Handmade nylon hammock from Thailand

by Neil
(Thailand)

I bought my first hammock from a local village market here in Thailand about 18 months ago. Just buying the thing was an adventure in itself as the stall holders definitely do not speak English!

This hammock was made from woven nylon cord. It was a single hammock with no stand or end 'spreader' bars to keep it open, and the spacing between the weaves was quite large.

This first wide woven nylon cord hammock I would not really recommend, as the spaces were too large and the knots in the hammock often became uncomfortable. However, I have since changed to a much more tightly-woven hammock, made from similar material but with no knots.

This I would definitely recommend. I would also recommend a hammock with a stand, as this avoids the need for ropes etc. - but hey, I'm in rural Thailand! :)

My hammock is hung outdoors, between two trees in the garden, and I use it many times during the day for relaxing or even napping.

I would say its best features are its comfort, design and its weight. On a particularly hot day, I can start to sway the hammock slightly which creates a slight breeze as I move from side to side.

Also its price was great... it cost me just 80Bt which is about US $2.50 :)

My advice for buying this kind of nylon hammock, without a stand or spreader bars, is to keep the rope that supports the hammock at the ends as short as possible, because the rope tends to twist the hammock and is sometimes a pain to unravel before you can plonk yourself down.

If you're gonna tie the hammock between two trees like me, the trees may sometimes be too far apart. So I have pre-tied a loop around each tree so as to keep the length of rope as short as possible.