Clamcleats

[Oxblood]

A short while ago, someone posted about Clamcleats. I took the plunge and ordered a pair of the polycarbonate and aluminum ones. Man, these things are sweet. Paired with the stock Hennessy rope they make set up a snap. Treehuggers threaded through each other, carabinet in the empty loop, line from the cleat through the carabiner and back. Once they set under weight, they do not slip. They are also surprisingly light, though slightly bulky. I may just stick with these rather than convert to whoopie slings.

[Knotty]

Cool. Can you post a link and model number?

[TOB9595]

Pics or you're just a tease

Tom

[Spogatz]

Can you post a link to the Camcleats that you had used.

[wisenber]

A short while ago, someone posted about Clamcleats. I took the plunge and ordered a pair of the polycarbonate and aluminum ones. Man, these things are sweet. Paired with the stock Hennessy rope they make set up a snap. Treehuggers threaded through each other, carabinet in the empty loop, line from the cleat through the carabiner and back. Once they set under weight, they do not slip. They are also surprisingly light, though slightly bulky. I may just stick with these rather than convert to whoopie slings.

I'm not sure why anyone would buy those. Clams don't even have feet!

[oldgringo]

I'm not sure why anyone would buy those. Clams don't even have feet!

But they are happy!

[Oxblood]

Knotty,

Here is the link to their PDF http://www.clamcleat.com/uploads/cle...r-Hammocks.pdf. I chose the CL826-11AN because of the higher weight load it would take. Before buying them, I asked a friend of mine who is a competitive sailor if he had heard of them. He has raced multiple times in open ocean yacht races (Swiftsure, that circum navigates Vancouver Island, the Victoria to Maui race, etc). He swears by their products.

So, I decided to try them out. After 5 nights, no failures, or signs of damage to the lines. The third night out included some pretty stifff winds thanks to some Montana thunderstorms.

So far, I am impressed.

As to pics, I did not think to take a close up of the rig. Sorry. But the PDF pretty much shows how I set things up. One of the nicer features is the ability to quickly reposition the cleat along the rope to take into consideration the distance between trees. Not as simple as a whoppie sling, but nice none the less.

I also used the CL266 for my tarp guy lines. I replaced the guy lines on the Hennessy Hex with Bluewater 3mm NiteLine. It is a nice, soft, high strength dual core utility line with an easy hand. The CL266 makes it really easy to tension the guy lines.

I'll keep using these for a while. I am not a weight junkie, so I may not switch to whoopie slings. Weight is actually not a huge concern for me, as everything is carried to its destination on the back of my motorcycle.

[Poppabear]

I just finished looking at the link that Oxblood posted. It looks to me as if the small ones on the left hand side of the page. Are the same ones that were sold here in the forum store for tarp tieout line use. The ones large enough for use on hammocks look interesting. But I am pretty satisified with my whoopie sling / tree strap set up. They are light weight and pretty K.I.S.S. simple. Looking at the clam cleat set up. Has me wondering if there woud be an problems releasing the rope after laying in the hammock all night. If I were to use one I would go with the CL826-72 nylon cleat as it weighs .8 oz compared to 1.2 oz for the aluminum cleat. Two drawbacks with using the Nylon is that according to the spec sheet you are limited to temps above freezing. Also it calls for 1/4 inch rope which is a pretty hefty size when you are counting every gram. On futher inspection of the spec sheet I see that the Aluminum cleats are only good to around 0 degrees. I doubt that I will be hanging at temps that low. But one never knows!

[beep]

Knotty,

Here is the link to their PDF http://www.clamcleat.com/uploads/cle...r-Hammocks.pdf. I chose the CL826-11AN because of the higher weight load it would take.

Even at the "higher weight load" limits shown for this, it still may be on the "light" side. I confess to being a non-engineer, but my impression is that hammock suspension components usually have higher weight limits than the ratings on the Clamcleats. The lighter versions for tarp lines is not an issue, but supporting the weight of person and miscellaneous gear in the hammock can be.

[headchange4u]

I have been talking with some of the people at Clam Cleats about their clips for use with hammock suspension. I want to start stocking some of them in the Hammock Forums store but we are still doing some testing on both sides of the pond. I have a set and Grizz has also been testing a set. The people at ClamCleat are also testing them with various types of ropes in a laboratory setting.

Long story short, the cleats work great with a double braid (inner core with an outer covering) rope but they don't work so well with single braid ropes like the Amsteel so many of us are using ATM. They do work fairly well with the 1/8" size Amsteel but the 7/64 slips easily and I would not advise using them with that small diameter cordage.