Salty
06-21-2010, 12:33
I just wanted to post a quick note thanking Opie for posting his how-to pictorials. What a great resource for those of us wanting to try our own hand at making suspensions, guylines, ridgelines, etc. out of braided line. I would think most folks who sell these would want to keep their methods secret, but he's a great guy to share his knowledge.
I also will say to anyone that is on the fence of DIY VS buying, if you just need a setup for one hammock, by all means order them from Opie. You'll spend more and wreck your fingers if you go the DIY route. :)
I had to make three sets of tarp guylines with tensioners, three tarp ridgelines with prusik soft shackles, and three sets of whoopies, so I decided to go the DIY route. I knew I could save a little money, but mainly I wanted to do it as a fun project to take my mind off things. It was a fun learning experience, but I can tell you, I was ready for the project to be over by my last set of these.
Just to give you an idea, to make three sets of self-tensioning tarp guylines with loops on both end, and three sets of tarp ridgelines with one loop and one finished tail and two soft shackles, it took:
28 locked brummel fixed eyes
48 buries (15 used to make finished tails)
32 stopper knots
12 prusik operations
32 fingernail extractions (rolling silicon tubing back over itself)
I used almost an entire roll of Zing-It. I'm looking forward to working with the 7/64. It should be a breeze compared to the Zing-It. Plus, thank goodness I'm finished with the tensioners. Folding those back over themselves will rip your fingernails off! :scared:
As it says in the title, my hat's off to you, Opie!
Salty
I also will say to anyone that is on the fence of DIY VS buying, if you just need a setup for one hammock, by all means order them from Opie. You'll spend more and wreck your fingers if you go the DIY route. :)
I had to make three sets of tarp guylines with tensioners, three tarp ridgelines with prusik soft shackles, and three sets of whoopies, so I decided to go the DIY route. I knew I could save a little money, but mainly I wanted to do it as a fun project to take my mind off things. It was a fun learning experience, but I can tell you, I was ready for the project to be over by my last set of these.
Just to give you an idea, to make three sets of self-tensioning tarp guylines with loops on both end, and three sets of tarp ridgelines with one loop and one finished tail and two soft shackles, it took:
28 locked brummel fixed eyes
48 buries (15 used to make finished tails)
32 stopper knots
12 prusik operations
32 fingernail extractions (rolling silicon tubing back over itself)
I used almost an entire roll of Zing-It. I'm looking forward to working with the 7/64. It should be a breeze compared to the Zing-It. Plus, thank goodness I'm finished with the tensioners. Folding those back over themselves will rip your fingernails off! :scared:
As it says in the title, my hat's off to you, Opie!
Salty