I have known two people who for one reason or another have had the smaller diameter Dyneema suspension cords on the light weight Hennessey hammock wear through. I myself have had two ridge lines snap when someone else was putting up my hammock (don't ask 
)
Anyway, having browsed around the US based http://www.hammockforums.net I decided to have a go at changing my lines to something a bit lighter and replace the ridge line with something stronger. I had been working with a patched ridgeline for some time and wasn't happy with how the mossie net hung, so I wanted to try adjusting its length while I had everything apart.
Actually, swapping the lines was dead easy! It can seem a little daunting at first, but having done it, I can't think of any really good reason to go to the trouble of returning a hammock for either a broken ridgeline or worn suspension lines.
Here are some pictures of the knot used. The original used three and a half wraps of the thicker rope. Its hard to tell in the pictures but the knot is a simple bowline.
You can just see where the loop of ridgeline is fed through from the inside of the hammock and encompasses the suspension line in the knot. I made my ridgeline too long to start with, then adjusted it by tying an alpine butterfly / artillery hitch in it, not only is it strong and easy to untie after having been under tension, but it also gives me another place to tie gear to while I am in the hammock.
For lines, I am using sailing cord, the ridgeline is 2mm Marlow Excel Racing (SK75 Dyneema core/16plait polyester sheath) which is surely overkill, but it was there in the discount bin and 3mm Poly Ropes-4004 Racing which has a tensile strength of around 400kg. This is lower than is often recommended, I have read 1200lb as being the recommended standard, but then again I am a lot lighter than some of the fellows on the US forums who are talking about this stuff, and reckonned it was worth a try.
I spent a good long time looking at ropes in the Pinnell & Bax store in Northampton and decided that the Poly-Ropes was good, as was the Marlow Super Dyneema in 3.5mm. They had good feel, not too stiff, and good grippy sheaths. The pure D12 and V12 braided lines had amazing strength, but they were slick and looked like they would be hard to do knot work with, they were also about twice the price
Hope this has been useful for someone.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6753
)Anyway, having browsed around the US based http://www.hammockforums.net I decided to have a go at changing my lines to something a bit lighter and replace the ridge line with something stronger. I had been working with a patched ridgeline for some time and wasn't happy with how the mossie net hung, so I wanted to try adjusting its length while I had everything apart.
Actually, swapping the lines was dead easy! It can seem a little daunting at first, but having done it, I can't think of any really good reason to go to the trouble of returning a hammock for either a broken ridgeline or worn suspension lines.
Here are some pictures of the knot used. The original used three and a half wraps of the thicker rope. Its hard to tell in the pictures but the knot is a simple bowline.
You can just see where the loop of ridgeline is fed through from the inside of the hammock and encompasses the suspension line in the knot. I made my ridgeline too long to start with, then adjusted it by tying an alpine butterfly / artillery hitch in it, not only is it strong and easy to untie after having been under tension, but it also gives me another place to tie gear to while I am in the hammock.
For lines, I am using sailing cord, the ridgeline is 2mm Marlow Excel Racing (SK75 Dyneema core/16plait polyester sheath) which is surely overkill, but it was there in the discount bin
and 3mm Poly Ropes-4004 Racing which has a tensile strength of around 400kg. This is lower than is often recommended, I have read 1200lb as being the recommended standard, but then again I am a lot lighter than some of the fellows on the US forums who are talking about this stuff, and reckonned it was worth a try.I spent a good long time looking at ropes in the Pinnell & Bax store in Northampton and decided that the Poly-Ropes was good, as was the Marlow Super Dyneema in 3.5mm. They had good feel, not too stiff, and good grippy sheaths. The pure D12 and V12 braided lines had amazing strength, but they were slick and looked like they would be hard to do knot work with, they were also about twice the price
Hope this has been useful for someone.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6753
