A few hours out with my boys

[NS40]

I've been feeling a bit 'stir crazy' having spent most of the week lurking about at home.

I decided that my boys and myself would head out for a trudge in the woods so they could get some practice in at getting their hammocks up.

So far, my kids have mostly been camping at campsites which involves the car filled with far too much gear, a big tent and toilet blocks within a couple of hundred yards so I'm trying to get them used to more basic 'rough camping' and carrying your own gear.

We got my hammock & tarp set up first...



The boys then got their hammocks up and clambered in...



I turned my back for a minute and I had two little stowaways trying my hammock for size.



We'd planned to cook lunch while we were out (nothing fancy just hotdogs & rolls). Getting back to basics though the boys wanted to light the hobo stove using flint and steel...this is a video of my youngest son sparking up the tinder...

[Man of Tanith]

Great Stuff
thanks for sharing cant wait til jake is old enough to come with me

[NS40]

The Hobo stove is lit and lunch is cooking away...



Lunch is served so the boys retreat back to their hammocks...



A fun day out...now I just need to shell out for decent hammocks for the kids so we can get a few overnighters done...

[NS40]

Great Stuff
thanks for sharing cant wait til jake is old enough to come with me

Thanks...

It's good being able to pass on something to the kids that is useful and an awful lot of fun.

We also spent a bit of time making feather sticks, showing them how to build a basic spring snare, looking for animal tracks, cutting some dead wood with a folding saw and batoning with a knife.

They've always enjoyed doing outdoorsy stuff but they're now dying to go hammocking...a couple of better hammocks beckon first though.

I'm sure Jake will love getting out into the green stuff soon too...

[Dannytsg]

Looks like a good outing! thanks for sharing

[Androo]

Nice little setup you lot have there, your boys looks like they enjoyed it very much. My son and I were out in hammocks last night, lighting fires, making spatulas (off his own back) and tarp pegs with his new knife and cooking (amongst many other things) . Most boys love being out in the wilds with their dads.

My son has a cheap Tenth Wonder jungle hammock with TW Sargasso jungle hex-tarp, but I think I want to upgrade him to a DD travel, with moz-net & large tarp that can cope with wind and rain, maybe something with an attachable underblanket ... have you any idea on which tarp/hammock combi to go for for your boys?

[NS40]

My boys have just ordered themselves a DD Scout hammock each within the past few minutes (from their saved up pocket money). The Scout doesn't have the built in mozzie net although I have a couple of ex-army nets which I've attached to belgian surplus bivvy bags for them to use. I got the mozzie nets and the Bivvy bags for about a fiver each a few month back on ebay and they've basha'd under a couple of 58 pattern ponchos I already had.

I've got the DD digicam 3 x 3 tarp although the only issue is that it has less attachment points than the other tarps (13 vs 19). The standard green 3 x 3 (or the 4.5 x 3) probably gives you more flexibility when it comes to various setups...pity, cos I like the digicam for blending in (there's something about hammocks that make people rather nosey and invasive sometimes)

I really like the travel hammock as it gives you the option to go to ground (although you could simply lie a Frontline on a separate groundsheet I suppose)

Once the boys are a bit older (and confirmed hammockers) I'll probably treat them to a Travel Hammock each. I'll probably have to shell out on another 3x3 tarp or maybe just go for a 4.5 x 3 fairly soon though. We'll be tinkering about with various setups over the next couple of weeks so we can work out what we're going to go for tarp-wise.

I've never tried an underblanket so can't really advise although I've heard they can make a massive difference in cold or windy weather. So far I've always got by with a foam mat or thermarest...

I know a few folk swear by other brands but I must admit my experience of DD has been fantastic so far and they are a delight to deal with (no affliation etc..although my wife says if I buy any more gear from them I may as well just set up a direct debit )

[Kepis]

Now that is what it's all about - nice one

[RonW]

Great stuff!

These are things lasting good memories are made of.
I do recognise the nettinghammocks. A bit small for a grown up, but just the right size fro growing up blokes!!