UKC

Cocoon are renowned for their beautifully crafted textile products for travellers - this is your chance to win a full ultralight Hammock set-up worth £589 !

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There is a discrepancy between the figure used for the hammock in the main description and the final table. The answer is the sum total from the final table BUT if you do as I did to add up all of the weights as you read through the description you arrive at a different answer, one that is not offered in the Competition Question.

I'm also unable to find any confirmation information on their website

I was asked by UKC not so long ago whether I wanted to test a hammock system for a future review. It looked a clever and well made product, but I just genuinely couldn't think of any use I would have for it, as nowhere that I camp either on a campsite or not, necessarily has the trees to hold the hammock.

I know hammock systems really have their partisan fans - but does anyone use one in the UK? It just seems you would be so limited in places where you could pitch it, either on sites or wild camping.

I do a large amount of hammock camping in the UK. It is more restrictive in location but can be much more discreet than a tent. I personally find hammocks insanely comfortable and enjoy the experience more. Only use it for wild camping really and always have a tent in the car for the options but you can definitely make it work quite easily.

Hi Toby

my preference for camping depends on elevation,  but if i know i am likely to be below the treeline then hammock and tarp are my go to.

it does take time to get used to,  initially if feels quite exposed and vulnerable.

The information has been ammended

I once saw someone use a tarp/hammock combo on a campsite in the Lakes a couple of decades ago. The guy faffed around for ages setting it up in some trees, which was quite entertaining. It rained during the night and when I got up (fairly early) I was interested to note that he was sleeping in his car...

Never seen one in the UK before or since.

Funny but one of our climbing partners uses this system and he's strapped it up off his climbing rack via 2 anchors at Back Tor and near the boulders on LLanberis pass. I borrowed his set up and used it at Lawrencefield for fun and was pretty surprised how well it worked. Faffy I'll admit but after seeing the thing loch side in a hot tent last winter, I was impressed.

Looking at the photo in the competition, any rain outside the limits of the tarp is going to run down the hammock suspension ropes and straight into the hammock.

There's very little land in the UK that isn't below the tree line though, it's just rather that we have cut down most of the trees in lowland areas. I could see a hammock system like this being fantastic where I used to live, in Finland - where you never have to go more than a few metres to find a tree unless you're in the middle of an island-less lake (of which there aren't many). But in the Peak if I wild camp, it's mainly high on Kinder or Bleaklow - no trees, occasionally a quick bivvy on the high Eastern Edges - no trees, or quietly in the corner of field behind a drystone wall in the White Peak - no trees! Down low in the Scottish Highlands I can see a hammock working except you'd need a bug net as well as  tarp and all the rest, and of course you can use a tent low or high.

This very much isn't meant to be criticism of you or anyone else, or the hammock set up - I think I'm just lacking imagination to see how one would work in the UK!

Is there anyone with a preference for hammocks above the treeline?

Just rig the hammock between two extremely sturdy walking poles and you're good to go

If said poles are 2 inch scaffold poles in 3 feet of concrete, sure.

I don't really get on with them, but if you're canoe camping along rivers, eg the Spey, or some lochs, it can be a really useful set up when flat ground is hard to find as there are often some trees. It depends on the trip, and few campsites are set up for this.
 

My mate does, he uses his rack to create 2 anchors and hangs off that.

uneven ground can be a decider

I've done that for a laugh but it is incredibly hard to find 2 anchors the right distance apart and at the right height to rig it. 

I should probably have appended a slash-s sarcasm warning to my post

I know a bloke who used one in back of his van, and saw a few drivers of little trucks using them in South East Asia on the back of the truck. So thinking of giving one a go in my van

Also whilst cycling saw a bloke cycling with young children string one up mid day so his children could have a Siesta.

So time and place obviously but I am intrigued by hammocks and think something to explore.

This is much harder than these competitions usually are what with the adding. Can't be bothered. Don't want a hammock anyway.

Also, according to the photo, you need to bring a melon. That’s a no from me. 

Maybe the melon comes with the hammock. Along with a miserable looking woman. Maybe I'll enter after all. 

PMSL possibly she thought the Hammock advert would be filmed on a Tropic isle, not in a Picnic area just of the A746.

Perhaps the melon is to attract the flies away from the hammock. A turd might work better?

Or maybe she has just had a rubbish night's sleep.

Well if she spent the night in what looks like a 4-season sleeping bag, when it's warm enough to sit around in skimpy clothing, I'm not surprised!

Nowt wrong with a miserable woman with melons.

I've got on well with the Decathlon hammock, good for the garden and inside a van, a reasonably priced introduction to hammocks IMHO https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/one-person-hammock-basic-300-x-150-cm-1-perso...

That's far more like my budget!