In a bed without a mosquito net and rain protection, one can comfortably sleep only about 100 nights a year without hindrance in our latitudes. But of course that was not enough for us. How often do we look at the weather forecast and then estimate whether we might be woken up by a shower during the night - one of the most unpleasant ways to wake up.
How do you attach a mosquito net?
But how can you attach the mosquito net and rain cover to the bed in such a way that there is no feeling of confinement? How can you construct them so that you can still see the stars through them? How can you prevent the protective accessories from being blown away by the wind? Tying them off to the side with ropes, as we know it from tents, was out of the question, because then one would be strongly dependent on the conditions of the sleeping place: How could one fasten pegs in a terrace floor, for example?
We saw the only solution in a pole that attaches to the bed itself - a lightweight pole that would hold both the mosquito net and the rain protection was the goal. We started our first attempts with sturdy wooden slats, but we quickly realised that this would create more of a cramped dachshund garage than an airy, sheltering space for sleeping 😀.
Andi next to the first prototype for the mosquito repellent, which was still hanging very low on the face!
It took a few weeks and months of fiddling until we came up with a kind of dome solution made of tent poles - funnily enough inspired by the architecture of tents. We also liked this solution best visually, because the aluminium poles picked up on the materiality of the bed and the dome created a cocoon that makes the SkyHeia really cosy inside.
The Cocoon
To go with the frame, our good friend and puppet maker Andi Sauerbier from Cologne Mosquito nets sewn. Initially, it was still made of white fabric (as you can see in the picture) and still hung very low, which lacked the generous feeling of space inside. But when we finally developed the cocoon solution, we came to the conclusion after some tests that the mosquito net should be made of black net fabric. For one thing, the black mosquito net is easier to clean because it is less susceptible to dirt, and most importantly: you can enjoy the starry sky at night through the net!
The mosquito net in use
Last weekend, Jule and Veronika have tested the SkyHeia including mosquito net at the camping site Oberprether Mühle at the Little Camp Escape The two festival visitors won two nights in the SkyHeia. Soon we will be report in our Draußen Schlafen Blog blog about their experiences.
PS: We already have a solution for the rain protection and will report on it soon.
You can find more pictures of the bed on our product page.
