SIMPLY LIGHT DESIGNS: VOYAGEUR - MAIDEN VOYAGE

IMAGINE IT. DESIGN IT. BUILD IT. ENJOY IT!

I love hammock sleeping!

There is no better sleep for me and many others that have given it a hard look and slept in a properly setup rig would agree.

The fresh air of the outdoors, the sounds of the woods, the floating feeling of an isolation chamber all combine to give many the ultimate sleep experience.

So, when I recently shredded my old hammock by sitting back into it with my Silicon Carbide G17 grips, I knew I had to get a replacement ASAP! Especially with the 2024 FROZEN BUTT CHALLENGE having just been issued. Yeah, I could have used my wife’s identical hammock, but why miss an opportunity to upgrade? ;-)

The incident did show me the consequences that a momentary lapse in judgement can have though and the need to not only protect against sharp items, but to have a backup plan for a sleep system.

TWO IS ONE

One reason I don’t use under-quilts for warming layers in a hammock and prefer an inflatable sleeping pad, is the simple fact that if I have a hammock failure or need to be low profile in a non-permissive environment, I can still use the pad on the ground.

An under-quilt is worthless for insulation on the ground and the synthetic ones are very bulky to pack in my limited experience.

On the flip-side, my experience, using a sleeping pad in a hammock often has it sliding all over the place, creating cold spots and “frozen butt syndrome” in the middle of the night.

I’ve tried to put it between my bag and bivy then lay it in the hammock, but found it a nightmare to get everything aligned and get into the setup while lying in the hammock. Getting into the bag while outside the hammock and then laying into it helps but is a not very smooth either.

A BETTER WAY

So, I knew when I went looking for a replacement for my simple 5-Star Gear hammock, I wanted to try a double layered hammock that would accept a sleeping pad between two bottom layers, allowing it to be held in place by my body weight.

When I mentioned my torn hammock on the [Modern Day Minuteman Telegram Group] and that I was looking for a replacement, Chad Edgar (a fellow hammock and cigar fan) turned me onto Jared at Simply Light Designs which he had dealt with before and was a fan of, especially his customer service.

After talking to Jared (the operator/owner) by email, of which he is very quick to respond, he agreed that the VOYAGEUR model in a 12’ length in Hexicon Wide 1.6 would be optimal for my 6’-3”, 220lb frame.

LENGTH & WIDTH = COMFORT

Having used only a 9’ hammock before and thinking it pretty comfortable, I can tell you that if you are taller than 6’, you should consider something longer than 9’ in a hammock and probably steer towards the wider fabrics if buying a custom.

The difference in hang comfort between the two hammocks was immediately noticeable to me!

Having too short of a hammock can cause “ridge calf”, which I experienced in my 5-Star, but having an appropriate length hammock for you height that allows sleeping cross-ways (the wider material really helps here also) removes this issue of ridge calf completely. The main issue of hammock discomfort for most.

As you can see in the video below, there is plenty material to sleep diagonally and keep a flat profile, which equals comfort.

I hear many say they hate hammocks because they are stomach sleepers, but I am also and find that laying cross-ways and having the hammock rigged for a slightly “head down” positioning allows me to sleep on my side without issue in a 9 footer and even better in my 12ft VOYAGEUR.

I’ve never had a desire to sleep on my stomach in a hammock even though that’s how I sleep in a bed, or at least start out as I toss and turn all night these days from back pain.

In the hammock I sleep like a baby!

I assume part of that is being in the fresh air of the outdoors along with the noise of the woods to lull me to sleep, I have to sleep with a fan on in the house as pure silence drives me nuts and doesn’t allow my mind to shut down without some kind of background noise.

The only thing better than sleeping out in a hammock would be doing it on the coast listening to the ocean all night.

Below is my walk through of the VOYAGEUR hammock features I opted for and his pillow design.

To see how effective the pad setup is at preventing “CBS” checkout the 2024 FROZEN BUTT CHALLENGE entries using this setup.

SNAKE SKIN

I also ordered a snake skin from Jared for my 10x10 tarp. I can now leave it completely setup and ready for deployment using the snake skin. Having it made out of “no see-um” material allows a wet tarp to dry some if not bagged immediately. Just lash it onto the outside of the pack and let it air-dry.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I will be looking to Jared in the future for my hammock needs. He is very well priced with attention to detail and great customer service.

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POST SCRIPT

When it comes to hammocks, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to SHUG, my online mentor who has taught me everything I know about hammocks and made me laugh for hours watching his videos. You should check his channel out!

https://www.youtube.com/@shugemery