Hennessey Hammock

The Hennessey Hammock is a truly great piece of modern camping equipment. Mine weighs just 2½ lbs (1130 grams) and is rain proof, bug proof and keeps you snug as a butterfly in its cocoon and the whole thing sets up (or packs away again) in just three minutes.

Those specifications are for the Expedition a-sym model Hennessey Hammock, the one I own, which is build to carry one person of up to 250 lbs in weight. There are lighter models of the Hennessey Hammock, for minimalist campers, just as there are heavier models of camping hammock... and even one particular model of Hennessey camping hammock built especially to cope with two people.

Now that's what I call togetherness!

If you've never seen a Hennessey Hammock, then you're in for a treat. They are different from any other camping hammocks you've seen anywhere. For a start, you climb into a Hennessey Hammock by poking your head and upper body through a slit on the underside of the hammock. You push the material underneath your backside and sit on the thing... Then, as you lift up your legs and swing them inside the Hennessey Hammock, the opening underneath you pulls itself shut, and the sides seal themselves with the sewn-in Velcro strips.

All you need for a great night's sleep in your Hennessey Hammock is a couple of strong poles about 12 feet apart and 5 or 6 feet off the ground. There are two lines you need to peg out, or tie to rocks, to keep the rainproof fly sheet neat and tidy, and two more lines at the sides can be used to keep the camp hammock from swinging too much from side to side.

When the sides are tied down properly, it is possible to sleep a bit diagonally and your Hennessey Hammock compensates and keeps your back straight like no other hammock I've experienced.

Hennessey Hammocks are already popular with adventurous no-nonsense campers like the Boy Scouts and have been bought privately, not officially, by a significant number of US soldiers in Iraq. (You can see more photos on the Hennessey Hammock website.)

There's no two ways about it, the Hennessey Hammock is a fantastic item of camping equipment and one you want to consider.