I just ordered some Whoopies from Opie and bought some ratchet straps from MegaLo Mart. These straps are 14 feet long. My question to those more experienced is this, should I leave these straps 14 feet long or cut them? If I should cut them, should I cut them in half and make two sets of 7 foot straps or cut them 6 and 8 or 5 and 9 feet? Thanks in advance for any help.
Depends on the size of the trees in the area's where you go. Out here in the Redwoods, 14 feet would be "average". If weight is not an issue, just leave them the way they are so you could accommodate whatever you encountered.
Greg Dunlap
Santa Rosa, CA
38.478156 N
122.754598 W
157 feet above sea level
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Vietnam Security Police Life Member 361
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Da Nang, RVN TET 1968 - TET 1969
Blackie 129X
I don't think the cost to benefit ratio makes sense to cut them. I would leave them as the potential gain in reduced weight as opposed to the flexibility of longer straps doesn't make much sense to me. Just my $.02.
“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Also keep in mind that those straps are most likely nylon and if you have more than about 3 ft. of strap coming off the tree you will experiencing significant stretching.
The "best" length is subjective, not objective. I always tend to minimize weight as long as I don't create "excessive" inconvenience. I make mine just long enough to go around 90% of the trees I hang from, with a loop at both ends. When I encounter a tree that is too big for the huggers, I toggle my single line suspension to one end and the "shortage" is taken up with suspension line. I then scrounge up sticks to hold the suspension line extension away from the tree bark. Where I go, that makes my huggers 24" long, net.
bob
I disagree. Ratchet straps that stretch would be unusable...they are most certainly poly something.Originally Posted by opie984
Dave
"Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."~~~May Sarton
I just got a package from Opie---FAST service...will play with the new stuff tonight. Never used fancy tarp tensioners before and I'll be sporting a new ridgeline with prussics woohoo.
ewok
I won't even pitch my first hammock until this Sunday night, but I am a very experienced old camper and I would never shorten a rope (or remove straps from a pack) until I had used them a few times first and then was able to decide for myslf whether they were too long. Its hard to make them longer again, easy to cut them.
Jim S
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