Yup, works the same as a taut line. I found the prussik method easier to adjust.
Yup, works the same as a taut line. I found the prussik method easier to adjust.
So I just went out to play with it again and found that all of the lines had sort of jammed over night. One of them was particularly bad and I was unable to get it loose, so I pulled it apart and found that the prussik had melted and bonded to the main line under the friction, obviously ruining both. Perhaps mason's line isn't the best material to use for this, lol. Is polyester more resistant to that sort of thing? Perhaps Zing-It would be a better bet.
I'm a big fan of Zing-it 1.75mm. I haven't had any problems with it, yet!
Mike
"Life is a Project!"
+1. No issues with Zing-it yet either.Originally Posted by MAD777
I saw it mentioned in the comments on the video but just to get a completely "noob" description, how is he passing the line through the prussik knot & then the grommet to make it easy to just tug the tensioning tail of the line. I ask because it doesn't appear that he has to hold the prussik to tension, only to release.
I think he has the line going from the stake, thru the prussick (which is attached to the tarp), & thru the grommet. I think that when he pulls the line to tighten it, it pulls the prussick up to the grommet, but the hole is too small for the prussick to slip thru, so it loosens the hold on the line. I made a crude drawing to try to explain it. I have no experience if this is actually what happens, this is just what I think happens, I have never tried it this way. None of my tarps have grommets.
Prussik.JPG
A+! I thought that was what was happening but I wasn't sure. I want to experiment with this very soon and seeing it illustrated makes sense. Thanks!
raiffnuke got it right, or at least that's how I imagined it and did it myself with success. It's not that the grommet is too small for the prussik to fit through though, it just sticks there because it's easier for the prussik to be "pushed" down the line than it is for the prussik to flip over the grommet and pull a u-turn, if that makes sense. If the line is quite slack, the prussik WILL flip over the grommet and then it's useless, so I just used my other hand to slightly tension the line and then pull the end through until there was enough tension for it to hold itself.
Sounds complicated, perhaps, but it's super, super easy.
I've noticed this too. My lines, with either a prussik or a tautline hitch or some other similar hitches, will melt together under either friction or tension. Sure makes them hard to untie. I thought I was going nuts, thought it couldn't be possible that lines would melt like that. Glad to see it happens to others, too. I guess I'm not nuts after all.
Thanks for the great video and links. Very useful to a raw newbie like me.
You can be wet and miserable, or you can choose to just be wet.
Y'all have far more time with zingit and dyneema than I do and way more hammock experience. I come from the rescue and technical rope world so while there are some skills and knowledge that cross over and can be useful, I can't talk much about the mason line or zingit issues.
I do know that we try to stay away from prussiking lines of the same size together unless the main line is doubled. A half inch rope prussiked onto another half inch rope does not grab as well as a 3/8ths rope prussiked onto a half inch rope. The coils of the prussik need to bend tightly around the main rope in order for it to do its magic.
We also carefully guard against setting up friction points and nylon-against-nylon rub points. One rope paying across another under load will generate enough heat and abrasion to cut that rope, especially if the line it is crossing is under load too.
It seems to me that the melted prussik knots you speak of were probably quickly drawn across the main line- fast enough to cause the heat that melted them. Maybe simply moving the prussik along a long length of that particular cordage in order to tighten it up is enough to cause this damage or maybe the damage came when the knot slipped under tension.
Our climbing rope is not slippery and it grips things well. The hammocking cordage I've seen is different. I remember noticing how slippery amsteel is and how relatively slick zingit was when I finally got to touch some. Maybe these things cause the melting problem.
Dunno guys. Just my 2 cents.
-Sarge
Last edited by Resqsarge03; 08-10-2012 at 16:43. Reason: spelled dyneema wrong
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