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  1. #1
    Senior Member Gresh's Avatar
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    Guitar-string tight

    I noticed over the weekend that my adjustable SRL is tight as a bloody drum. I'm sure that can't be a good thing. Measured out, my SRL is 90".

    What will it effect if I change it to say...98" (just an arbitrary number I picked out)? Would it still be super tight?

    Is this something that I need to get to work on ASAP, or does it really matter in the long run?
    I used to be a somebody, now I just camp.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Rolloff's Avatar
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    The question is...how is your lay? Just because it's tight enough to play a tune, could mean it's just doing it's job. How for apart are your trees and how close to a 30 are you?

    In my backyard with trees 25' apart, mine is tuned up pretty high as well. I use a ladder to get the webbing as high as I can. My BIAS is very forgiving, and comfortable too!
    Signature suspended

  3. #3
    SilvrSurfr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gresh View Post
    I noticed over the weekend that my adjustable SRL is tight as a bloody drum. I'm sure that can't be a good thing. Measured out, my SRL is 90".

    What will it effect if I change it to say...98" (just an arbitrary number I picked out)? Would it still be super tight?

    Is this something that I need to get to work on ASAP, or does it really matter in the long run?
    I'm suspecting your ridgeline is made of 1/8" Amsteel. In which case, you have absolutely no worries (as would be the case with 7/64" Amsteel.

    You will hear many on this forum say that the hammock ridgeline should be somewhat slack (Warbonnet recommends this for their hammocks). However, I totally don't get that. If it's slack, it serves no purpose. If my ridgeline isn't tight, I adjust it so it is tight. If an adjustable SRL isn't tight, then you may as well not have one.

    I religiously follow the 83% rule - the hammock ridgeline should be 83% of the length of your hammock. Some folks deviate from that, give or take a few percentage points. I use 1.75 mm Zing-It on my ridgeline and haven't snapped one yet. Then again, I weigh 155 lbs. currently. However, I just don't see how the horizontal forces are great enough to snap it, though it has happened to others.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Gresh's Avatar
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    I'm using some Lash-it that was given to me so I could practice splicing it, and ended up turning it into a ridgeline.

    Regarding the 83% rule: Let's say for instance my DoubleNest is 112" (which I think it actually is), I'd be wanting a ~93" ridgeline. Sound about right? What's the reasoning behind the rule, or is there any?

    Further, I suspect that if my ridgeline breaks, I'll just end up unpleasantly surprised...but not on the ground. Confirm/deny? (Perhaps I should switch it to Amsteel)
    I used to be a somebody, now I just camp.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Catavarie's Avatar
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    The point of a Structural Ridgeline is to keep the sag the same everytime you hang your hammock. Many use Lash-it/Zing-it without trouble, but they have only the fraction of strength that Amsteel does. Depending upon your weight switching over to 7/64 amsteel might not be a bad thing. Especially if your consistently stringing the ridgeline tight. I forget what the numbers are, but I'd guess for people much over 220lbs (100kg for our metric friends) anything smaller than 7/64 Amsteel is just waiting to fail.

    If the ridgeline fails it would most likely do so upon entering the hammock. And you wouldn't be dropped unless the hammock body failed as well. The hammock's sag just wouldn't be as deep.

    I have the issue of the trees in my yard being just barely too far apart and I'm just a bit too short to get the magical 30° angle, unless I want my butt to be sweeping the grass. So the SRL on one of my hammocks ends up tight enough to play a solid G when I'm in it.

    The 83% "rule" is more of a guideline, thus why adjustable ridgelines are popular. They make it easy to change the sag of your hammock without having to move the tree straps everytime. My current favorite hammock only has 6 inches of adjustment in its ridgeline, since I found that I didn't move my ridgeline much on my first hammock.

    Warbonnet hammocks have a non-structural ridgeline that is not meant to take a load and are only intended to hold the bugnet off your face. This is partly due to the fact that Hennessy Hammocks holds a patent on the Structural ridgeline aparently, so Brandon can't add them into his designs.
    *Heaven best have trees, because I plan to lounge for eternity.

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  6. #6
    Senior Member GrayDog's Avatar
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    SRL tension is a function of the angle of your suspension in addition to the length of your ridge line.

    Fortunately, Dejoha has taken the guess work out of perfect setup...

    Optimal Distance and Height Between Anchors

    Ultimate Hang Calculator

    Kudo's to Derek for all he has done for the hammocking community. He is a great ambassador.
    hammock [ham-uhk] noun
    Man's successful attempt to sleep on a cloud

  7. #7
    Senior Member Detail Man's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrayDog View Post
    SRL tension is a function of the angle of your suspension in addition to the length of your ridge line.

    Fortunately, Dejoha has taken the guess work out of perfect setup...

    Optimal Distance and Height Between Anchors

    Ultimate Hang Calculator

    Kudo's to Derek for all he has done for the hammocking community. He is a great ambassador.
    +1 on this. Try adjusting the height of the tree straps in relation to the ground, shooting for the 30* angle. In my experience, having a SRL that's really tight means that my suspension is less than 30* putting more force on the SRL. Raise the tree straps. Derek's chart shows why. The closer to 180*, the more force goes to the SRL. Ideally you should be able to flex the SRL between thumb and fingers.

  8. #8
    Senior Member ibgary's Avatar
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    I use 3/8" nylon webbing.for my SRL. It's very tight. I recommend using what's on hand. I made woopies slings fromm amsteel because it doesn't streatch. The working load of about 1400 lbs is overkill in my opinion. Any hammock will fail lo.g before that, and if your angel is close to 30 the load at the anchor will be close to body weight. I also dont understand the purpose of a soft Srl, except for a bug net.

  9. #9
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Doesn't how tight the RL is depend more on how tight you pull the suspension than it does on how long the RL is? Unless maybe the trees are too close for you to be able to really tighten the suspension?

    Using several fixed ( non-adjustable ) RLs, I can either have them tight as a guitar string or quite loose, all depending how much I tighten the suspension. I usually don't like the RL too tight, so if it is after I lay down, I just loosen up the suspension a bit, and if needed move the webbing higher on the tree.

  10. #10
    Senior Member MAD777's Avatar
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    If your ridgeline is made with a high strength material, say 1/4" amsteel, you could probably keep cranking until you pull the trees over. But that wouldn't be a good thing. If you have more tension on the ridgeline beyond that which makes it straight, you are putting more stress on your system than is necessary. This simply increases the "chance" of failure.

    For gram weenies, a 30* hang means you can use Zing-it for the ridgeline. But, you can't hang between trees that are 25' apart either.

    I'll add one note of caution for sewn in bugnets. If the ridgeline gives way, the netting will be toast!
    Mike
    "Life is a Project!"

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