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Thread: Too much sag

  1. #1
    Senior Member gunn parker's Avatar
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    Too much sag

    Hi All
    A couple of things.
    First, when I made my hammock I could only get about 6ft of webbing from a local camping store and found it too short to tie to the trees in my front yard so I bought a couple of cheap 1in wide ratchet tie downs and used the longer end as my new webbing.
    Well I set it up this morning over the concrete floor at work here and once I got in one end broke
    So for testing of the ridge line I doubled it over and all was ok.
    I then attached the new thinner ridgeline and pulled tight on the webbing through the rings until the ridge line was tight and with about the sag that I liked, but when I got in I found that something must be stretching because the ridgeline sagged down to near my head.

    Can anyone suggest what could be stretching and causing the ridgline to sag so much?

    A bit long but thanks for any help.
    gunn
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Just Jeff's Avatar
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    It's too long. Just like what makes the HH tarp sag...when you get in, the points at the ends of the ridgeline get closer together, causing the sag. But if the ridgeline is shorter, the supports will stretch it taut when you get in.

    Or you're not hanging it tightly enough when you set it up. You don't have to crank down on it, but the supports should be close to horizontal if you're using a ridgeline.
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  3. #3
    Senior Member gunn parker's Avatar
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    Hi
    Yes I had the ridge line and supports more or less in a straight line right across the hammock, are you saying the hammock is too long?

    I was going to ask that as well as when I get in and reach up behind my head with my arm almost reaching straight out I can reach the whipping, then when I look at my feet I still have about 2ft before the whipping at that end.

    I'd like to test it overnight this weekend so I'd like to get it set up right inside first.
    Thanks
    Gunn
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  4. #4
    Senior Member GrizzlyAdams's Avatar
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    stretching

    It seems to me that three possibilities exist for stretching.

    a) suspension
    b) hammock fabric
    c) ridgeline

    If the ridgeline was stretching but the suspension and fabric were not, then I wouldn't expect a taut ridgeline to become less taut when you climbed in.

    If (when!) the fabric stretches but the ridgeline and suspension do not, I'm not seeing how the ridgeline could droop either.

    If the suspension stretches though, the hammock endpoints come closer together, and would explain what you see.

    Received wisdom around here is that nylon stretches a great deal more than polypro or polyester webbing. I recall seeing a figure like 25% stretch for nylon, which is consistent with what a wikipedia article says.


    I wouldn't be surprised if the webbing you got from a cheap tie-down arrangement was nylon. Nylon is cheap.

    Grizz

  5. #5
    Senior Member Just Jeff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gunn parker View Post
    are you saying the hammock is too long?
    No - I'm saying the ridgeline may be too long for that particular hammock. Try temporarily shortening the ridgeline and see if it makex any difference.
    “Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” ~Judge Joseph Story

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  6. #6
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    webbing with alot of stretch will cause the ends of the hammock to get closer together too, this would also cause the ridge to sag. you may be able to feel this when you first weight the hammock, if you cant tell like this, attach a length of it to something overhead like a branch or beam, hang from a harness or make a girth hitch/larks head at one end to put your foot into. now bounce on it. you want very little bounce/stretch. less than an inch of give for a 6 foot piece.

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