WallyWorld Straps Revisited or Dutch Straps...
(Not sure if this post should go here or in the Dutchware section down below...I'll let the Mods make that call...)
Well this isn't exactly about the WallyWorld straps I was asking about last week...and yet it sort of is...or maybe its really not...or...oh screw it, lets just get on with it...
Last week I got some good info about WallyWorld straps as well as those carried by Tractor Supply and Harbor Freight. AS it turns out, most of the straps carried by Wally World seem to be nylon. They work fine for some but still...they're nylon. Weighing in at around 280, I'm a bit of a clydesdale in the hammock world and with me...nylon is gonna stretch. Tractor Supply has some polyester straps but at $10-$15 a pair...and I need 2 pairs...well, I was really trying to do better than that. Harbor Freight was the next best bet. Price was right per pair of straps but by the time I added in shipping or driving to their nearest location to us, 30 or so miles away, I was still looking at spending more than I really wanted to.
As the suggestions rolled in I received a PM from Eagle Eye, Dutch's Elf who mentioned that they offered a 25 ft long, 1 in wide length of polyester webbing on the Dutchware site for $7. EE offered to cut it in half, sew loops in the ends and ship 'em to me. At that point I was thinking $16-$17 for two pairs of good quality straps with loops sewn in the ends and shipped to my house was a pretty darn good deal.
But thats not where this story ends. EE dropped me another PM and mentioned that they had a pile of 'seconds' of the webbing sitting around that he could hook me up with an even better deal. So what constitutes a 'second' in webbing? Wrinkles. Yep, nothing more than wrinkles, thats what EE said. I thought, heck, they're going to get wrinkled and creased anyway! Needless to say, I pulled the trigger on a couple of pairs of 12 foot 'seconds' straps.
I did the PayPal thing Tuesday, got an e-mail Wednesday morning letting me know the straps had shipped and today (Friday) they're sitting on my kitchen table waiting on a field test tomorrow night.
So what do I think about the quality? Lets just say I'm tempted to order a couple more pairs to keep as spares or maybe use for a nice PIF. The loops are about 3 inches long and are sewn in with three bar tacks. As for being blems/seconds...well, yeah, I saw a couple of small wrinkles but they were nothing that would impact the function and were barely noticeable really and at the price, a couple little wrinkles or creases darn sure don't bother me.
Call me a happy Dutchware customer. I'll post a couple of pics after their field test. Many thanks to Eagle Eye for hooking me up.
