fixed Ridgeline ?

[aaron lack]

I have a trek light gear double hammock it's 6.5' wide and 10' long I put a fixed Ridgeline made from 550 paracord that is 99" which is slightly less than 83% of the length but figure it may stretch a little. My problem is when I lay or set in the hammock the Ridgeline sags. My question is how do I go about fixing it ? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Aaron

[soul embrace]

paracord is not what you need for the ridgeline it will stretch too much. Need to use something like zing it or lash it or any line with little or no stretch.

I'm still trying to figure out how tight the ridgeline needs to be so I'm no help on how to fix it

[Rolloff]

Tight but not guitar string tight.

The RL on my 10' Freebird, I sleep in at home every night, will sag and be loose, until loaded, then its tighter.

In the woods using my 11' BIAS WW the RL ends up much tighter. My anchor points are much further apart and being short I probably don't end up with my tree huggers high enough on the tree trunks. The tighter RL just means it's doing the work for which it was intended.

[MBennett]

If your ridge line is sagging while your in it, then you just simply need to tighten the suspension of the hammock and ignore the 30 deg. "Hangle" rule. This rule only applies to hammocks that are not using a structural ridge line. The purpose of the ridge line is to achieve the same lay as the 30 deg. no matter the tree distance or to keep the hammock at the consistent lay each time it's hung, as you probably already know.

Paracord will still work, even if it stretches a bit. The majority of the weight is being supported by the suspension itself. I would suggest making it adjustable, (even for amsteel, or lash it / zing it) for new hammocks until you find the perfect lay, then switch it out if you want it fixed length.

[aaron lack]

If your ridge line is sagging while your in it, then you just simply need to tighten the suspension of the hammock and ignore the 30 deg. "Hangle" rule. This rule only applies to hammocks that are not using a structural ridge line. The purpose of the ridge line is to achieve the same lay as the 30 deg. no matter the tree distance or to keep the hammock at the consistent lay each time it's hung, as you probably already know.

Paracord will still work, even if it stretches a bit. The majority of the weight is being supported by the suspension itself. I would suggest making it adjustable, (even for amsteel, or lash it / zing it) for new hammocks until you find the perfect lay, then switch it out if you want it fixed length.

thanks that makes sense I'll give it a try...

[Mrknot]

Thanks for this thread!
I have tons of 550 and was just contemplating this very thing...

[pgibson]

Paracord is popular for a lot of things. Hammock suspension components should not be included on that list. In no way do you want something that stretches as part of your suspension system. The point of a RL is to hold a consistent sag in the hammock regardless of the angle of the suspension. Something that stretches will not do that. Paracord is the last thing you want for your RL.

You're getting sag in the RL because of the angle of the suspension lines being steeper than 30°. Change that angle to a little more shallow and you will get tension on the RL....with Para though your hang will not stay consistent and will change over time...from the beginning of the night to the end. Change out to something that does not stretch and it will stay constant...the hole point of having a RL in the first place.

The RL on or off the hammock does not change that you still want your suspension to hang at about a 30° angle when the hammock is not loaded. There are other reasons related to suspension load at play as well. Just adding a RL does not mean that you should then be ok to drop the angle down to 10°, 30° also reduces the load stress on each leg of the suspension to closer to your body weight. A shallower angle increases the load on each leg of the suspension multiplying your force on the suspension. It's not hard to have the force get up into the thousands of pounds range with just 200 pounds in the hammock. While the RL will hold the angle for you it will not save you from potential catastrophic suspension failure if you hang at to shallow of an angle.

[WV]

It's not hard to have the force get up into the thousands of pounds range with just 200 pounds in the hammock. While the RL will hold the angle for you it will not save you from potential catastrophic suspension failure if you hang at to shallow of an angle.

You're stronger than I am, Paul.

I have purposely tightened my suspension as much as possible (serious grunting and pulling) to the point where the angle from the tree looked close to zero, but when I got in the hammock and someone measured the suspension angle, it settled to ~ 15°. From Dave Womble's excellent reference post on the old Yahoo Hammocks group, I find that at that angle the forces on the ridgeline and on the hammock rope to the main suspension line are both equal to my weight, and the force on the main suspension line to the tree is about twice that. It would take a come-along to tighten it further. For that reason, I treat double my body weight as the likely maximum load my hammock and its suspension will need to support. (I also use a ridgeline that is just as strong as my hammock line.) I have only needed to pull it that tight a couple of times, when the closest trees were 25' apart.

[jamaulwall]

I agree with pgibson, you don't want a ridgeline made from paracord. It will stretch over time and change the lay in your hammock.

One thing I've noticed that effected the tautness of my ridgeline was the actual weight of the suspension. The reality is that you want a 30* angle on the suspension before sitting in it, but I noticed the weight of my atlas straps changed that angle as they pulled the unweighted hammock more taut, especially with a really light hammock like my PolyD. This changed the 'actual' angle and effected the sag in my ridgeline when I got in my hammock. I don't have that problem when using whoopies or when my hammock has the weight of my quilts in it. Basically, the suspension looked like it was at a 30* angle because it weighed enough that the forces of gravity pulled it into a steeper angle than it would have been all things being equal. By loading the hammock it actually pulled the ends of the suspension where it connects to the hammock upward (closer together), and loosened the SRL. Hopefully that makes sense.

Having said all of that, tightening up the suspension should help you find the real 30* angle (assuming you aren't using a SRL that stretches). That is, after all, the point of a SRL, to help you keep that consisten angle.