Becket Hitch Suspension; Idea and Questions

**mophead** · 07-31-2015, 10:02

Originally Posted by Tendertoe

Has anyone tried the Ray Mears "knot" mentioned earlier in the thread? He uses webbing but you can use cord just the same and you can tie directly to your continuous loop on your hammock (no ring needed). You can also do this with webbing directly to the continuous loop on your hammock (no ring needed) but that doesn't exactly apply to this thread.

Not to take anything away from all the hitches and knots that have come about from this thread but you can't get much easier than two half hitches. Easy to tie and untie and most people won't have to learn/remember any new knots/hitches.

Do not try with Dynaglide as I mentioned earlier in the thread, however, 7/64 Amsteel works fine for this application.

The thing about how he ties that is that the half hitch will choke down on the ring or loop more and more with the load. The ring can take it, but the amsteel will be severly pinched or compressed. I tried it tying the becket hitch as the first knot and then pulling the tail through the loop the way he does. It is better in terms of wear than the way we were folding up the tail and using 2 or more bites as a "toggle". But I found it harder to untie than the crocks bend which was proposed around the same time. I kind of gave up on the ray mears knot.

**Theguywitheyebrows** · 07-31-2015, 17:00

i'll play with it some when the inclination takes me to find out what exactly i did to make it capsize (great term for that as well). i was thinking that maybe i was doing it backwards or something, but since it's held i haven't messed with it since yesterday. i'll post after i tinker tonight. there was an audible pop though, so now i have to go tinker. thanks for pointing that out.

**mophead** · 07-31-2015, 19:14

Had time to do some destructive testing today. About 15 seconds of bouncing progressively harder in the hammock and I DID get the knot to capsize.

The good news: the capsized version still holds

The bad news: it is way harder to untie. Had to use a marlin spike to pull it out.

Not sure what could be causing this without a lot of bouncing. Ill try to do some "failure mode analysis" and see if I can do things that make it capsize easily and find what the problem might be. I haven't experienced this with normal use yet so in hoping it may just e a nuance of how the knot is tied and can be corrected.

**Theguywitheyebrows** · 07-31-2015, 22:33

ok, so lemme make sure im understanding this mophead knot correctly: into CL from under, to the left then behind, full twist, pull the bight. the way im seeing it the mirror would be: into CL from above, to the right then over, full twist, pull the bight. or do i needa take my left when i take the right and vice versa? stupid right turns at albuquerque lol

**SGT Rock** · 07-31-2015, 22:37

Originally Posted by Theguywitheyebrows

ok, so lemme make sure im understanding this mophead knot correctly: into CL from under, to the left then behind, full twist, pull the bight. the way im seeing it the mirror would be: into CL from above, to the right then over, full twist, pull the bight. or do i needa take my left when i take the right and vice versa? stupid right turns at albuquerque lol

Sounds right. But every try to write out how to teach someone to tie their shoes if they know absolutely nothing about it? Easy to misunderstand. Maybe a video would be a good idea. I may make one tomorrow.

**Theguywitheyebrows** · 07-31-2015, 22:43

Originally Posted by SGT Rock

Sounds right. But every try to write out how to teach someone to tie their shoes if they know absolutely nothing about it? Easy to misunderstand. Maybe a video would be a good idea. I may make one tomorrow.

i watched you do it in your video and his pictorial demo and im pretty sure i have it right, but that 'capsize' nonsense is irritating me; i cannot see how i've done it wrong enough to cause problems (the capsized knot is so hard to remove) except that maybe im dressing it wrong somehow. if you make a video i will study it.

EDIT: i have 7/64 amsteel for CL's and less than 2' hanks of 1/8 amsteel acting as 'tree straps' on the anchors in my walls. the becket hitch slides til the bury stops it which isn't comforting at all because thats too far. a double becket hitch works so so, but im diggin this mophead hitch too much to abandon it. or so i thought. the double becket calls for a wrap that doesn't have anything under it followed by the wrap thats got the bight. i discovered if i secure the bight in the first wrap (but after the second wrap has been made) it holds. it like lays over itself, but then it holds. gunna sleep on that one tonight. its easier to adjust it at the end before its dressed than the mophead. i can't figure out what im doing wrong with the mophead to make it capsize. i tried it all the ways i could think of and it either didn't hold or capsized. none of them held fast without the audible pop.

**SGT Rock** · 07-31-2015, 23:02

I'm thinking if I make a video I will do a close up of both knots.

**mophead** · 08-01-2015, 01:10

Originally Posted by SGT Rock

Sounds right. But every try to write out how to teach someone to tie their shoes if they know absolutely nothing about it? Easy to misunderstand. Maybe a video would be a good idea. I may make one tomorrow.

Yeah, or how to tie a neck tie. Had to do that once.

Tried it some more tying it without really cinching it down all the way and I THINK I can see what might be happening. Looks like maybe the top knob part that sits on top of the continuous loop is being rolled backwards, but not sure why. My guess is it must have to do with how the knot is dressed. I've also noticed that sometimes it ends up with the knob sitting in the center kind of like a stopper knot that won't go through the end of the CL and sometimes it is more off to the side. Not sure if that is the issue and if one is more secure than the other. Just throwing it out as something to watch for.

I have been using the knot for short hangs so far maybe around 20min at a time on avg and give it a few bounces to stress it a little more. I'd say about 75% of the time it is very easy to untie, the rest are a little tougher but still nothing too bad it wouldn't make me use it. The difficulty doesn't seem to correlate to time or stress, so I'm hoping once we get the kinks worked out it will still be very easy regardless of hang time.

I think a close up video would help if you could put one up SGTRock. I'll try to get a video up as soon as I can but I will not have much time until sunday this weekend. I'd really like to get some overnight field testing in

**SGT Rock** · 08-01-2015, 06:48

I think it is about how you dress the knot but I have not experimented with it. What I have found with experimenting with the whole concept (no particular knot) is if you tighten the knot down snug by pulling straight in both directions before loading the hammock, the knot will have minimal slip and be easier to untie. If you do not tighten the knot down well (pull to the side on one end only or something like that) then it will show a little slip when you load the hammock and be harder to pull free. This is a generalization and I do not have enough time with these knots to know the true cause as these are all backyard experiments an nothing longer than about a 30 minute nap.

**SGT Rock** · 08-01-2015, 09:25

Sorry about the length, there were a few ideas I was trying to get across. The details of how the knots are tied ended up getting added after I started editing the video and saw that there wasn't enough information when I worked outside. If you just want to see the knots go to 15:42.