We've also been getting lots of email from New Zealand asking for information about purchasing Hennessy Hammocks.

If you are looking for a new model, for retail outlets, check out www.ampro.co.nz

If you want a model that is not available at your local New Zealand store, we now have hammocks in stock in New Zealand and you can order directly from the Hennessy Hammock website. If you need help deciding which model to buy, please email us your height, weight and usage requirements, etc. and we'll help you decide. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

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Inventor gets into the swing of things


Tom Hennessy makes hammocks. Not the kind for backyard reading and gin sipping on a sultry afternoon, but ultra-light models for trampers, campers, cyclists and back-country skiers. He makes extra-tough models for soldiers and disaster relief workers. He makes little ones for Girl Guides and big ones that support 158kg, two-metre tall wapiti hunters. Hennessy Hammocks are bug- proof, windproof, waterproof and warm. Taking less than three minutes to set up with the users’ body weight automatically closing the entrance, their design could not be simpler. And they are manna from Heaven for campers who suffer from back pain and cannot bear to sleep on the cold, hard ground. Hammocks, hard ground and back pain: Hennessy knows about these. The Canadian bought his first and only hammock when he was a kid in the 1950s, when his ‘‘Earth Mother’’ introduced him and his four siblings to the joys of camping. Their gear came from an army surplus store. ‘‘I saw a box of things for $3 and found a military jungle hammock with a mosquito net,’’ he says. ‘‘I hated sleeping on the ground.’’

He used it on hiking and biking trips for the next 12 years.While studying design in the United States, he lent the hammock to a university friend about to embark on a long- distance cycle trip. ‘‘It never came back,’’ he says. ‘‘I could not find a replacement. I knew that I was going to have to make one or else my tramping days were over.’’ But after graduating from university, Hennessy became less of an outdoor enthusiast and more of an entrepreneur. During the 1990s, he was running six separate businesses at the same time.


Hennessy admits he was driven to success because he was afraid of failure. ‘‘Then I was rear-ended by a drunk driver,’’ he says. ‘‘I was seriously injured with back, neck and head injuries. My body needed to heal.’’ No longer able to run his businesses, he needed a simple project to work on during his recovery.


Making a replacement hammock seemed a great idea for a man with limited abilities. An even better idea would be to do this at home during the summer and at his mum’s Florida home during Canada’s bitter winters. ‘‘I would lay them out on her carpet and assemble them in her garage,’’ he says. ‘‘Before I finished the first one, I found flaws and started a second one the next day. I made 50 prototypes in six years.’’ The obsession had to end once and for all. Hennessy bought a sewing machine, rented a van and a Florida caravan site. He laid a plywood sheet on a picnic table to cut fabric. He sewed the hammock and slept in it that night. The following morning, he made an improved model and slept in it. He repeated the process for two weeks, until he could find no more ways to improve his hammock. He turned his hobby into a business called Hennessy Hammocks and patented his inventions.

He approached REI, America’s three-million member camping co-operative with 80 stores, to sell Hennessy Hammocks. Their first reaction was: ‘‘No’’. ‘‘But I had been a member for 30 years, and I said I wanted to give them first grab.’’ Hennessy demonstrated his hammock in the REI carpark. The co-op sold more than 2000 in the first year.Today, big orders are made in China. Hennessy says either he or his staff goes to China and inspects every part of each hammock before it goes out the door.Hennessy also controls every aspect of manufacturing, sales and distribution from Kiwi, Australian, Canadian, American and British warehouses. His attention to detail has paid off. Relying on word of mouth and what he describes as a ‘‘great website’’. The company won Sea Kayaker magazine’s readers’ choice Best Camping Shelter award in 2005. In 2001, Field and Stream magazine described Hennessy Hammocks as one of the top 19 outdoor products. Splitting his time between Canada and Stewart Island, Hennessy continues to design hammocks and hammock accessories: funnels that collect raindrops dripping from the hammock’s fly to replenish water supplies, insulated foam pads for sub-freezing conditions, nylon straps to protect tree bark. Hennessy attributes his success to letting go of his fear of failure. ‘‘After the accident, I was not afraid of failing,’’ he says. ‘‘The fearlessness paid off in a big way.’’

