Tarp Cord?

[riverkeeper]

Even tho I've slept out in a hammock at least 200 times, I've only made a few mods to gear and technique. Not many hangers in the PNW and I just found this place a week or so ago ... learned more here in a week etc.

So here goes a kinda dumb question. Due to a vision problem caused by a doofus lasik doc my contrast vision and esp night vision is not good. So I quickly trashed the stealthy HH tarp lines and eventually replaced them with reflective cord ,,, coyote brown hammers are tough enough to see in the day much less night when the cord really helps me get home. Tried Ed's skinny orange stuff with out enthusiasm.

What do you folks recommend?

[bredler]

Sorry I'm no help...I like ed's skinny orange stuff!

[warbonnetguy]

i just got some yellow "zing it" from http://www.baileysonline.com/search....geNo=1&x=0&y=0 it is single braid dyneema, 1.75mm 400#, seems like good line, only used it a couple times.

[angrysparrow]

Due to a vision problem...What do you folks recommend?

First, Kelty Triptease is quite reflective to any light source at night.

For something a little more aggressively noticeable, though, you might want to look into getting either glow-in-the-dark cord or line tensioners. There was a group buy on the line tensioners a few months ago, and you might find a forum member with some left over, or perhaps even inquire directly with the UK source. The only company I know that sells glowing accessory cord in a small enough diameter for this use is an Austrailian one, and they seem to stock it in both 4mm and 6mm. Good luck.

[Youngblood]

Even tho I've slept out in a hammock at least 200 times, I've only made a few mods to gear and technique. Not many hangers in the PNW and I just found this place a week or so ago ... learned more here in a week etc.

So here goes a kinda dumb question. Due to a vision problem caused by a doofus lasik doc my contrast vision and esp night vision is not good. So I quickly trashed the stealthy HH tarp lines and eventually replaced them with reflective cord ,,, coyote brown hammers are tough enough to see in the day much less night when the cord really helps me get home. Tried Ed's skinny orange stuff with out enthusiasm.

What do you folks recommend?

Hate to hear that about your eyes, that is a tough one. I have had some problems with eye surgery too, but not as severe as what you have.

The reflective stuff helps from a distance but up close being a bright color is about all you can do with the line, other than using thicker line (and likely heavier line) so there is more of it to see. The reflective markers or ribbons might help, I've never tried them. They make a hollow braid polypropylene rope that is as small as 5/32 inch or so diameter that might help.

The other angle to go at is your lighting. Could you use a brighter head lamp or rig up a pair of lights with some separation so shadows would stand out better... a single headlamp at the center of your head isn't good at producing shadows that you can see? I'm not sure how you would do it but even with good night eyes head lamps are tricky because of the inability to see shadows. I have noticed that things are easier to see when I hold the light in my hands because then I can see the shadows created by the light better.

[Hector]

Kelty Triptease is one option, but I don't like it -- the core slides inside the sheath too much for my taste. I would rather use this stuff:
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/st...0226&langId=-1

It's a little thicker than the Triptease but much easier to deal with.

For hanging my tarp, I put a bowline in one end of a 12' piece of cord, wrap the cord around the tree and run the end of the cord through the bowline loop, snug the resulting lasso up around the tree. Then I take the free end to the tarp and run through it's attachment (grommet, web loop, plastic loop, whatever) and come back to a simple trucker's hitch which lets me apply tension easily.

Those small Figure 9s are also good and eliminate the trucker's hitch. I have some installed on my larger tarp with short loops -- no knots to tie at all and about as quick and simple as you can get. You could probably get the tarp hung from the trees by feel alone in a couple of minutes.

[headchange4u]

This site sells glow in the dark small diameter line. I think Grizz may have bought some so maybe he can comment on how well it works

[GrizzlyAdams]

I did get some glow in the dark line, although from a different site.

My stuff is not bright like evidently the lineloks are. When its really dark
you can see them glowing softly, but I'm not sure you'd see it from very far away. More testing needed on that I guess.

The stuff I like is from Gossamer Gear
http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/...zc_2_line.html

2mm, strong, very orange for the day, with reflective bits for the night.

Grizz

[slowhike]

i think the ribbons hanging from the guy lines like youngblood mentioned would be a light weight, effective thing to try.
maybe the ribbons could be reflective, glow in the dark, or just a bright color.

i had reflective tape loops on my tarp stakes for a while, but they got brittle & came off.
but i liked the idea... especially helped finding a misplaced stake... reflective at night but also made it easier to spot during the day.
probably helped keep me from tripping over the guy line too.

[riverkeeper]

Thanks for the tips.
I do now use a stronger headlamp and carry a backup...the reflective line really shows up at night while the hammock remains invisible. While my cord works, I wondered what cord you all use ... esp for toplines on the tarp.

The yellowish color of the reflective cord is adequate in the daytime. The HH black stuff was invisible all the time.

The low streach Zing It looks interesting ... i'll be OK after a few Cornea Transplants (I hope). Glow in the dark is not (yet) necessary. The gossamer line is 'abrasive' .. around sil ny? Don't know.
Thanks.