Close Encounters of the Jamboree Kind

Scouts pack pods

By Rob Jeffs 
Jamboree Today Senior Reporter

Life scout peeks from his hammock tent after being awoken by his senior patrol leader. The hammocks are used for half of his jamboree troop.

They look alien, sitting in a clearing in the woods. The three steel hexagons with pipes radiating from their centers and fabric flapping in the wind seem to have been left behind after their pods blasted off, carrying extraterrestrials back to an alien planet, light-years away.

But they are not discarded launch pads; rather they are the habitat pods for Earthly beings attending the 2010 National Scout Jamboree. Scouts from Jamboree Troops 1319 and 1320 are sleeping in jungle hammocks suspended from steel-tube frames.

Each of the three frames holds 12 hammocks; six on the perimeter and six on the radians. Collectively, the three structures hold 36 Scouts.

Each night after exploring the unfamiliar environment of Fort A.P. Hill, they crawl into their screened sacks, adjust their rain flies and rock off to sleep. The hammocks are in Subcamp 13 in the Central Region.

Eagle Scout M. Vatalare, an 18-year-old from Cross Lanes, W.Va., said, "The combination of the frame and the individual jungle hammocks were successfully tested during a pre-jamboree shakedown in mid-April. A passing front subjected them first to storms and then to cold temperatures. The frames were strong and the hammocks provided comfort in both the wet and cold weather."

Another participant, T. Eads, 17, a Life Scout from Charleston, W.Va., said, "Mine was surprisingly warm and the swaying motion helped me go to sleep."Headded,"It was definitely dryer and bigger than I expected." C. Fields, 15, a Life Scout from Nettie, W.Va., said, "The gap between the rain fly and the netting allowed air to flow through."

Half the members of the Scout troops will sleep in the hammocks for four days. Then the remaining boys will have an opportunity to give up their tents for the hammocks. Vatalare said he thought he could make a deal to stay in the hammock. "The frames were great for the jamboree," he said. "But afterwards,I want to use the hammock on a backpacking trip.

The weight savings would be great." All the Scouts have traditional wall tents to hold their gear and retreat to if the conditions require. Before purchasing the hammocks, the troop reviewed the plans to build the frames from the hammock manufacturer.

Hi guys, thought that I should email you because your hammocks are great! I am a 13 year old scout and army cadet in Hampshire, England and I used to sleep in a £30/$60-$70 tent but decided to buy one of the hammocks. I am quite an experienced camper (don't let the age fool you) and it the hennessy beats enything I have ever used! Not long ago, I did a survival camp with my scout troup, and while the other guys setup their tents/ponchos I tied my hammock to a tree, and setup my fire. No-one else knew how I was going to sleep ( the hammock was in the snakeskins) and so it got to about 10 o'clock, I had finished
eating, the fire was nearly out, I setup the hammock and was fast asleep before I knew it!

Great bit of kit, take it everywhere, can't beat it.

Harry

World Scout Jamboree Video
4mins 12MB 2 min download on highspeed	4:50mins 10MB 2 min download on highspeed	4:32mins 11.5MB 2 min download on highspeed

water color by Sir Robert Baden-Powell Founder of scouting

This is a picture of Sir Robert Baden-Powell's campsite. You can see that he is using a hammock tied between two trees with a tarp thrown over a rope above the hammock. Sir Robert was a visionary, obviously ahead of his time. This watercolor was made about 100 years ago.

Hello Tom:
Just wanted to share a couple of pictures with you. Boy scout troop
91 in PA is sold on Hennessy.We geared up with them for a High Adventure trek in Goshen Virginia.

Photos are of a shakedown trip along the Appalachian Trail in PA at a somewhat crowded shelter. As you can see we didn't use any "prime" tent space!
Thank you for a wonderful product with great customer service. Keep up the
good work, we'll be back!

Neil Howett
ASM, BSA Troop 91

SCOUTS SPEAK! At the National Order of the Arrow (NOAC) Gathering (2004) about how much they love their Hennessy Hammocks!
Charlie	Frank	Ben

Hello Tom,

The Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree of 2005 is now complete. The Troop 364 Merit Badge Booth for Backpacking, Camping, Cooking and Hiking was an extreme success and that is largely due to your contribution of equipment. Thank you for your support!

