For the ends I put a bit of tape to keep it from splintering. On the hammock I connected the webbing to rings and made a little sleave about 2 inchs deep to slide the poles into. I got the idea from another thread on the forums.
Found the site I used. sorry i dont know how to make it a link to click. I used pultruded carbon tubes. I used the .4720 OD tubes. For no reason other then it seemed to be big enough to take the compression force but not TOO big around. Maybe someone more technical can figure out what size is opitimum.
http://www.goodwinds.com/
Carbon fiber sounds like a lot of expense. I like aluminum bars that allow the hanger to pull themselves up. Inexpensive and strong.
"Bending" would probably be the best-case outcome!
You don't want to put those forces on that bar when they are already under compressive force. Can if you want, but.....
Bridge vs. non
I have put a lot of nights on my RR so far. Probably only missed about 10-15 nights since its release. I really like many things about it and it is the first bridge design that I have found sustained comfort while sleeping or lounging. There is no doubt at all, that it has earned a high spot in my collection. One of these days, I'll actually find time to put up my review of it. The positives vastly outnumber the negatives IMO.
Still, even with that said, I think I'm just a gathered kind of guy. For lack of a better description, I feel exposed in the RR. The gathereds wrap me up in hammock security; a bit like a binky, I suppose. It's all imaginary because it isn't like that little bit of extra nylon is going to protect me from the Boogie Man, but that's just the way it is in my brain. I do have a much greater level of 'inner comfort' in a gathered. I cannot take away from the comfort of the RR and in many ways it greatly exceeds any of the gathered-end hammocks I have slept in. Although, there are still a couple of things (primarily back-sleeping) that I do find slightly more comfortable in a gathered-end. To answer one of the OP's questions; without a doubt, the bridge design provides a more flat surface than a gathered. My problem is I seem to like a little bit of the banana when on my back. Not much of a bend is needed, but I seem to do better on my back with a little bend. Happily, the RR provides enough flexibility with positions that it isn't hard to find another option, and is even refreshing to those of us that just flop in on our backs and start snoring.
I think I'll probably carry it with me on summer trips, when I'm hanging in spots selected as much for the scenery as for the practicality; the latter sometimes is abandoned all-together depending on the view. The view from these RRs is stupendous! I still don't care for all the extra 'stuff' that comes with a bridge, like all the cordage required for the suspension triangle and particularly the spreader bars. Now, I could do something healthy for myself and lose a little weight so that the possibility of using my trekking poles comes into play, but that sounds like far too much work.
Like I said, I've been sleeping in my RR a lot for the past couple of months, so it most certainly does not suck. However, if we go back to that old HF meme of "if you could pick only one", I'm pretty sure my pick would be a gathered-end. It would be a slug-fest and I'd fight right up to the line to keep two instead of one, making for razor slim margin of victory, but that's probably the way I'd go.
Trust nobody!
yeah, there's a difference in how the spreader bars work on a typical backyard style hammock with spreader bars vs on a bridge hammock, you can't grab the bars on a bridge hammock as they aren't supported in the center like a backyard style would be
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