Ring Buckle Supports

[Red Hat]

is this what you are talking aboutneo

http://www.slingrings.com/sunshop/in...=category&id=4

Wow, I bought the "small" ones and they are huge! (2 inch diameter) I love that I could get them in purple, but do I really need them that big?

[Cannibal]

No, but they will work just fine. These are the old standbys and they are a 1.5" ID, so you aren't that much bigger than everybody else.

Sheessh, it's always about size.

[Red Hat]

No, but they will work just fine. [URL="http://www.rei.com/product/471123"]

Sheessh, it's always about size.

LOL Cannibal! Well, I'll look so cool with my red strapworks straps and purple rings, keeping my Red Hat theme going for my hammock (which is brown...)

[Cannibal]

Yep, I just sent the link to my girl. She's crazy about purple too!

[angrysparrow]

Yep, I just sent the link to my girl. She's crazy about purple too!

completely offtopic :

Don't you hate it when words trigger the memory of a song? Now I'm going to be hearing Gogol Bordello's Start Wearing Purple in my head for the rest of the day.

[Red Hat]

I don't know that song... is it about Red Hat Ladies? lol... (for those who don't know the Red Hat Society is a group of ladies over 50 who wear red hats and purple attire)

[Cannibal]

completely offtopic :

Don't you hate it when words trigger the memory of a song? Now I'm going to be hearing Gogol Bordello's Start Wearing Purple in my head for the rest of the day.

I think I might have to hurt you angrysparrow! That was horrible and now it won't go away!

[Just Jeff]

Way back on page 53, 11 July 2007, Hooch said...

Can one of the moderators rename this The Thread That Won't Die?

Ha! And I just read the whole thing again tonight! Well, I skimmed a lot of it but I did click on every page.

FWIW, here's a summary of what I think of the ring buckles right now (always subject to change...haha )

I still like the ring buckles better than cinch buckles, but that's personal preference. I don't use a slipknot safety and I've still only ever had one problem with slippage and that was b/c I didn't have the webbing lined up. But in the end, if you're using webbing I think the ring buckles and cinch buckles are basically just as good as the other. I think I'm going to put cinch buckles on my kids hammocks so they can set it up themselves and I don't have to worry about them aligning it correctly. They can lug the extra weight!

BUT...and this is a big deal for my hiking style...with the rings I can use spectra/garda instead of webbing. This saves even more weight and bulk over the cinch buckles and suits my style better.

Re: the biner, I think it's already been answered but I'll say it here why I use them. The main reason is the convenience. Clipping the biner over the line is much easier and faster than threading it thru the loop, and with the biner the entire setup stays in one piece. No need to worry about forgetting tree huggers when I break camp or anything. Another reason is that synthetic on synthetic friction is bad news. I don't think the damage would occur when I pull the webbing thru, but at the loop when the hammock is weighted. The force and friction can cause the webbing to fail...I've actually cut a piece of synthetic cord with another piece of rope in about 15 seconds before. That's why climbers don't do it, and the biner avoids any possibility of that. I doubt any damage would happen quickly enough in this application to be a danger, though...I'd probably notice it coming and change out the webbing before I was dropped. So like I said, the main reason is just the convenience of setup and teardown.

I'm really interested in seeing warbonnet's triangle buckles as well...it sounds like they'll work even better than rings for webbings. Has anyone tested them with a Garda Hitch yet?

[Take-a-knee]

Thanks for the summation Jeff, I'm still using Tee Dee's carabiner hitch system with everything else stock on my Hennessy (rope,treehuggers). You wrote early in the thread that the rings let you done slowly one time, others have been summarily dropped IIRC. Cinch buckles have occasionally locked up on folks, I'm not sure they'd work for me 'cause I like my hammock hung tight. I may yet change to webbing of some sort, we'll see.

[Just Jeff]

I've figured out the buckles locking up thing, and someone has already mentioned it in this thread. Just don't pull it so tight. I used to tighten my ridgeline hammocks down as much as I could...until I realized that there's absolutely no advantage to it in most cases. Leave an extra inch or so on each side and both kinds of buckles will be easy to undo. If this means your hammock hangs too low, slide the tree huggers up some. The only time I'd tighten them up that tight these days is when I need to raise the hammock and can't slide the huggers up for some reason.

So as long as my ridgeline isn't sagging when I set up or when I'm in the hammock, it's tight enough for me. Youngblood has a diagram for all the math-inclined folks here that shows the angles involved...once the support angle matches the hammock angle the ridgeline doesn't change how the hammock body lays.

Other benefits of not hanging so tight are that you put less stress on the trees (especially important if you're using small trees) and your spectra or webbing will stretch less. It takes less energy to set up, it's easier to adjust and undo, and it's easier to lift the support up so you don't have to bend down so far when you walk under it.

I guess in theory you'd swing more with slightly looser supports but I haven't noticed the difference. I like to swing a bit as I fall asleep, though...that's why I don't use side tie-outs most of the time.