COL. Stepehn D. Kreider

photo credit: Rick Hammond, Cub Master,
Pack 82, Portsmouth, RI

The fence post kits for each hammock uses two each of the following parts 1 6' Tbar fence post, 15' of #3 chain, 1 shackle, 4 quick links and 2 large tent pegs. We drilled a 1/4" hole 1 1/2" from the top of the post, mounted the shackle, used the quick links to connect and adjust the chain to the shackle and the tent pegs. The trick was to balance the hammock rope/chain angle and tension so that the post sees only compression vs bending loads. With all the right angles we could have used a much thinner (and lighter) fence post. I hope to modify the design to work with 1" EMT (electrical metal tube). The chain and quick links replace an earlier prototype using ropes as the chains and quick links were easily adjustable and didn't stretch (and entering the hammock didn't bend the posts).

Thanks for a great product. I have an Exp Asym and a Scout. I have just taken the Asym w/ the Hex Fly on a recent BSA OLS training weekend in late Oct where it got cold and rained all weekend long with heavy winds. Had a river running under my hammock but stayed warm and dry swaying in the breeze while the rest of the patrol got cold and wet. Also took the Asym on an overnighter on Nov 4th where the temp dropped to 22degF. A 20deg mummy bag and several layers of fleece
below made the night nippy but bearable. Just ordered the Super Shelter, Snake Skins and another Scout. I am quite impressed with your product, a nice balance of form and function. I find the hammock easier on my back as well as smaller, lighter and dryer than any tent I have slept in. The tailorable combination of the Asym, Hex Fly and Super Shelter allows one to pick the shelter necessary for the season and weather of almost any camping trip and it all packs up tight in the backpack. The Hex Fly also makes a good light weight shelter for keeping your gear dry when you
are in the hammock. - George Nichols

American Scouting Digest - Gear Review, June, 2003 by Charlie Thorpe

The Scouts call it "sleeping in a bat cave"...but I call it a really good night's sleep! The Hennessy Hammmock (HH) is one of the most interesting outdoor gear innovations to come along in my almost four decades of Scouting.

I have done a lot of backpacking both in and out of Scouting - my ears really perked up when it was suggested by other distance hikers that a HH and a lightweight quilt could be a complete and very comfortable sleeping/shelter "system" (equivalent to tent, sleeping bag and ground cloth) weighing well under three pounds.

I had the great fortune to be involved with the "American Frontiers: A Public Land Journey" project last summer and fall. I spent two delightful months living in different HH models while travelling backcountry roads, trails, rivers, and 4WD tracks from Glacier National Park down to Salt Lake City. The HH worked exceedingly well for our group; so well in fact that I started wondering how it might work for a Scouting outdoor program.

First let's looks at some of the pros of the HH used in a Scouting context:

• very lightweight and compact while being sturdy
• very comfortable to sleep in and use as a camp chair and lounger
• good rain and wind protection when pitched correctly
• easy to set up when there are plenty of trees
• fairly easy to set up even with no trees
• gets us up away from the ground critters, rocks, mud, etc.
• allow pitching on uneven ground(even hillsides!)
• allows good ventilation while giving good bug protection
• as an individual shelter with good personal privacy, it should meet even the most stringent Youth Protection and G2SS guidelines
• not too pricey for what you get(group discounts and fundraising potential)

And some cons:

• it is an individual shelter(some Troops depend on larger tents and/or other shelters to help build Patrol teams)
• most pitches require fairly long side guy lines that can cause tripping when young ones start running through camp
• even with the provided tree-saving straps, it is still fairly easy to damage a tree with a really careless pitch or by excessive swinging back and forth
• it is possible to pitch a HH in a location so fragile than unusual damage can be done even when careful(very steep hill side, fragile veggies, riparian area, etc.)
• special techniques are required to comfortably use any hammock in cold temps
• learning how to change clothes while lying down in a fairly confined shelter can be an interesting challenge

Troops preferring to use group gear for their younger Scouts might want to evaluate the HH for their older youths and adults. Units using static camps might want to consider how easily posts could be set to accommodate any number of HHs. Venturing crews might be interested in how well HHs can work in a coed setting. Groups highly experienced in the outdoors might be interested in the HH as part of a high-end lightweight trekking program. Of course, any of us could get one for ourselves and then have fun playing with a neat piece of modern camping gear.

Don't worry too much about this modern technology getting us too far away from traditional Scouting. Sir Robert Baden-Powell enjoyed using a somewhat similar rig called an 'Ashanti hammock' in the 1880's...

Hennessy Hammocks were also featured in Scouting Magazine in Spring 2002.

Fund Raising Opportunities for Scouts.

