$25 for TTTM Single in Cape Town

[zzmelayu]

The local camping chain store Cape Union had the sing TTTM hammocks discounted at $25 (Rand 250) a piece. I bought two. Initial inspection showed a good quality hammock but it did not come with the suspension rope.
I surfed the web to try to find a method to suspend this baby. I found this site but the stickies on the support systems are oohh so confusing!!! I read through the TH Support, the RB support, the SLS and the CCB...twice and got even more confused.
I ended up going to the local mountaineering store and got 2x 150 cm Petzl slings and used them as "tree huggers" and support system, an overkill for the set up.
Can somebody explain to me why the TH, RB, SLS, CCB systems are discussed in great detail when to set up the TTTM is so easy? Am I missing something?
P.S. BTW, you can tell I am a newbie to hammocks. I was looking for an alternative sleep system for my Ultralight Backpacking (UL)

[Peter_pan]

Welcome to the hanging gang....

Pan

[Ramblinrev]

Can somebody explain to me why the TH, RB, SLS, CCB systems are great detail when to set up the TTTM is so easy? Am I missing something?

A fair number of people who contributed to those ideas are engineers. And not the choo choo train type. Engineers by nature make simple things extradorinarily complex because they want to know precisely _WHY_ something is simple. My Dad was an electrical engineer and you never saw anybody so accomplished at making plugging in a power cord a major event in life.

Having said that... I am one of these who like to watch the engineers work because when it is all said and done... what they come up with is really good stuff and very easy to do if you don't need the theory behind it to make it real.

So I usually watch the engineers and mathletes work and then simplfy it as mcuh as I can and voila.... it really is pretty simple... once the basic theory is worked out and dispensed with.

[zzmelayu]

Thanks Ramblinrev. I figured the long write-ups by Tee Hee and HC4U and the likes are ways to have a suspension system that is flexible and light.

In my case with the TTTM hammock, all I need are:
2x tree huggers: to protect the trees
cord: to connect the tree huggers to the hammock if trees are too far apart

The S-hooks then hook to the huggers or the cord depending on the distance.

My question now is why would I want to adopt the TH or the CB or the SLS techniques (which looks complicated and takes 2-3 pages to explain)?

[Ramblinrev]

The S-hooks then hook to the huggers or the cord depending on the distance.

My question now is why would I want to adopt the TH or the CB or the SLS techniques (which looks complicated and takes 2-3 pages to explain)?

Speaking solely for myself,,, I don't like the S-hook system because it does not allow an easily adjustable system for setting the hammock. The Grand Trunk hammocks use a similar system. I had one and was constantly frustrated with the preset hanging spaces since they did not seem to work in the woods. If I was always hanging in the same place so I could just slap the thing up there I might feel different. I like the infinite adjustments offered by the ring buckles.

That aside... there is no reason for you to adopt some other system if you like the pre-positioned knots. Have fun.

[Shadowmoss]

I did a quick write-up of how to add ring buckles to a hammock such as the ones you bought. It's at: http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ead.php?t=5297

Hope that helps. The idea behind the write-up was to just give a quick how-to without the engineering behind it. It has pictures. If you need more info, let me know.

[gunn parker]

Hi
If you like the hammock and do not want to do away with the steel hooks, what you could do is buy some strong cord, two lengths. Tie a loop on one end of each piece, then buy two biners and attach the biners to the webbing you have around the trees.
Then hook the loop over one of the hooks and tie it to the biner with a clove hitch. do the same for the other end and adjust as necessary.
You need to have each length of cord at about the same length. Or put another way the distance from tree to hammock should be the same for each end with the foot end slightly higher.

Look HERE To see just how I tie mine off.

Have fun
gunn