Did you check the area for gremlin scat? Those toothy, rough scaled critters are SNEAKY.
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Did you check the area for gremlin scat? Those toothy, rough scaled critters are SNEAKY.
I'm glued to CNN, waiting to see if Al-Qaeda will claim responsibility....
I would also like to see the video and or maybe a picture of the piece. Just out of curiosity. I love all of my Dutch Clips.
-Rice!
Sorry about your luck Dant8ro, I wish you a life of unflappable hangs from now on.
Long Live Dutch Clips!
Personally I don't see a way it failed unless it was rotated such that the force went to the retaining hook ... say the clip was at a 45 degree angle to it's intended position. Then the impact of somone getting into the hammock and loading it could have put the sling to the retaining hook and that's not made to hold any force. That could have caused it to snap at that point. Especially if the surviving shard is actually that part.
The way I use my clips the main force to one side goes around the tree and the section going to the hammock is almost a straight line to the hammock with very little side force on the clip.
Just my 2 cents based on using these bad boys for over a year now.
IMHO, since the tree hugger strap is passed through the DC and then angles at a 30° or so, I always orient my clips with the "bucket up" so the strap always gravitates to the meatest part of the clip. Don't want my luck to "run out" by turning them upside down. :)
2Q, I looked at that when it broke, I couldn't remember way out in the piney woods which way they were supposed to be facing. It seemed that maybe the U should have been right side up, but when I checked out Dutch's video demo, they were upside down (luck out) like I had been using them. Ah well, the other clip in the set continued to hold for the trip, and will likely continue to hold much longer than that. For those that requested the video of the broken peice, here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0HumYWeKcI I appologize for the laughing tone, but in the usual form of camping comrads, we couldn't resist making a bit of a joke out of it. I don't think I'm going to live it down anytime soon, but I'm good with that.
Hmmm... hard to tell much in the video, but the break appears to have a rounded aspect, as opposed to a jagged edge look. It broke like pottery, not like glass. That says bad metal to me. :eek:
The puzzling thing is where it broke. The separation is in a place that should have webbing (and therefore load) on one side, but not the other. To break there, the webbing would have had to be on the hook. The webbing must have shifted onto the hook, with very little of it where it is supposed to be.
But, it's hard to tell from the video.
When dt8ro says he will never live this one down he's not kidding.
It's been 2 days since we came back and I have not stopped teasing him. At the time of the fall there was someone else in his hammock testing it out. We have been very busy converting the masses ever since we both became involved in the hammock world. So to this end Brian was inside the hammock shifting around to find that perfect lay.
I suspect as previous posts have mentioned that he shifted the webbing in the process to a location on the clip that wasnt meant to bear weight.
Having been there first hand it hasnt changed my mind at all. I'll be ordering my own dutch clips as soon as I can.:boggle: They are a light weight and fast alternative to the standard biner.
If I can make any suggestion tho on the clips it would be this. Bright Orange paint. I'd loose my hammock if it wasn't that colour let alone something that small. :D