Replacing Hammock Ropes....

[The Big Lebowski]

Could any of you guys point me in the right direction of eather the right thickness of paracord, or someone that sells lightweight climbing rope (or whatever you would call it) as i would like to replace the factory supplied cord that came with it....

It seems ok, just very heavy and i would like to try a few different set-up's!

Cheers, TBL.

 

[Shewie]

What sort of hammock have you got, how are your ropes attached at the minute ?

I use this setup now ...

Whoopie slings
Tree straps
Chain links
Rings
I also have some small ally toggles which I use for the marlin hitch

6ft tree straps with a marlinspike toggle, the whoopie slings hook on to straps behind the toggle, the whoopes are larksheaded onto the ring and then the chain link is attached to the hammock and also larksheads onto the ring.

Good vid here showing the same rig I use
[video=youtube;d7NZVqpBUV0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7NZVqpBUV0&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[tenderfoot]

Could any of you guys point me in the right direction of eather the right thickness of paracord, or someone that sells lightweight climbing rope (or whatever you would call it) as i would like to replace the factory supplied cord that came with it....

It seems ok, just very heavy and i would like to try a few different set-up's!

Cheers, TBL.

Try decathlon sports for a variety of diameter climbing ropes by the metre.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Its a tenth wonder 'hornet'. cheap and fairly decent spec.

You will have to excuse the basic terminology here shewie, hammock wise... a length running along each end (horizontal) that gathers each end, then about 2x 8 foot sections that you would wrap around the tree... you simply tie 4 quick release knots and away. only set it up once, but wasn't keen on the messing around adjusting length by undoing all the knots. comes with storm rings, not got that far yet...

I can rig it no probs, i just think the ropes are easy 60-70% of the weight, its a bit of a porker compared to the rest of my kit.

Thanks for the pointer tenderfoot... i'll have a look now

Regards, TBL.

P.S i'll check the video at home rich, dont have flash player on heavily protected works pc.

 

[Shewie]

The old system I used was to tie off those 8ft lengths you've got now into a short 6" loop, hook on a carabiner and then used 18mm tubular webbing to the tree. Just a slippery hitch around the tree and then the adjustment is done at the carabiner end.

Bushblade did a good tutorial of the same setup if you've not seen it before ...
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53500&highlight=hammock+tutorial

I used two climbing rated ally carabiners and two 5m lengths of 18mm tape from Walkhigh. I can't remember the weight of the setup but it wasn't bad, the carabiners also serve as good drip rings.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Spot on rich... Your older method sounds like what i was thinking off! i'm getting the idea now

And the video cracked me up

Thanks again, al.

 

[sxmolloy]

I know what yo mean TBL, I have the same hammock. I simply replaced the thickest rope (that goes throught the ends of the hammock and help if gather) with 550 paracord. I have then attached a karabiner, more paracord, another karabiner then the tree huggers. This way the hammock can be adjusted very easily by moving the paracord through the karabiner to adjust the length / height of the hammock. It made my whole set up lighter and faster to pitch, easier to adjust and faster to take down.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Cheers for that sxmolloy!
They are good hammocks for the money, but i dare say you could reduce a large ammount of weight by simply replacing the ropes.

I'll order some 550 now, and have a play around with the set-up on saturday.

Regards, al.

 

[Shewie]

Just be careful what knots you use TBL if you use paracord, although the proper stuff is rated at 550lbs and the tensile strength is very good, the major weak point is when you start adding knots.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

No worries and cheers for the pointer rich, still cant quite decide how to rig it up, but i need some cord anyways for bits and bobs.

It came with straps that are kind-of like tree huggers, steel rings tied onto 1" nylon loops that are adjustable, looks like you wrap them around the tree, feed through the eye of the loop and adjust the length of the ring spacing to suit.

I'm meeting up with a few guy's saturday that do this regular, so maybe someone can show me their rig and take it from there... as said i can rig it up no probs, but its very basic, has far too much heavy unused rope and takes a little longer to set up than need-be.

Its all a learning curve though!

Regards, al.