One oz per 10 ft "webbing" idea

[SlowBro]

I'm fairly new to hammocking DIY, so excuse me if this has already been tried, but I couldn't find it when I searched so here it goes.

Thru-Hiker has the new Dyneema X Gridstop fabric available. It is stated that each spectra thread can hold up to 150 lbs. Since these spectra threads are placed every 1/4 inch that should mean that a one inch strip of this fabric should be able to hold 4 x 150 = 600 lb. So if you stitched 3 one inch strips together (3 x 600 lb) you should be able to hold 1800 lb.

The fabric comes in 60 inch width and is sold by the yard. It weighs 4 oz/yd2. Doing the math- that comes out to just over 0.5 oz for a one inch by 60 inch 3 ply strip. Sew two of these together and you have roughly a 10 foot by 1 inch strap that can hold 1800 lb.

It cost about $20 a yard, but you could get 3 pairs of 10 foot straps out of that yard, so your cost would be under $7 per hammock.

So, help me here. What am I missing? Has this already been tried and rejected? Is this just crazy and I am going to end up on my butt in the dirt when I try it?

I just got a yard of the fabric from Thru-Hiker today so I welcome your input.

Thanks.

[dblhmmck]

Hey SloBro,

I think you have an excellent idea. I wonder if you would have to hem all of those strips of fabric? I would hope not.

I have recently used this fabric to make "soles" on my Wyoming Wear socks- converting them to camp slippers.

I found that it is quite difficult to cut the fabric (my scissors are high quality "Fiskars", fairly new and sharp). I broke a couple of needles while sewing, no big deal. But if you had to sew hems on all of the strips, there is potential that you could break many more.

Another member here ZDP-189, may have experience more closely related to what you are planning. Ideas in this thread may tangently relate.

[GrizzlyAdams]

The fabric comes in 60 inch width and is sold by the yard. It weighs 4 oz/yd2. Doing the math- that comes out to just over 0.5 oz for a one inch by 60 inch 3 ply strip. Sew two of these together and you have roughly a 10 foot by 1 inch strap that can hold 1800 lb.

It cost about $20 a yard, but you could get 3 pairs of 10 foot straps out of that yard, so your cost would be under $7 per hammock.

So, help me here. What am I missing?
Thanks.

I'm willing to believe that an doubled up integral 60" length of this has strength on the order of what you suggest, but to get a 10' length you have to sew together two 60" lengths and the sewing becomes the weak link. How weak? I dunno. But that's a point you seem to be missing....

Grizz

[SlowBro]

dblhmmck and Grizz,

Thanks for the input. I am using titanium needles so we will see how strong they are. I understand that the sewn joint will be a weak point, however I used to sew my own climbing gear using the box-X stitch and have used the same to make loops on the end of my hammock webbing and it seems to do the trick. Unlike webbing, this material is non-uniform ( spectra and nylon ) so that will be a major difference compared to my previous projects.

My plan is to actually cut a strip 3" x 60" and fold it into thirds for the 1 inch width. I may have to stitch it down the length to keep it flat, but that shouldn't be hard.

Well, time to get out the sewing machine...

-SlowBro

P.S. - Grizz- For some reason I have it in my head that somewhere on this forum you said you had a program on KRLX. Am I remembering right? -My daughter just graduated from Carleton.

[GrizzlyAdams]

P.S. - Grizz- For some reason I have it in my head that somewhere on this forum you said you had a program on KRLX. Am I remembering right? -My daughter just graduated from Carleton.

Dang, you're good. Or you have too much time on your hands reading old HF posts!

Yep, my radio handle was Grizz on KRLX, broadcasting at about 50 watts which just about reached downtown Northfield. My 30th reunion is this summer.

Congrats to your daughter, and congrats to you for being relieved of tuition payments for her! My daughter just finished at Univ. of Chicago, about the same level of financial pain...and bless her heart she proved you can study literature in college and get a job. I was figuring she was going to have to marry well.

Grizz

[SlowBro]

Dang, you're good. Or you have too much time on your hands reading old HF posts!

Yep, my radio handle was Grizz on KRLX, broadcasting at about 50 watts which just about reached downtown Northfield. My 30th reunion is this summer.

Congrats to your daughter, and congrats to you for being relieved of tuition payments for her! My daughter just finished at Univ. of Chicago, about the same level of financial pain...and bless her heart she proved you can study literature in college and get a job. I was figuring she was going to have to marry well.

Grizz

Too much time apparently:-)

My daughter had a KLRX show, too, which is really why I remembered. The nice thing these days is that since you can stream the station on the web, we could listen to it in Texas.

Anyway, congrats on your daughter's graduation and her job.

------------------------------------------
So meanwhile back to hammocking. I just finished my first strap which amazingly came out to be 120 inches long with 1.5 inch overlap in the middle. I realize that this is impossible since the two strips I used were each 60 inches long to begin with. But I can't explain it except there may be some stretch, which brings me to the second issue which is stretch ( which is really the first issue, but I digress...) . There does seem to be some stretch to the strap. I had hoped that with the spectra there would be very little, but we will have to see when I get a chance to set it up. It is raining cats and dogs right now so it may be tomorrow or even the next day before I can post result. Later...

SlowBro (Grinnell '72)

[Dutch]

Slowbro Keep us posted on this. This idea sounds very good. You could tie it like rope and fan it out around the tree like webbing. I will be interesting to see how much stetch you get and if it has a memory and flexes back. Maybe after a hang or 2 you will work out the stretch.

[Nest]

My daughter just finished at Univ. of Chicago, about the same level of financial pain...and bless her heart she proved you can study literature in college and get a job. I was figuring she was going to have to marry well.
Grizz

Since you aren't worried about her marrying into money, is she interested in tough, manly, hiker trash?

[SlowBro]

Dutch,

I will post my results and I hope the stretch/memory/strength thing works out. I hadn't thought of the "fan out" possibility, but if it works as a strap then I'll have to try it. If it doesn't pan out with the Dyneema fabric I may try something like cuben which would weigh something like 8 grams and has no stretch.

By the way the weight of this 1" x 10 ft strap came out to 35 gms (1.23 oz)

SlowBro

[koaloha05]

SlowBro, sure hope your Dyneema X Grid tree huggers work. Huge weight savings for minimal cost! Would cutting this material with a hot blade be an option? If the Dyneema stretches too much do you plan to use Cuben tape or sew?