After reading the article in Scouting Magazine, Ohio Troop 476 contacted us about replacing their tents and old hammocks with the newest in hammock technology. They were so pleased with their hammocks and the attention they received wherever they went that they inquired about selling Hennessy Hammocks as a fundraiser for their troop.

After obtaining permission from their district, they began to display and sell hammocks at camporees and events. In addition to raising funds for their troop, they attracted 15 more members and plan attending more events this season with their hammocks.

Partnering with Scouts.

Hennessy Hammock is now working with Scout troops in California, Kansas, Ohio and Florida to provide innovative fund-raisers for troop activities. The Scout at US $79 has been introduced as special new cost-effective option for Scouts. Additional discounts are available for group sales. For details about Scout fundraising and purchasing hammocks, email scouting@hennessyhammock.com.

-Brian Cruikshank of Troop 47, Tampa

Hennessy Hammocks at NOAC Conference.

At the Summer, 2002 National Order of the Arrow Conference in Bloomington, Indiana, the Hennessy Hammock was introduced to 6000 members of the elite Order of the Arrow. There was a lot of interest in the hammock.

In August, 2004, Hennessy Hammock was invited to Des Moines, Iowa to participate in the TOAP demonstration area to show Scouts the benefits of using lightweight comfortable hammock shelters and to emphasize the Leave No Trace features of hammock camping. Scouts and leaders who had purchased hammocks at the 2002 conference were eager to tell us how much they had enjoyed using the Hennessy Hammock and why they recommend it to their friends. Videos of 2004 NOAC conference coming soon...

Hennessy Hammocks recognized by Leave No Trace.

LNT works with Scouts to raise awareness of ethical wilderness behavior and to promote minimum impact skills. Hennessy Hammocks have been recognized as an environmentally friendly shelter by Leave No Trace, a non-profit organization whose 7 principles of outdoor ethics are rapidly becoming the standard code of conduct on public lands in the US. Partnering not only with the Scouting movement but also with the US Forest Service, Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management in every state, LNT teaches people an awareness of their own impact on wilderness areas and shows them how to travel and camp with care. LNT recognized the Hennessy's bark-protecting tree straps, as well as its design which eliminates ground trenching, levelling and staking.

Letter from Scoutmaster.

Tom - just a quick note about demonstrating the hammocks at our spring Boy Scout District camporee. Here in the Midwest the spring can bring in just about any kind of weather, this year's edition was wet and soppy. We arrived at the designated campsite where there was 2-3 inches of standing water everywhere. As everyone looked in vain for any hope of high ground, no chance, I walked to two likely trees, tied off my new Expedition A-Sym and unloaded my gear into the dry hammock. ............... water color by Sir Robert Baden-Powell

All the leaders looked on with a slight amount of envy. In the morning when I crawled out fully rested I found I did not need my usual morning routine of two Advil's and a cup of coffee to get going. I had no aches or pains from those missed rocks or logs that I usually sleep on. The venture patrol in our troop is awaiting the order of hammocks for the troop. I think it will provide a great incentive to the older boys to get to move up from wallowing in the tent to comfort in the trees.

Thanks for a great product! R McD

Scout Fun with Hennessy Hammocks.

Scout troops all over America are discovering the Hennessy Hammock. One Scout Troop in Pennsylvania has competitions to see who can set up their hammock the fastest. Their troop holds the hammock set-up record at 38 seconds.

" It all started a long time ago when I heard that we were going on a backpacking trip with my scout troop and I decided that I should get a tent. I looked all over the internet until I saw a site with minimalist shelters. I assumed that meant they were cheap, and took a look. I couldn't have been more wrong about that( That was the first time I had seen a 200 dollar tarp!). However I noticed the hammock. It looked interesting. I clicked on the link. I really wanted one now. The scout model seemed appropriate. I worked all the school year until I could pay for it. When the package came, I immediately set it up in the back yard. I loved it. Then came the backpacking trip. We had come to the camp site. But there was no tent space for me! The scoutmaster asked where I would set my tent up. I casually pointed to ground so covered in roots, you could barely see the ground, and it was at a 45 degree incline, while one kid was complaining because he was on a spot with a .5 degree incline. " Are you sure?" he questioned. "Yeah" I replied. Once I had set up my hammock everyone was asking questions. Is it comfortable? How do you get in? Where do you get it? And most frequently, what do you do above the tree line? Of course, the next morning, they had fun waking me up by swinging me back and forth but I didn't care because I was sleeping in the cool tent in the world. - Robert Curran