Cow's Hitch W/Stopper Knots For UL setup

[Mountainfitter]

I have been trying to come up with the lightest weight hammock setup possible. The only thing holding me back has been a suspension system. A while back I built my own whoopie sling and it's worked great but around the tree was always the variable especially since I didn't want to add the extra weight of carabiners..

So I took a 12' piece of 7/64" Amsteel Blue and tied a figure 8 loop at the end and then tied stopper knots every 12". I used another piece of Amsteel Blue through the hammock's channel and attached the hammock to the stopper knot suspension using a cow's hitch..

I layed in the hammock for a few hours today and it worked great. It felt rock solid with no slippage of any kind.. My whole setup including suspension is now down to 5.75oz...

I do realize this setup can increase bark and tree damage but none was present on the two pine trees I hung from today..

Has anyone else ever tried something similar to this??? Did it work for you???


Cow's Hitch Loose



Cow's Hitch Tight



Cow's Hitch Against Stopper Knot



Size Comparison

[Drop]

Haven't tried it, was thinking about rope hanging. A recent thread explored the idea of using twigs or similar between rope and the tree as protection though. Might be an addition to your system.

[Mountainfitter]

I actually thought about doing that today but the lack of damage kept me from trying it. I am sure with certain kinds of trees it would be the right thing to do though..

[TinaLouise]

Is the 12' piece of 7/64 Amsteel also used to go around the tree?? Or do you have something else for straps??

TinaLouise

[gargoyle]

I feel that the rope will and does damage the bark, and over time the tree will show damage. We use straps for the tree's protection, and to keep the park rangers from frowning on the hammock community.

Knots of any kind derate the ropes full potential, so in effect, your decreasing the max performance of your amsteel, by adding a series of knots down its length.

Clever idea though, I'd think you would be able to incorporate a short length of webbing into your setup, without carabiners. Use a length of webbing with an eye sewn into each end, tie on your amsteel to one webbing eye (permanently), feed the rope thru the opposite eye, once the webbing is around the tree.

[opie]

Dynaglide will about cut your cord weight in half over the amsteel. If you're after the UL set-up. However, it isn't for heavier hangers.

[Festus Hagen]

No carabiners in my whoopie setup. Just a tree strap which I feed through a sewn loop in one end (or bowline if you don't have a sewn loop) and a marlin spike hitch with a "found" toggle. If the tree strap is too heavy though... it's too heavy.

[Drop]

Or maybe a permanently attached length of webbing tied to the tree with a speer 4 wrap (if thats what it's called). Maybe not great on the lightness front but using the toggle method (as I do now) I'm sometimes worried I'm going to leave a strap behind.

[Knotty]

Dynaglide will about cut your cord weight in half over the amsteel. If you're after the UL set-up. However, it isn't for heavier hangers.

Opie - Don't you think Dynaglide is too risky for Mountainfitter's approach? It has a rating of 1000# which gives it a safe working load of 200# when using a 5x safety factor (the minimum recommended). Mountainfitter is tying stopper knots every 12". Odds are the knots are reducing the line's rating by 40% to 600#. Now the safe working load is only 120#.

[Mountainfitter]

>>"Is the 12' piece of 7/64 Amsteel also used to go around the tree??""

Yep thats it.. I was thinking of adding two short piece's of webbing with eyes on each end to aid in tree protection but that will add weight and bulk to the 5.75oz setup...

I want something that is ultra light and so far I haven't been able to find anything light enough. This is the first setup that actually works and only weighs about 1.2oz for the entire suspension system..