Woodbury’s Danny Warnock was on a solo trip to the Boundary Waters when he came up with the idea for an innovative new camping product. An avid outdoors enthusiast, Warnock has long loved exploring the natural wonders of Minnesota and especially sleeping under the stars by night. Prior to leaving for this particular trip, which he says has always been on his bucket list, he realized that his pack would weigh nearly 90 pounds, something of an intimidating number.
“I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got to cut some weight somewhere,’ and the tent was the most obvious thing, since it was six and a half pounds,” he says. “I was going to bring my ENO hammock anyway to relax in, and I thought, ‘Huh, I wonder if I could sleep in it?'” It was a simple question, but it ended up being a life-changing one.
Through a quick Google search, Warnock discovered that he could indeed ditch the traditional tent in favor of a lighter-weight hammock, but sleeping could come with a host of problems. “There’s a whole hammock community that I found online, and people had different ways of doing things. There are these detachable bottoms called underquilts that are fairly popular, and I used one of those along with a sleeping pad for the first trip,” he says.
Though canoeing and portaging through the wilderness of the Boundary Waters without the weight of a tent made for a more enjoyable trip, Warnock came across a new set of problems when it was time to crawl into the hammock to sleep. “My sleeping pad would slide around, and there were cold drafts, plus the underquilt was just one more thing that I needed to set up—I didn’t want to have to mess with something else.” Not satisfied with this so-called solution, he decided to create his own. Thirty hours of sewing and a trip to what Warnock says felt like every thrift store in the metro area later, Superior Hammock—along with its namesake product—was born.
The idea behind the Superior Hammock is simple, but the difference it makes is huge. Made from ripstop nylon—a strong but soft and breathable high-tech fabric—and insulated with down, the Superior Hammock stays comfortable even as temperatures drop and supports weights of up to 400 pounds. It’s billed as the warmest, coziest and most convenient hammock on the market, especially as it eliminates the need for extra gear.
Though Warnock initially intended to make the hammock solely for himself, thanks to the rave reviews from some of his camping friends, Superior Hammock is now a full-scale operation. Last fall, he raised nearly $42,000 through a successful Kickstarter campaign and has been able to secure a small warehouse space and hire two part-time sewers to help him fulfill orders. He’s also created the world’s lightest hammock, the DayLite Hammock. He warns that it isn’t intended for sleeping—“it’s not nearly as comfortable as the Superior Hammock,” he says—but at a mere 4-ounces, it’s small and portable enough to take just about anywhere and is perfect for relaxing lakeside.
Warnock has big plans for his company and hopes to eventually get both the Superior Hammock and the DayLite Hammock into national sporting goods retailers like REI. For now, though, he’s content and spreading the news. “We want to get people out of their tents and into hammocks,” he says, and he’s confident that the Superior Hammock’s warmth and convenience will convert nearly anyone into a hammock enthusiast.
