Cut my suspension weight by nearly 2/3 with custom titanium becket hitch hardware.

[Russtang]

I've been using 2" poly straps, marlin spikes, and whoopie slings on my bridge hammock for a while now. Recently, my whoopies have gotten a lot harder to adjust. Especially so with the weight of my hammock, pad, sleeping bag, etc. hanging from them. I could have probably built some new whoopies, since they've gotten a little long in the tooth. But try as I might, I never really fell in love with them.

So, after a bunch of poking around HF, on Dutch's and butt-in-a-sling's sites, I decided I really liked the hammock anchors from BIAS. If you watch the youtube video linked on his page, you can see how they work. Pretty neat I thought.

hammock-anchors-pair-4.jpg
LINK

The anchors appear to have been designed for a gathered end with a continuous loop. I've also seen a video where they were used on bridge dogbones. I decided that I wanted the hardware to be fixed on the hammock though, so I came up with the below design.

IMG_20160123_133056.jpg

I made them out of 1/8" thick titanium, and weight tested them to my satisfaction. They're not the prettiest, but they held up to my abuse without failure.

Here's an overview of the total suspension setup.

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Each side has a larks-headed 10' amsteel rope to a 7' Dutch kevlar tree hugger. My hammock dogbones are larks-headed through the larger of the two holes in the hardware, and the free end of the amsteel passes through the smaller hole. It's then secured off in what I can only describe as a backward becket hitch. The loose end of the hitch is still loose, and the line under tension the same. The difference is that the tension line is pulled in the opposite direction as it is traditionally.

IMG_20160123_162202.jpg IMG_20160123_162224.jpg

The connection is very secure with no slippage. Easy to set, and extremely easy to undo. To set it, just pull the line to desired length, and fold a loop over on itself over the hardware. To undo it, just pull on the free end. It comes free very easily.

I'm extremely happy with the new setup. I hung in it for a couple hours over the weekend, stressing it, trying to make it fail. Adjustment is a breeze. I dropped more than 5 oz. of weight, and gained 9 feet more usable suspension length.

More pics:

I added an inch of soft tubing to each amsteel/kevlar larks head. This was in order to increase the rope's bend radius, as well as to make it easier to untie in the future if needed. They only weigh about a gram each.

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Before

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After hanging

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Old vs. new

[Kingpin]

Wow, that last picture really drives home the difference between bulk of the two systems.

Congrats! Enjoy your new setup.

[Gravity]

I think that many of us yearn for an improved Amsteel suspension, to overcome the limitations of the whoopee sling, and this is what we thought we had when Dutch released his speed hook, only to be disappointed when he withdrew it shortly thereafter, with the following message:

"... this type of suspension puts a great amount of compression on a very small area. A whoopee sling uses 10 inches to compress the line but the speed hook does it with just 1/4 inch of compression. They test to 1000 pounds originally but after subsequent hangs I tested it again and it didn't meet the minimum of 1000 pounds that I require..."

I wonder if the hammock anchors sold by BIAS, and this design created by Russtang share the same fatal flaw of the speed hook, namely a bunch of compression distributed into a very small area, which tends to quickly degrade the Amsteel line. Any physicists in the house that can comment about Amsteel and compression forces?

Source: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ght=speed+hook

Edit: The late great speed hooks:

[TominMN]

No physicist here, but it certainly is essentially a SH with out the H (or a HA without the A )!

Not crazy about the lack of ability to disconnect. Like the idea of 1/8" thick material. That may help some...

[ninjahamockman]

That is some sick stuff. Would it be possible to turn it something like the marlin spike.

[Russtang]

Wow, that last picture really drives home the difference between bulk of the two systems.

Congrats! Enjoy your new setup.

Thanks. Really enjoying how much easier it is to adjust.

[Russtang]

I think that many of us yearn for an improved Amsteel suspension, to overcome the limitations of the whoopee sling, and this is what we thought we had when Dutch released his speed hook, only to be disappointed when he withdrew it shortly thereafter, with the following message:

"... this type of suspension puts a great amount of compression on a very small area. A whoopee sling uses 10 inches to compress the line but the speed hook does it with just 1/4 inch of compression. They test to 1000 pounds originally but after subsequent hangs I tested it again and it didn't meet the minimum of 1000 pounds that I require..."

I wonder if the hammock anchors sold by BIAS, and this design created by Russtang share the same fatal flaw of the speed hook, namely a bunch of compression distributed into a very small area, which tends to quickly degrade the Amsteel line. Any physicists in the house that can comment about Amsteel and compression forces?

Source: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ght=speed+hook

Interesting. Never heard of Dutch's speed hooks before. They do look very similar to BIAS hammock anchors.

Before I installed the hardware on the hammock, I feel like I did some pretty harsh stress testing on them. I attached doubled up paracord to the large hole. The paracord attached to one of my garage rafters. I then attached some amsteel to the smaller hole, in the same way it would attach on the hammock. I wrapped the tensioned amsteel leg around my boot, a couple feet off the ground. I then climbed a ladder, and jumped and bounced repeatedly on the amsteel, looking for hardware and/or cordage failure. Everything looked fine after a dozen or so pretty good bounces. I weigh 185, FYI.

I've only hung in the hammock for a couple hours so far. During that time, I readjusted each side a few times, bouncing up and down in the hammock, trying to stress the suspension. The amsteel showed some compression and elongation effects, but no signs of fraying. Time will tell I guess.

I'll definitely keep an eye on the amsteel, but am very comfortable hanging from it so far.

[Russtang]

No physicist here, but it certainly is essentially a SH with out the H (or a HA without the A )!

Not crazy about the lack of ability to disconnect. Like the idea of 1/8" thick material. That may help some...

Hehe, maybe we can call it a "Speed Hole"? Hammock Hole?

It still disconnects. Just at a different location. The amsteel is tapered with a heatshrink ferrule on the end. It slips right through the small hole.

I liked the idea of the BIAS anchor being captured, so it didn't get lost. I just preferred mine to be captured by the hammock dogbones, as opposed to the suspension amsteel.

[Russtang]

That is some sick stuff. Would it be possible to turn it something like the marlin spike.

I can't quite picture what you are thinking. Could you explain in a little more detail?

[1csleptonkayak]

I'm still using a set of Dutch's original speed hooks. At your weight, I think you'll be fine if you keep an eye on your amsteel. I'm on my original line, but after ~30 nights I'm about due for a change. Little if any fraying in my case, but compression for sure in spots. If you have aspirations for selling your hardware, you may want to have some professional tests done and get on good terms with a product liability attorney .