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  1. #1
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    non-ripstop nylon/polyester

    Has anyone ever had a hammock made of non-ripstop nylon or polyester fail where they think ripstop would have saved the day? I ask because there seems to be a plethora of tafetta type materials in the WallyWorld $1 bin, and I've used it to make a couple of hammocks, but I haven't spent a lot of time in those hammocks. I just wonder if I'm asking for a kiester crushing experience with non-ripstop fabric . . . .

  2. #2
    Senior Member Ramblinrev's Avatar
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    I used a lovely deep purple satin and it ripped across it's width. Now why is yet a different story. One I can not fully answer. But there had been several people in it including myself before it "let me down". I don't know if the fatigue got to the fabric, or if there was a weakness in the fabric. I do nknow I had scraped bottom whilst swinging against the concrete basement floor and that might have abraded the fabric to the point of failure. It was early on and I was not very good at judging how high to hang. I do know there are reports of people making silk hammocks which would not be ripstop but silk is a wicked strong fiber for it's diameter.

    Satin also presents a weave issue that taffetta would not. The satin weave is a very surface exposed weave. In other words a lot of threads are crossed over the top in the weaving to give that very smooth shiny texture. Taffeta is a much less surface exposed weave. It is much more traditional if that means anything. (my weaving vocab is non-nonexistent) But the failure of a few threads is going to create a much smaller void.
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  3. #3
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    I've used that Wallyworld taffeta and it worked just fine for a gathered hammock and a 220 pound me. Be assured that I tested it with a low hang over a matress until I felt confident. That's always a good idea with a new rig anyway; you never know if you've made a mistake until you hit the deck.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spock View Post
    I've used that Wallyworld taffeta and it worked just fine for a gathered hammock and a 220 pound me.
    I'm glad to hear it has worked for somebody else too. Sometimes I like the feel and colors of the non-ripstop fabric at wallyworld more than I like ripstop.

  5. #5
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    turkeyboy,
    yep, WM has a wide selection of colors if you cruise it enough. The only problem is IDing the fabric. I surrepticiously burn a corner to make sure it is all synthetic, but after that, it is a crap-shoot. I can't reliably tell the dif between nylon and polyester. And they all weigh from 1.6 to 1.9 oz or more. It is so easy to make a simple gathered hammock that it is easier to test in practice than by rigging up formal tests, although sometimes I will do an informal tongue-tear test on the last foot by notching the fabric and tearing it by hand across the width, then lengthwise. So far, the WM stuff has been gratifyingly strong.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Cannibal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spock View Post
    I can't reliably tell the dif between nylon and polyester.
    Unless you've been "Walkin Hard" like Dewey Cox and have lost your sense of smell, the difference is pretty easy to distinguish during the burn test.

    Get yourself a small sample of known nylon and known polyester and set em ablaze. Once you smell the difference it gets locked away somewhere upstairs for long term storage. Works for fabric and webbing equally as well.

    Nest and I looked like glue huffers at the outfitters looking for poly webbing along the Trail.
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  7. #7
    Senior Member TeeDee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by turkeyboy View Post
    Has anyone ever had a hammock made of non-ripstop nylon or polyester fail where they think ripstop would have saved the day? I ask because there seems to be a plethora of tafetta type materials in the WallyWorld $1 bin, and I've used it to make a couple of hammocks, but I haven't spent a lot of time in those hammocks. I just wonder if I'm asking for a kiester crushing experience with non-ripstop fabric . . . .
    Don't know about the WM stuff, but Hennessy uses Taffeta on the ULBA and lists the same thing for the Explorer UltraLight and Survivor.

    Out of 10 models in his comparison chart, he only lists ripstop for 2 of them: the HyperLight Asym and the Adventure Racer.

    No reason that fabrics other than ripstop cannot be used for hammocks. I think the main reason that most people list ripstop as the fabric for their DIY hammocks is because when they ask, that's what most respondent's say they use and so it just snowballs. Nobody really wants to be the one to experiment on some new and different fabric. Ripstop has been safe, so they stick with it.

    I don't have any figures, but I don't see any reason for ripstop being really any stronger than non-ripstop.

    Also, I've never heard of anybody reporting that when a rip started in a ripstop fabric hammock, that the ripstop feature stopped the rip and kept them from falling through the new opening.

    So long as the basic thread from which the ripstop and non-ripstop fabric is woven is the same, the strength is going to be the same. I seriously doubt that the "extra ripstop threads" are going to seriously increase the fabric strength.

    So I seriously doubt that the "ripstop feature" is what makes the fabric useful in hammocks.

    Now if they were to incorporate dyneema/spectra or kevlar or some such material as the ripstop threads, then the ripstop threads might actually stop a rip in a hammock. Don't know how many people would actually afford the fabric though.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by TeeDee View Post
    Also, I've never heard of anybody reporting that when a rip started in a ripstop fabric hammock, that the ripstop feature stopped the rip and kept them from falling through the new opening.

    ...

    So I seriously doubt that the "ripstop feature" is what makes the fabric useful in hammocks.

    This is the crux of my question. My intuition is the same as what you have described above. I'd really be curious if anybody in this group has had a rip that has been stopped by the "ripstop" in a fabric.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Just Jeff's Avatar
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    Can't prove a negative. If the hammock didn't rip, how can you determine what stopped it from ripping? Or if it started ripping, how can you determine what made it stop when it did? Can't.

    But I'll tend to agree with your point - I doubt ripstop is that much stronger for our purposes. It's very helpful for clothing, though - for example, the ripstop in BDUs tend to stop rips sooner than the non-ripstop version, and it also keeps the rips in a straight line (or an L-shape) so it's much easier to repair if you get the chance.

    But there aren't many DWR or sil versions of taffeta, which makes most of us default to ripstop for many applications.
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  10. #10
    Senior Member LostCause's Avatar
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    Is there another name for parachute silk?

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