Shock cord or nylon?

**Ramblinrev** · 11-10-2008, 10:44

I have two DIY KAQ that I am using. On one I have 1/8" shock cord running the lnegth of the quilt. On the other I ran out of shock cord and used 1/8" nylon rope. I am wondering which one is better. The shock cord seems to sag far more than the rope and opens gaps, but I worry about the lack of stretch in the rope.

I am using a system similar to the JRB suspension system so the shock cord there allows me to get in and out of the hammock with a minimum of difficulty. I actually sewed up the entry slits because I did not need them. anybody have any thoughts on which is better? Shock cord or rope?

**lenle01** · 11-10-2008, 10:58

Another question: What kind of nylon rope or shock cord is better?

**Coffee** · 11-10-2008, 11:08

I like shock cord. The little bit of give makes it easier to get a good fit to the hammock. I think you would have to be more exact with nylon cord.

Also you want something with a very low breakage strength. You want the cord to be the weakest link and the thing that will fail first. Way easier and cheaper to replace the cord than repair the UQ. Long story short this happened to me when someone got into my hammock, but laid down in the UQ instead of the hammock body. The shock cord broke and there was no visual damage to my UQ. An easy field repair to be back up and running.

**lenle01** · 11-10-2008, 11:12

Good point Coffee! What size shock cord do you use?

**Coffee** · 11-10-2008, 11:19

Not sure, It was the JRB one I got with my nest that I broke. I would think 3/32" or 3/16" would be enough. It only needs to hold half the weight of the UQ plus a little bit for the extra force of the stretch. From www.owfinc.com it is cheap enough ordering a couple sizes sould only add a couple dollars to your order.

**Ramblinrev** · 11-10-2008, 11:31

heh.... I figured it is easy enuf to pull a string through the channel. I just swapped out one side of the shock cord for rope. I'll go hang it and report back.

I have also swapped out the cord locks. The chsock cord was slipping through the cord locks. I'll see if that makes a difference.

I don't know what the strength of the shock cord is. The nylon is only 40 pounds swl. I'm not too concerned about the breakage.

These are not full length quilts either. The are sleeping bag mods cut to fit the hammock. Nor are they down. In fact they are cheap enuf it is probably cheaper to replace the sleeping bag than to buy more shock cord. hehehe

**warbonnetguy** · 11-10-2008, 12:37

the posigrip cordlocks from owf are the way to go for a strong bight on the line. they work well with shockcord.

1/8" would be fine, 3/32 would probably work fine too. if your shockcord isn't providing enough tension, you just need to tighten it or use a shorter piece. it becomes static once you stretch it as far as it will go. you can tighten 1/8" shockcord pretty tight before the posigrips will slip.

also, the cordlock itself could be your safety factor, too much weight and it slips, you could rig static line like this, but there would probably always be just a little bit of slack in there. sc is probably better.

**Ramblinrev** · 11-10-2008, 12:47

I have swapped over the eyetem to static nylon 1/8" but as I said it is easy enough to repull the shock cord. It may be the DIY nature of my quilts but I like the way the nylon holds the shape better. The suspension is 1/8" shock with mini biners that attach to the quilt. There is still some slippage in the cord locks.

I realize I have appeared to disregard the concensus here. That is not the case. I will be checking the static very carefully to see if I do like it better. I can always replace it when I find out you are right...

I like the idea of using the shock to slide the quilt and adjust it. That's not the way this is set up. I haven't set the tie outs yet on the quilt.. I had an attachment come loose and had to fix it before I could get a good hang on the quilt.

I'll have a better sense of the workings later today.

**Peter_pan** · 11-10-2008, 16:16

Originally Posted by Coffee

I like shock cord. The little bit of give makes it easier to get a good fit to the hammock. I think you would have to be more exact with nylon cord.

Also you want something with a very low breakage strength. You want the cord to be the weakest link and the thing that will fail first. Way easier and cheaper to replace the cord than repair the UQ. Long story short this happened to me when someone got into my hammock, but laid down in the UQ instead of the hammock body. The shock cord broke and there was no visual damage to my UQ. An easy field repair to be back up and running.

Amen, brother.... Been there done that once myself... now I check every time....

FWIW, I've seen others do this on two occasions also....shock cord breaks first all three times.... And.... this is how it should be IMHO.

Pan

**Ramblinrev** · 11-10-2008, 17:39

I've been working through the set up issues and I want to thank you folks for the comments about the safety factors in favor of shock cord. I am going to try my current set up tonight and see how the nylon static works. I think I have a sufficient safety factor built into the suspension system. That is full shock cord front and back as well as the foot end of the quilts. Someone sitting on the quilt rather than the hammock (and I have almost done that myself) would put most of the pressure on the foot end suspension. So I am comfortable with that. The static nylon just runs between the corners of the quilt on the sides.

The quilts are beastly heavy which I think is a factor involved in the excessive sag. The static nylon seems to provide better side support and shape retention for the quilts. The weight of the sleeping bags they were made out of just weighs the whole system down. I would love to swap these out for some good lightweight underquilts but the cash flow just ain't there.

It's supposed to go below freezing tonight so I nay have a good test for it. At least I'll be 50 feet from the house if I need to bail.