Ok, some inventions are born of necessity and this is one of them. It's probably not new but as I thought it up its certainly new to me. It. Hasn't been used in anger. But giving it a good tug has convinced me its secure. 
Bit of a journey to this, these are the issues that prompted this solution:
First, I was using paracord for my ridgeline using a truckers hitch to tighten. I noticed after a few trips the "loop" where I tie my hitch was starting to fray. It was cheap paracord but the abrasion of pulling the ridge line taught was obviously taking its toll.
So I bought a pair of fig 9's and a pair of cam buckles to mess about with.
The cam lock buckles are great but bulky and have been relegated to the family camping box. The fig 9s are good however I worry that they will damage the cord. I also note that if knocked they can pop out and be unsecured. The other issue with fig 9s is the minimum supported line diameter of 2.5mm.....
That's when I was given some 1.5mm dyneema throwline... So the fig 9s stayed on the paracord.
A new idea had to be thought up. A cheap one at that. Taking a Prussik as my inspiration I came up with this solution:
Using a metal link or mini carabiner wind 4 turns of the ridgeline around the side of the biner. A mini carabiner is better than a closed loop as you can do this without access to either end. This type is pennies on eBay and has a squared off edge to help with the hold.
Then do as you would with a truckers hitch, taking the bitter end around the tree and back through the biner (assuming the standing end is secured to an anchor point)
Pull tight, the pinch a loop out and do a looped half hitch with a draw loop to fasten. Extra security can be added by passing the bitter end back into the loop, or clipping the loop onto the biner.
Hope that all makes sense, like I said its probably bleeding obvious to most but if that's so why the need for fancy fig9s?
Cheers
Mike
Bit of a journey to this, these are the issues that prompted this solution:
First, I was using paracord for my ridgeline using a truckers hitch to tighten. I noticed after a few trips the "loop" where I tie my hitch was starting to fray. It was cheap paracord but the abrasion of pulling the ridge line taught was obviously taking its toll.
So I bought a pair of fig 9's and a pair of cam buckles to mess about with.
The cam lock buckles are great but bulky and have been relegated to the family camping box. The fig 9s are good however I worry that they will damage the cord. I also note that if knocked they can pop out and be unsecured. The other issue with fig 9s is the minimum supported line diameter of 2.5mm.....
That's when I was given some 1.5mm dyneema throwline... So the fig 9s stayed on the paracord.
A new idea had to be thought up. A cheap one at that. Taking a Prussik as my inspiration I came up with this solution:
Using a metal link or mini carabiner wind 4 turns of the ridgeline around the side of the biner. A mini carabiner is better than a closed loop as you can do this without access to either end. This type is pennies on eBay and has a squared off edge to help with the hold.
Then do as you would with a truckers hitch, taking the bitter end around the tree and back through the biner (assuming the standing end is secured to an anchor point)
Pull tight, the pinch a loop out and do a looped half hitch with a draw loop to fasten. Extra security can be added by passing the bitter end back into the loop, or clipping the loop onto the biner.
Hope that all makes sense, like I said its probably bleeding obvious to most but if that's so why the need for fancy fig9s?
Cheers
Mike
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