Whoopie slings?

[pauljm116]

First off let me apologise for being a bit dim...... What are whoopie slings for? Ive looked at various examples and just cant understand them. Been using my DD camping hammock for a few years and never had any problems with the tape already on it, so Im curious to find out why people change theirs to whoopie slings. Is it a personal preference or am I missing something. Sorry to be asking about something so basic but I cant get my head round them.

Any nice idiot proof explanations that maybe I can understand?

 

[mountainm]

They weigh substantially less than straps, take up less room in your pack, and can be adjusted once everything is hooked up to get the perfect lay in your hammock with minimum fuss.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Its a length of hollow braid cord, threaded back on itself to make a loop that you can adjust at one end and a fixed loop at the other, does that help dude? of course you need the right strength of cord,

I swopped because it made my set up more adjustable,

 

[Retired Member southey]

Hers a cracking pic of what they look like though not the right rope for hammocks,

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77051&p=935999#post935999

 

[spandit]

See my thread here: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77051
They're quite fun to make (and not really difficult)

 

[spandit]

Does anyone know if that paracord stuff from Endicotts (http://www.endicotts.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1868) would be strong enough? It's a quarter of the price of Dyneema/Amsteel

 

[pauljm116]

Had a look at the pics. Still cant grasp how they replace the hammock tapes and what are the loops and free end for, how do they attach to trees etc etc. Are there any diagrams of them in use? Cant believe how difficult to understand Im finding this, Im sure its all so simple and I will get there in the end but at the moment Im just scratching my head.....

 

[spandit]

OK, think of it as a piece of rope with a loop at either end. One end attaches to your hammock, the other end to a tree hugger/strap.
Now, the whoopie sling only has one fixed loop, the other loop is adjustable. The free end goes through the middle of the cord and is held in place like a Chinese finger trap (i.e. when there's tension on the line, it is gripped by friction). With tension taken off, the portion between the adjustable loop and free end (in my photo) can slide like a tube. Imagine the adjustable loop is much bigger and you can see that by pulling the free end, you can make it smaller (and vice versa)

For my hammock, there's a tape that goes through the end seam - I've formed this into a loop (using a Frost knot - incredibly easy to tie) - you could join the fixed loop to this with a carabiner, or just join the two loops (larks head knot) together. The adjustable end can be joined to the tree hugger/strap with a carabiner or with a marlinspike (which is a bit lighter)

 

[Retired Member southey]

I have the fixed end through the gatherd end like so

then the adjustable loop goes around the marlin hitch knot(note resting on the knot not the marlin spike itself) like so,

the whole line looks like this,

 

[Retired Member southey]

Does anyone know if that paracord stuff from Endicotts (http://www.endicotts.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1868) would be strong enough? It's a quarter of the price of Dyneema/Amsteel

the outer sheath on para-cord is there to protect the inner core of fibres that give it its strength, the outer sheath isnt very strong and no where near good enough for your hammock matey,

 

[resnikov]

Tree Huggers / Tree Straps ( call em what you want) around the tree, then the whoopie sling attaches to the tree huggers and then to the hammock.
So you have Tree Hugger -- Whoopie sling -- Hammock -- Whoopie Sling -- Tree Hugger. This is in the simplest form.

When you have a set-up like this you dont have to have as long tree huggers thus saving weight, they only need to go round the tree and fasten. The whoopie sling then allows you to alter the width of your hang very easily in the case you have 2 trees so distance apart.


Paracord is no good for a whoopie sling to support a hammock once you take the core out of it you have lost the strength.

 

[spandit]

the outer sheath on para-cord is there to protect the inner core of fibres that give it its strength, the outer sheath isnt very strong and no where near good enough for your hammock matey,

Fair enough, but this stuff doesn't have any inner core of fibres and it's substantially larger than normal paracord

 

[resnikov]

Fair enough, but this stuff doesn't have any inner core of fibres and it's substantially larger than normal paracord

Never seen that before, so simplest way is to make one and test it. Only thing I would say is hang your hammock very very low to the ground so if it does brake its not a long drop

 

[Retired Member southey]

Fair enough, but this stuff doesn't have any inner core of fibres and it's substantially larger than normal paracord

Very good point chap! in my arrogance i didnt look at the link, it might be worth a go, Though if it is the stuff im thinking of from dispatcher fun it is quite bulky, but at that price would be rude not to have a play,

 

[PeterH]

Does anyone know if that paracord stuff from Endicotts (http://www.endicotts.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1868) would be strong enough? It's a quarter of the price of Dyneema/Amsteel

Genuine 550 paracord has a theoretical strength of 550lbs which is half to third of Amsteel (7/64 = 1100lbs 1/8 = 1600lbs). However the strength of paracord comes from the core not the braid so remove that and you have something pretty weak. What the spec of that cord is I am not sure

 

[garethw]

Hi there
I've had using 4mm climbing chord attached to my tree hugger straps with a marlin spike hitch...but have been toying with the idea of making whoopie slings myself. Fine adjustment had sometimes proved awkward with my system.

After seaching I found a site online in France that sells an Amsteel equivilant the D12 material... BUT its 2.40€ per metre. Now I'm not great at maths, but to make two slings would need about 9 metres of chord, setting me back over 20€ minus postage.

So I just bought a set of UK hammocks ready made ones for £12 and saved myself the hassle of making them and some money.

Waiting for them to arrive to see if they really are an advantage over climbing chord, or just a gadget...

cheers
Gareth

 

[spandit]

So I just bought a set of UK hammocks ready made ones for £12 and saved myself the hassle of making them and some money.

These ones: http://ukhammocks.co.uk/viewitem.php?productid=7

 

[pauljm116]

Im getting there, so the adjustable loop is the one connected to the tree hugger? How is the other end attached to the hammock?

 

[spandit]

Im getting there, so the adjustable loop is the one connected to the tree hugger? How is the other end attached to the hammock?

Did I not say how in an earlier reply? Larks head or carabiner. I suppose if you've just got a sewn end seam you could push the fixed loop through it and then pass the adjustable loop through the fixed loop

I'm a bit of a wimp so even though the numbers stack up, 2.5mm just seems way too thin to support me! You can buy enough 3mm rope to make these for £12 delivered (from rooster sailing - the ukhammock ones are £15.49 delivered)

 

[resnikov]

Im getting there, so the adjustable loop is the one connected to the tree hugger? How is the other end attached to the hammock?

I use an amsteel continuous Loop through the channel on my DD Frontline then I connect this to the whoopie sling with a soft shackle. You could use a carabinere but the soft shackle weighs about 5g so i think this is better.

You could just feed the whoopie sling through the channel on your hammock and then pass it through the closed loop on the whoopie sling and pull tight.