Saving the trees

[WarmSoda]

I'm concerned about doing damage to the trees. I've got 1" straps that use as tree huggers, which will definitely hold my weight, but at 230 pounds loaded hammock weight is 1" enough??

1) Is there a better way to wrap a tree hugger? I have 4ft straps that have a sewn eye at one end with the other open for hitching to the hammock. I wrap once around the tree and thread through the eye. This gives one loop around of 1" webbing. I thought of going around twice, but think that the most pressure would still be in the first loop from the hammock and not distributed evenly over the additional loops.

2) Is there some sort of rule of thumb for huggers? Like 0-100 lbs. load use 1", 100-250 lbs. use 1.5", 250+ use 2" or something like that?

3) I know that all this can be avoided by choosing good trees. Some are more resilient than others. It depends on the type of tree and that some trees won't be hurt even by bare rope. It would be nice to get some sort of primer on choosing the best trees to hang from and/or trees to avoid.

Any thoughts?

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WarmSoda

[vitamaltz]

You should be good. Plenty of folks quite a bit heftier than that hang on similar straps. Theoretically, though, there may be a downside to wrapping the tree twice. Sure, it would distribute some of the load, but it would also completely encircle the tree. If there was any webbing digging into the sensitive cambium, you wouldn't want to totally girdle the tree. That's all academic though, I don't think you'll do any harm. I haven't noticed any indentation on most trees even when sharing a hammock with my wife.

If you do find a soft tree, one solution is to place a few twigs up and down beneath the webbing. They will lift the webbing off the bark and reduce the pressure to just a few points, rather than the entire circumference.

Welcome to the forums, by the way!

[bfulton]

I haven't noticed any indentation on most trees even when sharing a hammock with my wife.

Without sounding like a pervert, are you sharing the hammock overnight or just for short periods of time? What hammock are you using?

Has anyone solved the 2 people in one hammock problem? My wife and I will be thru hiking the arizona trail in March and I would love to save ~4lbs of gear by sharing a hammock tarp under quilt and top quilt. Together we weigh ~270#.

[WarmSoda]

Theoretically, though, there may be a downside to ... completely encircle the tree.

If you do find a soft tree, one solution is to place a few twigs up and down beneath the webbing. They will ... reduce the pressure to just a few points, rather than the entire circumference.

I really like this idea. I learned a while ago about how native americans harvested maple sap and how they learned through trial and error that vertical cuts left scars but didn't kill the tree like horizontal cuts. Now of course, we just drill small holes that heal quickly to get our sap. The point being that vertical damage is less harmful to the tree than horizontal damage. I think maybe some vertical toggles attached to one side of my straps would give me the option of using them or not as I needed. Though, I don't know if this is really a problem or not, so I can't say that this solution would be worth the extra weight?

So far the consensus seems to be that 1" straps shouldn't be causing that much damage and I may be worried about nothing. This would be good to know.

Welcome to the forums, by the way!

I'm glad to be here.

[Deadphans]

If you do find a soft tree, one solution is to place a few twigs up and down beneath the webbing. They will lift the webbing off the bark and reduce the pressure to just a few points, rather than the entire circumference.

Welcome to the forums, by the way!

Thats a great idea vitamaltz

[animalcontrol]

I have yet to see any damage from a 1" strap but I think your concern is a valid one.

One simple solution would be to replace your straps with wider ones...strapworks has a 2" wide version that should fit your bill

[WarmSoda]

I have yet to see any damage from a 1" strap but I think your concern is a valid one.

One simple solution would be to replace your straps with wider ones...strapworks has a 2" wide version that should fit your bill

I appreciate the suggestion. I'm thinking that a wider width does work theoretically, but I'm not so sure in the field if it would turn out that way. I'm thinking that most of the pressure occurs just on the top rim of the straps and that extra width may not actually do much to help. I haven't used any other straps than the 1" wide ones. Does anyone have any bad experiences and needed to switch to wider straps? I can't be the first person to have worried about this.

[vitamaltz]

You do have quite a lot of birches up there. We don't have many. I imagine bark might flake off in the process of putting the webbing on the tree, but I think this is just a minor flesh wound (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The real danger is restricting vascular flow below the bark. Early settlers around here cleared farm fields by cutting away the bark and cambium in a ring around the base of a tree and then came back a year or two later and burned the trees they'd killed.

[WarmSoda]

You do have quite a lot of birches up there. We don't have many. I imagine bark might flake off in the process of putting the webbing on the tree, but I think this is just a minor flesh wound (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The real danger is restricting vascular flow below the bark. Early settlers around here cleared farm fields by cutting away the bark and cambium in a ring around the base of a tree and then came back a year or two later and burned the trees they'd killed.

Birch bark has so many uses, like birch bark canoes, making rope, etc. that people have been harvesting the bark and killing the trees at an alarming rate. Harvesting birch bark for any reason is a serious no-no in some places nowadays. Its so sad, really.

[gargoyle]

You should be fine with 1" straps, I haven't notice any damage, and I weigh 330. Trees might tip under my load, but the bark is fine.
Slippery bark trees like the birch, I've found a double wrap helps grip better than a single wrap. ymmv