the tent TABA has designed is a keeper... it is efficient and well worth bringing it along on any adventure.  I have TABA old Sea wind and the tent. >>>>>  score!!

Advantages:

sleeping in the boat; is warm and comforting, wheather up on shore or on the water; less is more with the decked canoe as your body heat tumbles back on you and you stay quite comfy. the tent offers the abilitiy to sit up. sets up in seconds - 90 to be exact.

whoo hoo TABA

Kap

Some years ago I was rowing on the river near the Mystic Seaport Museum when I saw a 'grizzled' fellow in some standard commericial canoe tied on a piling, arranging his gear. Something looked serious about him. He had a home-built sail rig but he also did a lot of paddling. He said he had come down from Maine and was heading to Maryland at least.  He was keeping his gear in a cooler. On sleeping, he said he tried to make for shoreside motels, but if not lucky, he set up a 'sleep ama' and unrolled his bag on the bottom of the canoe (totally open except for some canvas over both ends).  His sleep ama was small (sort of Balog-ish in size) and on a single alum. pole and was made from Dow insulation foam and duct tape; beam when assembled about 6 feet I guess.  Always wondered how far he got.

REI has a narrow tent -- like a slice of dome tent, probably best called an 'arc tent' :-).  It uses two poles, is tall enough to sit up in, and just wide enough for hips inside sleeping bag. Looked like a candidate for small-boat sleeping. I could wish it did without a fly and was made from breathable fabric to make it more smoothly aerodynamic, but they don't design these things for canoes, I suppose. -- Wade

You can sleep in just about any Kruger or similar canoe while at anchor. I strongly suggest either having outriggers deployed or use a double blade kayak paddle with paddle floats on both ends. Of course these outriggers are not essential, but they will provide piece of mind.

The tent systems for Krugers are also very nice and essential for bug and rain protection although sleeping in your paddling clothes with a poncho and/or head net is also an option which I have done once or twice.

But it can get a bit cramped. The Tridarka Raider Conversion includes trampolines that can easily provide a sleeping platform using either a bivy bag or a small tent. There is even a rumor that a camping hammock can be deployed, but I don't see how that is possible - maybe it was just a dream.

Crested

The first time i saw a hammock in use was on a river trip I took several years ago.  A father and his son both had Clark hammocks and used them for about two months every night.  They wouldn't let me try it out, they loved them that much.  I decided then and there to try one. What made me really curious was that they said they could sleep on their sides.  Since I'm a side sleeper that sealed the deal.  The first time i got to use it was in northern Michigan at the home of Manitou Crusier, the builder of the Kruger boats.  There was about 2 feet of snow on the ground and about 20 degrees.  I was more than plesently surprised.  It was all they said and more.

You didnt say if you had tried one or not but if you havent borrow one.  Take a look at them at http://www.junglehammock.com/links.php  I have no affiliation with them what so ever.  Google them for reviews too.

Etch

I assume a hammock on a small boat would have to be guyed against swinging? Or somehow set very low in the hull, just suspended a hair-breadth over the bilge?  My nightmare: hammock sets up a resonant roll with gentle waves; sleeper is pitched into water and drowns zippered up in bag and hammock, clubbed once or twice by the gunnels as an extra. --Wade

Ididnt make it clear that what i was refering to was using a hammock on the shore.  I cant see how one can use one on a boat unless you wrap yourself up in it without tying it off.  One might use one on a sailboat with two masts maybe.  TABAs tent is the way to go in a Kruger.  Wish i had one.

Etch

I had a similar mental image when i thought about pitching my hammock between two poles on a chickee.  Dark night, wind blowing, gator under the chickee waiting for the soft filling inside a sleeping bag that will shoot out of its husk on the third spin.  That image made me shiver at first then laugh unitl i cried!!  LOL!

Etch

OK, I understand. Nobody ever get mad at me for my imaginative wicked humor; I mean no harm!  Must say I am surprized that hammocking in the Sea Pearl worked so well, though. Interesting.

I am tossing around the idea of sleeping in my cramped outrigger cockpit, in a bivvy sack, to save time pitching shore camp, or to enable sleep where there are dry land or beaching issues. The topsides rise 5 inches over the sleep-deck. I have no room to roll, period.  I imagine I would fasten the bottom of both sleeping bag and bivvy-sack to the boat, so in worst case scenario, I could wriggle out of them sort of like kicking out of a tight kayak cockpit, and the bags wouldn't follow me nightmarishly -- I think this is a minimum requirement for sleeping in such boats.  My outrigger canoe would resist rolling a little more than other boats.  I don't know... -- Wade

OK, I'm going to fess up. I am working on a system that will allow a small camping hammock to be used on a Dreamcatcher or Sea Wind and perhaps on some other canoes/kayaks fit with the TRC system. I don't know for sure if this is going to work or if it is even a good idea. I'm going to build it and test it to find out.

Of course this is intended for use at anchor and also with the TRC amas. Guy lines out to the side should not be needed but could be used if desired. I don't recommend this system with very small amas or just paddle floats.

If this works without too much extra weight and bother, I'd much rather sleep in a hammock than out on a trampoline. Also, you really do need to have some sort of shelter that will work on land and for me a camping hammock is often the best choice. So why not get double duty.

I have used four different brands of camping hammock and all have their pros and cons. But for this application the Hennessy brand shines due to the entry through the bottom. It is perfect for this.