A rowboat is as long as a person. But the floor has seats etc in it, and sometimes small puddles; not ideal for sleeping. The same is trie for a canoe.
The boat hammock has attachments at the front and rear of the boat. String your hammock between and sleep comfortably in your peaceful tiny boat. I envision this as useful for people with tiny boats who want to sleep. Also if you are on a lake, the mosquitoes are often not bad out towards the center. Although ideally the hammock would be the zip in kind with mosquito netting.-- bungston, Jan 03 2016 Hammock boat https://archive.is/gs47YFlickr via Reddit via Neatorama via Gizmodo [Voice, Jan 08 2016] How do you get in and out of the hammock without capsizing?-- notexactly, Jan 03 2016 /without capsizing/
BUNGCO engineers are out on the pond as we speak, sorting this out. That water is cold after you clear away enough ice for the canoe, so any suggestions for this entry aspect would be well received.-- bungston, Jan 03 2016 Two words: centre of gravity.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 03 2016 Suggestion: Put a winch at each end of the boat. Lay the hammock down inside the boat, lie down on it, and winch it up. Release winches (slowly!) to get out.
But I just realized another problem: What if the boat capsizes (for whatever reason) while you're zipped into the hammock?-- notexactly, Jan 03 2016 /if the boat capsizes/ I suspect you would wake up. Maybe the seams can be breakway affairs that tear when someone starts flailing about, allowing that person to swim if he or she is able.
Re centre of gravity: with attachments fore and aft would the occupant not be, er, centred?-- bungston, Jan 03 2016 You'll definitely need ballast to lower the net center of gravity. Or a balloon to make you effectively weightless. Or a combination of these.-- Voice, Jan 03 2016 If the rowboat's built-in seats were replaced with something like collapse-able chairs, a slung hammock could be just a centimeter or two above the bottom of the boat. Center of gravity might actually be lower, than when someone is seated.-- Vernon, Jan 03 2016 This might work better on a Venetian gondola with high prow and sternpost.
The tension pulling the bow and stern together will be substantial - quite possibly enough to buckle a Canadian canoe, or break its back.
Depending on the "sag" of the hammock, and assuming an 80 kilo adult, the tensional force will be at least 150 kg.-- 8th of 7, Jan 03 2016 Catamaran are more stable, so put outriggers on the boat at night-time.
Solar cell on hammock triggers morning eject mode for a bracing plunge, which will guarantee waking up and save on showering.-- not_morrison_rm, Jan 03 2016 Some flash hiking hammocks have bottom entry now (like the hennessy) - so getting in or out woudn't be hard. the CoG issue is really the killer here - you'd need outriggers on both sides for this to work.
...Unless you had one or two trees to moor up against, in which case why not hang the hammock from them, rather than the boat? It's not unheard of to hang a hammock above the water from trees on long distance paddling trips.
...However, if you live in crocodile country (like I do) I think hanging a hammock just above the water is one of the more creative types of suicide I could think of...-- Custardguts, Jan 04 2016 could you hang it from your bicycle?-- pashute, Jan 07 2016 That would increase the load on the suspension points.
It would be better to have a secondary cable below the lowest point of the loaded hammock, with an elastic vertical tether between the centre point of the cable and the lowest point of the hammock.
Normally, the tether would be slack, or under minimal tension, but should the hammock move sideways then the tether would apply a progressively increasing restoring force.-- 8th of 7, Jan 08 2016 Make the poles really tall (to increase leverage) and fit each one with a powerful ducted fan controlled by ,,hem6as,, electronics, to keep the CoG over the boat.-- pocmloc, Jan 08 2016 / Normally, the tether would be slack, or under minimal tension, but should the hammock move sideways then the tether would apply a progressively increasing restoring force./
At first I thought the sleeper would be laying atop this cable sort of like thong underwear. But I can see how this would work.-- bungston, Jan 08 2016 Modify the rowlocks, so that you can actually lock the oars into them, sticking straight down into the water. The oars will then act as a pair of out-rigged keels (and maybe lower the CoG slightly).-- pertinax, Jan 10 2016 /little floats/ That would be great for 1-person rowing shells. The rower could blow up the floats and lock the oars to rest.-- bungston, Jan 10 2016 Bags filled with water and placed in the bottom of the boat should solve the CoG issue.-- notexactly, Jan 11 2016 I thought this was an idea for hammocks -for- boats, like some kind of new docking system. This is much better.
Have you ever been on a catamaran with the webbing between the pods? These are very comfortable and much like this idea.-- evilpenguin, Jan 11 2016 random, halfbakery