drip stoppers

[slowhike]

in heavy rain, this can be an issue. i haven`t run into serious problems w/ water running down the webbing or ropes yet, but some folks have got pretty soaked. in cold weather, this could become a serious situation.
for most people just tying something on the support rope/webbing like a bandana or dirty sock takes care of the problem. i`d just asoon not have two soaked socks or bandanas in the morning to deal w/.
some tye a string on alowing it to hang down & devert the water. most people suggest cotton for this because of the way it sucks water in. i`ve got my doughts about how much water a string can devert in an extreamly heavy rain. but a string would be better used on a rope, and a rope may not channel as much water as webbing. .
lately i`ve been using the tent peg & figure 8 method (see photo).
i don`t belive even a heavy flow is going to run past that.
a fellow named michale on the hammockcamping group said that he was using a girl`s hair clasp on his webbing (the kind w/ wire on the back that clips to the plastic decoration on the front. i`m not sure but, i belive he may have cliped a small pice of cotton cloth in it to catch the water. the reason for the clip was that if you tie a string onto webbing, it will cause it to curl, forming a channel. ...tim

[blackbishop351]

I haven't had this problem yet, so I'm probably not the most qualified to talk about it....

However, I've heard that packtowel material works well as a dripstring too. Makes sense. The stuff is super-wicking. It'd probably dry out quicker than cotton, too.

Part of the reason I use 'biners and will be using buckles soon is the way the tension across the width of the strap. The problem with just tying cloth onto the strap is that, unless you're making sure the cloth contacts all the way across, the water can just run AROUND the cloth and into your hammock anyway.

Hardware like 'biners and buckles solve this problem, though (at least in theory) by compressing the whole width of the strap at some point. I've heard some say that dripstrings aren't even necessary when using hardware; the water may just run right off the bottom edge of the hardware. In either case, though, a string attached at the same point as the buckle or 'biner would probably work very well.

Just my .02

[headchange4u]

blackbishop,

You seem like you are using the same system as me. Here's a pic:

http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery...e.php?i=91&c=4

I am pretty sure that a biner will stop water from running down to the rope that attaches to the hammock. You could always tie a piece of string in the middle of the biner. That would stop the water for sure.

[blackbishop351]

Yeah that's exactly what I've been thinking. But like I said, I haven't gotten to test it yet, so I withold "official" judgement

Actually, as far as my setup, I've got my straps attached directly to my homemade hammock at this point. I'm gonna convert to buckles soon, though. I use spectra loops to 'biners on my HH though.

[headchange4u]

I am going to be removing the Spectra from my HH and replacing it with the same setup you see above very soon.

[Coffee]

I had this problem when I switched my HH to straps. The water rain down the straps and left over cord into my hammock. It took a prolonged rain. Luckily I could bail into my house in the middle of the night.

I fixed this using the white inner pieces of para cord. One string wrapped around a couple time and tied so that 3 or 4 inches hung off on each side of the knot did the trick. I tested this by pouring nalgene after nalgene on the strap. The cord picked it up each time. This worked great on the Hot Springs campout where it rained off and on all weekend.

I am not using the straps from Speer's site. I am using a thicker one from OWF. That might be the difference. Jeff told me that twisting the straps will do the same thing.

[Just Jeff]

Jeff told me that twisting the straps will do the same thing.

I haven't tested that yet...just read it on the Yahoo group. Seems like it would work, though.

[Certain]

I had this problem when I switched my HH to straps. The water rain down the straps and left over cord into my hammock. It took a prolonged rain. Luckily I could bail into my house in the middle of the night.

I fixed this using the white inner pieces of para cord. One string wrapped around a couple time and tied so that 3 or 4 inches hung off on each side of the knot did the trick. I tested this by pouring nalgene after nalgene on the strap. The cord picked it up each time. This worked great on the Hot Springs campout where it rained off and on all weekend.

I am not using the straps from Speer's site. I am using a thicker one from OWF. That might be the difference. Jeff told me that twisting the straps will do the same thing.

Do you have any pics of this drip string system you're talking about here? Are you talking about the thin thin strands inside para cord? You're just wrapping one of these strands around the spectra (before the HH knot) and then let it hand down 3-4 inches?

[Coffee]

Jeff posted a closeup on his website from the hammock campout.

http://www.tothewoods.net/HikingPicturesHotSprings.html

[Ewker]

drip stopper???