A rope splicer's hammock

**Nick the Splicer** · 10-02-2010, 13:04

Hey everyone, I've been following along your site for a couple months now. I love it. Every time I read a post, it makes me look more and more disappointingly at my own setup that I've been using for about half a decade now.

I'm ready to shave a lot of weight and bring the quality of my setup up to this century's quality level!

So first, here's a short vid I made to show you what I'm currently hanging on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24CDL2LLZBI

I laid it out and it's about 7.5' long and 4.5' wide (90"x54").

I can't tell for sure, but it seems that a lot of you guys are hanging on hammocks that are a lot longer than this.

So here's what I have in mind right now. I'd like y'all to let me know if it looks like I'm on the right track...

As you see on the pics, I'm looking to do what I think y'all are calling the "gathered end" technique. In the vid you can see I just sewed a hem at each end and ran the suspension through that. I'd like to do the same with my new hammock, but it seems that y'all think it isn't a good idea because then I'm relying on the stitching in a thin fabric with thin thread. My current setup is heavy cotton canvas with v92 weight thread, so it's up to the challenge (and has proved so for over the past 5 years).

So I just bought a light-weight generic ripstop nylon ($1.99 yd) and I'm hoping that it'll hold for a few trips so that I can do a trial run on this, then nail down the measurements, then when I get it all figured out and make a nicer one with better fabric.

I'm going to try the toggles connected permanently to the hammock and at the straps that go around the tree (tree huggers?). I don't know what the toggles will be made of. But I have to be able to feed the 1/4" vectrus through it.

The blue loop in the picture (at the gathered end of the hammock) will be 1/4" Yale Vectrus (because I happen to have some lying around) that will extend about one foot beyond each end of the hammock.

The ridgeline will be old 1.75mm Samson Zing-It throwline (because I'm an arborist and I have lots of that to spare). I haven't figured out for sure what the suspension lines will be yet. I might go again with the 1/4" Vectrus for now, then downscale later when I order something appropriate.

The ridgeline and the 2 suspension lines will all be whoopies. Approximately a 4" dead eye then the adjustable eye on the other end (I'll bury a lot less than you folks seem to bury...but that's besides the point).

My current hammock is 7.5' long. You guys are going way longer than that. So I'll try 8-9' for my next one and see if it's better for me.

What do you think? What changes would you make?

love
nick

**Nick the Splicer** · 10-02-2010, 13:10

(how do I embed a vid on this site?)

**Frawg** · 10-02-2010, 13:27

Nick, your drawings look pretty close to what I was doing not that far back, except that I was using UCRs instead of whoopies. It's definitely a viable way to go, IMO. My approach was to attach a toggle to the UCR and then loop the hammock end and ridgeline over that. Lots of ways to do it, though.

I also use a hammock shorter than most, though a little longer than yours -- usually in the 96" - 102" range, knot to knot. My width was typically 52" - 54" but lately I'm back to experimenting with a 60" width. Not sure what your body sizing is, though. I'm 6'2" @ ~195# if that gives you a point of comparison.

Looking forward to your reports.

**Frawg** · 10-02-2010, 13:34

Originally Posted by Nick the Splicer

(how do I embed a vid on this site?)

If you're talking Youtube, it's in the 'Feedback & Suggestions' forum, in this thread.

**Nick the Splicer** · 10-02-2010, 13:38

I should've mentioned body size: 5'11, 185.

What's a UCR? I've searched and see people saying they are using it, but haven't seen anyone mention what it actually is.

I just cut my fabric. It comes out to 9'2", (110"). I'm about to sew up the hems on all four sides. It'll shorten up several inches once I do that.

Thanks for the tip on the embedding. It's not intuitive...but it works!

love
nick

**Frawg** · 10-02-2010, 13:44

Originally Posted by Nick the Splicer

What's a UCR? I've searched and see people saying they are using it, but haven't seen anyone mention what it actually is.

It's a "Utility Constrictor Rope", a term coined by ZA206 in his post that launched this whole whoopie/UCR adventure. A tag search on 'ucr' will lead you to several threads about it.

Edit: here's my current method, if it's of any use to you.

Cheers!