop of my RM eco system hammock failed catastrphically one time (I was just sitting in it relaxing - not asleep) no injuries were involved and I replaced the loops with climbing crabs and resewed ever single seam - just to be on the safe side!
I still use the hammock and sleep well.
The hammock must have had at least 5 years hard use includingjungle use. It still looked great -even on the day it failed.

 

[Warthogiam]

It's not happened to me ...yet but I always have a giggle to myself thinking about it when I get my head down in my hammock as I always get a comical image in my head of the whole event.

 

[jackcbr]

Almost came a cropper last Saturday. Pitched in the dark and grabbed the wrong carabiner out of the bag. Did the usual test sit in the hammock to see if it was at the right height etc and all good.

But thanks to Spandit inspecting my set up and spotting a, well shall we say, stretched carabiner before I turned in for the night. So 105kg slamming into my bergan slung underneath from a metre up, then rolling down hill averted.

 

[JonathanD]

And before anyone brings my incident up. That was user error, not hammock failure.

 

[Robbi]

pray tell JD

 

[JonathanD]

I kept on rolling over until I rolled right out. Had a built in mossie net, so ended up upside down face first into the ground in a twisted hammocky cocoon. I could find a way out for about 15mins cos it was all the wrong way around and I couldn't locate the zip.

 

[Robbi]

Hahahahahahahahah !

sorry bud ! the image in my head is very very funny !

 

[decorum]

And before anyone brings my incident up.

I'd forgotten about you face planting ~ thanks for the reminder

 

[JonathanD]

Yeah, well, luckily this all happened at 3am when everyone else was asleep. Only Davey569 heard it all happen, but didn't know what was going on. He would have done if I had found my torch, but as everything tipped over, I couldn't find it in my hammock straightjacket anywhere. Getting out of my sleeping bag took an age. I had no idea which way was up.

 

[PeterH]

I seem to remember Karl recounting his hammock inversion adventures last year?

 

[spandit]

So 105kg slamming into my bergan slung underneath from a metre up, then rolling down hill averted.

Nah, you would've fallen down one of those animal burrows before you reached the bottom. Sorry about the subsequent annealing...

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

I had one of my tree huggers snap on me whilst just laying there. Dropped about two feet and landed flat on my back, good thing is i normally leave my pack under the head end so i can reach down for bits, this time it was to the side of me. Good job really as my axe was still strapped to the side of the pack could have been nasty.

Injury free on that one untill a couple of days later when i could hardly turn my head from side to side, the pain eased off after around a week but what do you expect with 18 st just going thud, it was the head end too.

First night of the moot 2011 after maybe too much sampling of various bottles i tried to turn over to get comfy and just rolledmstraight out the side, the result was much cursing but no injury.

 

[Chris the Cat]

My very first go, in a set up lent to by Ash at a Natural Bushcraft meet in Cornwall.
Some beers had been taken, time for bed, tried to get in, rolled straight over and fell out the other side!
I failed the hammock !
da C.

 

[TAZ]

1st time I used my Hennessy exped, the inner rope that joins each end snaped (due to 2 of us using the same tree and moving too much really). No damage done except a very bruised pride.
Sent it back to them and got a replacement by quick return.

 

[Pandabean]

Luckily nothing has happened yet (touch wood) but when I was showing my mate my hammock setup we noticed something was odd. Instead of the Karb going through the loop of the rope that was attached to the tree it was just the knot that was holding the weight as it was caught in the thinner end of the karb. Thats not the best bit, I had slept in it the night before and was fine.

At least my knot held....just knot in the right way.

I'm always a little cautious when setting up the hammock the first night and ease my way into it to test then you hear "twang" and other assosciated noises as the knots and rope settles under the weight.