—Michele Taylor
the Christchurch (New Zealand) Press

Visitors to Stewart Island encounter Tom Hennessy and his hammock.
more information

Did you know that some new accessories for Hennessy Hammock are being designed in New Zealand? Ann and I have built a new Design Studio in the mountains on the South Island and plan to trade the North American winter for summer in warm, sunny New Zealand.

If you're driving from Queenstown to Milford Sound, you'll pass through the town of Athol. Look for the "Hennessy Supershelter Design Studio" sign and stop in for a hammock demonstration.

P.S. did you notice it's called the "Hennessy SuperShelter"? That's because we've had so many letters telling us that our product is so much more than a hammock.

That hexagonal fly has been good particularly when I set up my hammock near the van when it rains and I can use the roof rack to tie it up creating an awning. I choose the fly according to the weather and depending on the site. The small fly is used about 2/3 of the time...

Other photos show how to use only one tree to set up a hammock, those trees are common Pohutakawa trees growing on the coasts of New Zealand North Island.

And last one to mention is that picture of urban lounging in Centra Auckland. Got a few weird looks but a man has to go to extremes to get a good photo, lol...Haykey Kaariainen, Tauranga

I went down to the park with the wife at 7pm , to set the hammock up and
make sure I knew what I was doing before setting off for any adventures. So
just a quick prelim test. Very easy to find suitable tree. And I quickly
setup the hammock the first time.

hardest part was the lashing, which I practiced at home with a piece of rope
and the table.

As soon as I had set it up, I got the wife to hop in , she is 50kg lighter,
so just in case I set it up wrong, she got first go. She loved it, and
commented how nice it was compared to sleeping on the ground in a tent.

Next I tried the hammock, I have a very bad back with two failed discs in my
lower back, even so I must say after reading comments all over the internet,
I was still surprised how nice it was to lie in.

And so soon then I got in the hammock, a passerby came over to have a look.
I gave him a quick try . He was so impressed he said where did you get it,
And he was off to buy one the next day for his hunting trips !!!

many thanks for such a great product.

Amazing for people like me with back bads, giving us the chance to get back
in the outdoors.

your sincerely
J. D., New Zealand

REVIEW

If you are a hunter/outdoors person who has ever struggled to find a level or dry camp site as night closes in, you will appreciate the rugged terrain which the Hennessy Hammock opens up for overnight "fly-camping". So long as there are a couple of sturdy trees to tie off to you can enjoy a dry comfortable night's sleep!

At Hunting & Fishing New Zealand we believe the Hennessy Hammock will open up exciting new opportunities by enabling the keen hunter or angler to stay right amongst the game or fish hotspots to take adventure of the dusk and dawn peaks in activity.

Features and Benefits

• Packs down very small - ideal for overnight hunting of fishing trips
• Lightweight - weighs just over 1 kg
• Quick and simple to set up - can be erected over wet or uneven ground - an absolute bonus in heavy bush, rocky or swampy country. There is no need to find a clearing in order to put it up
• Fully enclosed - with mesh upper offering protection from mosquito's etc. Hennessy's most unique feature however is an integral waterproof fly cover which gives excellent weather protection
• Comfortable - when you sleep on/in a Hennessy Hammock you lie diagonally across the base thereby eliminating the curve in the back which occurs when using a conventional hammock. Hennessy recommend using a basic closed cell foam sleeping mat inside the hammock to stop the cold air coming up from underneath. We found this is really only necessary in the colder weather but the mat gives a better structure to lie on and provides a less slippery surface for the sleeping bag to be in contact with.

Conclusion - An innovative new concept which the more adventurous or mobile bushman will likely consider the best thing since low venison prices

- Reviewer, Mike Stent, owner of Taupo's Fly & Gun Hunting and Fishing New Zealand