Whoopie Hook Suspension with or without Dutch Buckles?

[billvann]

I'm looking at the diagram for the Whoopie hook suspension. It shows the whoopie sling attached to the strap loop via a larks head knot. But my inclination is that a Dutch Buckle would be more flexible. Right?

And would I need to remove the loop at one end in order to thread the strap, or are the slots big enough to pass the looped end through?

[Bubba]

I'm looking at the diagram for the Whoopie hook suspension. It shows the whoopie sling attached to the strap loop via a larks head knot. But my inclination is that a Dutch Buckle would be more flexible. Right?

And would I need to remove the loop at one end in order to thread the strap, or are the slots big enough to pass the looped end through?

If you are going to use a Dutch buckle to have your webbing and whoopies separate, I think it's better to have the whoopie hook on the fixed eye of the sling and put the adjustable loop over the Dutch buckle. I like doing the adjustments close to the hammock.

I just checked my Dutch buckles and the slots are big enough for the looped end to go through. It took a bit more work but it fits.

[MAD777]

+1 on what Bubba said.

[Dutch]

Bubba is never wrong.
There is a trade off for both suspensions. The buckle easily adjust to any tree size but the is a weight penalty for alot more webbing. The hook is lighter but you may have to wrap you webbing around a small tree and some large trees are just too large. All in all I go with the lighter weight and go with the whoopie hook.

[Bubba]

Bubba is never wrong.
...

That's quite a compliment coming from the world's greatest hiker! That made my day.:)

[SilvrSurfr]

I used to use 8 ft. straps and Dutch Buckles. Before that, I used a Marlin Spike Hitch. Now I use the Dutch Whoopie Hook suspension.

I had my doubts about it. First of all, the straps are too darned short. The adjustable loop is on the wrong end. However, I love the convenience of a whoopie hook suspension. If my tree is too small, I carry a couple of continuous loops to extend tree strap length - they weigh nothing. Larkshead them onto the tree strap and keep rocking.

I don't understand these folks carrying 10 ft. straps because they have large trees in their area. I wish I saw trees like that.

Heck, it seems like the entire Northeast was clear-cut about 100 years ago or less. Old growth forest is few and far between. I just assumed it was the same in the rest of America. I've met maybe four trees this year where I had to use the continuous loops to extend the tree straps.

I looked at the tradeoffs and went with the whoopie hook suspension. For my area in the Northeast, it's ideal.

[ibgary]

Yesterday I finished a diy hammock. I sewed the end channels and put a soft shackles through. If it warms up ill hang it tomorrow.

[billvann]

Ah! Now I'm even more confused! Well, that's not true. I'm just undecided. Bubba's suggestion is that if I go with Dutch Buckles, turn the sling around and put the hook on the fixed eye.

1. Would one request a bead on the adjustable loop then to protect against loosing the loo in the bury?

2. What if you had hooks on both ends (just thinking of hedging my bets because I'm not sure which way I'd prefer).

3. If the adjustable loop is on the buckle, is it hard to adjust? As I imagine it I would think friction would make it harder.

Thanks all for your input and patience.

[Bubba]

I don"t find the adjustable loop difficult to slide. Just a little tug and it moves. The bead is handy but you can add many different things to a completed whoopie sling such as a spilt ring or zip tie to prevent the adjustable loop from getting buried.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=1090&pictureid=13061

You don"t need the whoopie hook if you connenct the fixed loop directly to the hammock. The whoopie hook is useful if you have a small continuous loops on the ends of your hammock. Some like having the continuous loops to try different suspension options like ring buckles for example.

[Dutch]

Ah! Now I'm even more confused! Well, that's not true. I'm just undecided. Bubba's suggestion is that if I go with Dutch Buckles, turn the sling around and put the hook on the fixed eye.

1. Would one request a bead on the adjustable loop then to protect against loosing the loo in the bury?

2. What if you had hooks on both ends (just thinking of hedging my bets because I'm not sure which way I'd prefer).

3. If the adjustable loop is on the buckle, is it hard to adjust? As I imagine it I would think friction would make it harder.

Thanks all for your input and patience.

1. All our whoopies come with either a bead or a Hook. If you DIY then put something in there.
2. I'm missing something here. Really if you go with a hook then you don't need the buckle and vise versa IMO.
3.It is easy as pie.

[billvann]

Thanks all for the info. It helps.

Re: #2. It's more likely I'm missing something. My concern with larks heading the fixed loop to the strap is sometimes I end up with two trees that are closer together than one would like. I end up using a marlin hitch and a biner (descending loops Garda hitch suspension) do I'm imagining that the buckle would replace the marlin hitch in those situations. Or would the whoopie sling be able to shorten up dramatically. Sorry if it doesn't make sense as I'm trying to imagine it with limited experience with whoppie slings.

[Bannerstone]

There are a number of creative ways to shorten things up with whoopies, I've threaded the whoopie through the loop on the tree strap and run it part way around to the side of the tree to my Dutch buckle. Just so long as the back half of the tree is protected by strap, that is where the vast majority of load is.

Also I've brought the adjustable end of my whoopie down to a small loop and larks headed it over the gathered end of my hammock leaving a shorter loop that I can hang over a marlin spike arrangment on my tree strap.

These are just a couple of ways to go YMMV.

David