>Any hammock that is wide enough can be used diagonally for sleeping flat, Central American style provided it isn’t made with tricky lacing to keep the sides high. Tie-outs on the Hennessey serve to keep the mosquito net tensioned somewhat. The light bungee cord coesn’t affect the hammock’s shape when you get sideways.
> A good mosquito net arrangement that doesn’t require velcro or zippers along the hems is to use a low hanging net with elastic: Make 2 hammock-length panels 2 feet high on the ends and 3.5 to 4 feet at the center, curving or arcing from center to ends. Stitch the panels together on the ridge line and add a lightweight fabric casing along the ridgeline. Stitch 3/4 inch velcro strips to close the 2-foot vertical sections at each end of the panels (so the panels stick together at the ends). Stitch a lightweight fabric casing on the bottom edge of each panel and install 1/4 inch elastic with friction tensioners at one end and the other end bartacked in place. Install a 3/16 inch bungee cord (drawstring size) in the top casing. Tension the bungee some and tie a loop in each end. Don’t cut off the excess; you may need to adjust it. Alternatively, put a friction tensioner behind the loop to take up the slack. A simple, ultralight friction tensioner is just an oval cut from a plastic jug with 4 holes punched in it. Thread the cord through all 4 holes and pull the excess from the center, between the 2nd and 3rd hole.
Make 2 loops of cord, attach a plastic mitten hook to each loop, and tie the loops to your hammock lines with prussic knots.
Hook the ridgeline bungee to the mitten hooks, separate the velcro at the ends, drape the net over the hammock, close the velcro over the end of th ehammock or the hammock line, tighten the elastic in the bottom casings until it seals when you are in the hammock, but still lets you get in and out.
>Hammocks are very easy to make. Just hem a 10X5 rectangle of the lightest fabric you have the nerve to try. (I weigh 210 and use 1.1 oz. ripstip Nylon 66. For Nylon 6 I have used 1.9 oz.) Accordian-fold the ends and attach the lines with a double sheet bend. That is like a regular sheet bend, but you take the ‘bitter end’ around an extra turn. Or use Speer’s knot and loop technique. Regardless, test it low, preferably with some padding underneith. I have been ‘let down’ a time or two when I didn’t set the knots firmly before climbing aboard.
