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Damage to Whoopies
I replaced the stock suspension on my ENO DN with amsteel whoopies. My question is this: if I stuff it into the stock stuff sack (attached to the hammock), will the long term bending/compression of the amsteel in the bag degrade its overall strength? Will the bends in the bury lower the sling's resistance level when i put tension on it? Should i remove the whoopies each time and store them neatly coiled in my pack?
I don't know why i started worrying about this after 10+ hangs using this system, but since i thought of it a few days ago i can't shake the nagging feeling that i should take the ropes off. Admittedly, it may be paranoia... I just don't want to end up with a bruised tail bone out on the trail when my whoopies give out >.<
any advice would be greatly appreciated...
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Dont think it will really matter. They are not under any tension when being bent or shoved into stuff sack. What really deteriorates is tension when bending or using knots.
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My thoughts are, IF you sleep in the hammock every night, AND live to be about 300, Yea, you will have to worry. :D
I have used mine 2 of every 3 nights (at least) since Early Feb. & they have small discolorations, but no discernible wear, even at the points you would expect it. I used their predecessors (Dyneema) Sorry, don't know the size, but around 1/3 the size of the Whoopies, for over 4 years "2 of every 3 nights" with no signs of wear. Yea, that stuff is TOUGH!!!
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Dyneema is made from UHMWPE. It doesn't derate its strength by much at all from flexing- unlike Kevlar which does.
You can stuff away happily. :)
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i left amsteel outside on my hammock stand for 45 days whil testing out the Dutch biners and after 45 days of Hot sun,rain,wind,humidity,condensation...
and me hanging on them...there still going strong
i don't think you have anything to worry about ;)
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I use amsteel blue on a 9000 lb winch. This is amazing stuff. Sun is a bigger threat to amsteel than any kinking that can be done in normal use or storage. Even deliberate tight bends in this rope when not under a load isn't going to hurt it in the slightest. I've read that 90 days exposed to sunlight can derate the rope by as much as 50%. So keep it out of the sun when you can.
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Amsteel is marine grade rope. There isn't much that will ruin this stuff. If it didn't last long, the tuggers, gillnetters, and freighters wouldn't use it.