Risk has a good idea with his TravelPod. It provides an area of dead air space around the hammock and gives a bit of spray protection from any rain that sneaks under the tarp. At first, I didn't want to use velcro or zippers, so I made the Hammock Socks. HammockSock v2 worked pretty well, but I decided to try the convenience of a zipper like Risk's. Mine's bigger though...not that size really matters... ;p

I didn't have enough DWR of the right size on hand to follow Risk's dimensions, so I checked out the scraps I had laying around to see what I could piece together. I kinda like the design I came up with. I took one piece of DWR 72" long by 64" wide, and basically turned it sideways and wrapped it around the middle of the hammock...i.e. the 64" width goes along the length of my body. Then I put cones on the ends and added the zipper. (It's not actually a cone...more like folding the material in half and cutting a triangle, so the fold is on the hypoteneus.) The foot cone is made from silnylon to help with windblown rain under the tarp, and is a bit smaller than the head end...I figured the hammock sags lower at the head end so I need less room inside at the foot end. I scavenged the zipper from the Coleman fleece bag I had cut apart for the PeaPod Hood. The zipper is 91.5" long, and 18" of the Pod's foot end is sewn shut (the silnylon part), so the total length is about 108".

Total weight is 9-3/8 oz (264 g), but I could remove an ounce or three of extra material along the bottom if I want it to function more like Risk's and not have enough room to pitch it with the ridgeline inside.

TravelPod Version 1
	Finished product...the sun is shining from behind it so you can see the hammock's shadow inside. In this picture, the ridgeline is inside the foot end and outside the head end...see below for more details on that.
	Closeup of the foot end...the seam is where the silnylon stops and the DWR begins. When I'm inside, my feet are barely inside the sil area so I don't think condensation will be much of a problem. The sil here will protect me from rain spray coming under the tarp, though.
	Detail of the zipper and opening at the head end. This is where the zipper separates to put on and remove the Pod.
	Closeup of the two-way zipper. It's fixed at the foot end (black slider) so the zipper doesn't come apart there, but the silver slider goes to the head end, where the zipper separates like the bottom of a jacket. So with this setup, it's closed at the ends and opens in the middle, between the sliders.
	Closeup of the foot end zipper. It doesn't separate here, so this part usually stays attached to the hammock. I can stuff it inside the Blackbishop Sack when I don't need it.
	Closeup of foot end opening. I made it big enough for webbing to pass through. When the ridgeline is outside the hammock, I whip the end of the Pod inside the ridgeline so it's even more protected.
	TravelPod stuffed inside the Blackbishop Sack at the foot end. It takes me about 15 seconds to put it on the hammock from this position.

Ridgeline Inside the Foot End and Outside the Head End
	With the foot end over the ridgeline and the head end under the ridgeline. This keeps the Pod away from my face when it's closed, but allows good ventilation when open because the head end sags down so my face can stick out.
	This is a better fit than the Hammock Sock...the underside of the hammock is still covered but I can stick my head out for ventilation.
	Zipped closed. That's my knee poking out the side.
	Closeup of the two-way zipper closing on the ridgeline. This is set up as in the above picture, but closed all the way.
	Pretty good room inside when it's zipped up over the ridgeline. One benefit to keeping the Pod big enough to fit over the ridgeline is that, when it's really cold or the snow is blowing under the tarp, I can hang my pack from the ridgeline and keep it inside the Pod with me. At Winnemucca, the wind was so strong it was pushing the tarp against my hammock, compressing the insulation. I hung my pack on the ridgeline right about my hips (w/o and Pod or Sock) and it held the tarp off of me. This way, I can keep the pack inside and it would hold the Pod off of me.
	If the foot end is on top of the ridgeline, I have to be careful to avoid stressing the zipper when I get in or out, or if I'm lounging.

Ridgeline Outside the Pod
	It hangs down much lower with the ridgeline completely outside. This model is really wide to use like this...I'll have to keep it from rubbing on the ground.
	It zips completely down so only my head sticks out this way. Then I don't breathe into the Pod and get condensation.
	If I have it set up with the ridgeline on the outside, I can put a minibiner on the foot end slider...this will keep the Pod off of my face if I want to zip myself inside it during the night.
	This gives me pretty good room at the head end, too...about like it's pitched over the ridgeline, except it hangs down near my body at the foot end.
	Or I can open it up for more ventilation like this.

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