lash it suspension

[Phantom Grappler]

Creek
And your grandkids might all pile in the hammock and break lash it suspension. Dyneema whoopsie slings have been used successfully by ultra light campers who are generally careful to maintain 30degree angle of hang and not leap or bounce into their rigs. Another way to reduce weight without reducing strength is to use shorter whoopie slings or even using a single lead with knots and using a shorter lead than is commonly used. And you can switch to Kevlar straps and you can use Kevlar straps that are shorter than are commonly used. You will be limited on tree selection. You might have to use trees that are skinniest possible with shorter straps and trees that are close together so your shorter hang can use a shorter lead. But finally I must admit that all this brain exercise makes me think about ease of use--if you get to light there is lots of extra work hunting for perfect trees. Have fun Hike Your Own Hike. And before you know it your grandsons will be able to tote their rigs and yours too. Ain't it grand!

[Phantom Grappler]

Creek
What events did you enter in rodeo? Rodeo is excitement times 100. I'd be too scared.

[mophead]

If you are really looking to shed weight there are other places with alot more potential than suspension. Unforunatley, it usually requires spending more money. Zing-it and lash-it have an average break strength of 400lbs. If we assume ninety percent of the line strength is retained after the weakening factor of the splice you are left with 360lbs average, not minimum ,but average break strength. For a 160lbs person this is a safety factor of a little over 2x

If you were to hang your hammock close to 60 degrees rather than 30 and get in without being extra careful there is a good chance its going to break. In the same scenario if you were using 7/64 amsteel you could probably leap into the hammock and be ok. there are so many variables its hard to recommend a saftey factor to maintain across the board. I try to maintain a saftey factor of at least 4x, others say five some as much as ten. The only way people are really determining a saftey factor "scientifically" is to try it and if it works it works.

A long time ago I was on the fence to try dynaglide based on alot of warnings around the forum and found a video by forum memeber caveman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWRiLWd9TPE

Dynaglide spliced would give a 210lbs person a saftey factor of a little over 4x. I've tried it and used it and I'm convinced that, for my use, a 4x saftey factor for spliced line can handle all the variation in setup and shock load and be ok. That said, it is still not without risk so hang your own hang and make sure your life insurance is not in arrears. Once I can order the senior menu at denny's I might upgrade everything to 1/8 amsteel whoopies but for now I'm gonna use what works.

[old creek]

Creek
What events did you enter in rodeo? Rodeo is excitement times 100. I'd be too scared.

I only rode bulls. I grew up on horse back and always wanted to ride saddle broncs but couldn't afford the rigging and was to embarrassed to ever ask to borrow. all of this was while I was in the military and I was a pretty poor bull rider. I got married right out of the service and just couldn't risk getting hurt bad enough to be out of work and that is where that stopped. the bucking wasn't over yet though, as soon as I was able financially able ( I thought ) I was back in the horse business again, I broke the cardinal rule of buying horse flesh and bought one on looks, for my wife no less. he turned out to be the hardest bucking horse I was ever on and would blow up for no obvious reason. he never threw me but I rode him to the ground one nearly pitch dark night when he couldn't get his feet back under him and fell with me. neither of us was hurt and we finished our ride with no more trouble. he was bad to rear as well and somewhere I either read or was told that to break him of rearing every time he went to rear to slide off the back and pull him over. the last time I tried that my left foot was still in the stirrup, a contest stirrup if that means anything to anyone, and he was coming up. all I could think to do was to fall across his neck and use my other foot to get out of the stirrup, it worked and I cut my losses and let him go. for you NC guys out there I had one of Roger Brady' bulls run me over one night, I'll never forget him, a brindle brahma cross, # 8, Jaws. my foot hung in that stirrup scared me way more than seeing Jaws make his turn to come back after me.

and to keep with the program that is part of the reason I now ride hammocks.

creek

[MAD777]

... . How much fun is it to hike with a broken tail bone? Not much.

Ouch! Just reading that hurt!

[old creek]

ok, I am convinced, the grandkids do catch me unaware every now and then bouncing into the hammock with me and I sure don't want them hurt.

I have a pretty light pack now, a GG blaze a/c 60 that is super comfortable even when loaded heavy but I am toying with the arc blast from zpacks and I am definitely going with a cuben fiber tarp. I am not a big eater so I order meals from Packit Gourmet based on weight and pick up light options from the grocery. I think my cook kit weighs 6 or seven ounces so without using a fosters set up I don't see cutting there.
at any rate I am convinced an ounce or two for the amsteel is cheap insurance and I do have them pretty long because I have ran into situations in the past where I hung in a less than desirable spot because my suspension was to short to hang where I wanted.

thanks a lot to all of you for the good information it is very much appreciated.

creek.

[lxzndr]

Unless you are all toting a lot of extra gear, I'll bet the kids probably carry more to school than if they toted all their gear themselves.

[old creek]

Unless you are all toting a lot of extra gear, I'll bet the kids probably carry more to school than if they toted all their gear themselves.

without a doubt they do but they don't tote it any distance. I try to keep the weight down so they don't get soured on it. we ( me and the oldest,10yrs ) plan to hit the roan highlands in the fall and after that both of us should know better what he is capable of without struggling. i know he is capable of more than i put on him because he smoked me and a buddy on our last weekend trip but toward the end i could tell he was having to put on his brave face.


creek

[MattK]

I weigh 195# and use dynaglide whoopies. I used nearly the minimum buries for the fixed eye and adjustable loop (3.5" and 6" respectively), and have had no slipping or other issues, even though I have intentionally set it up with a greater than 30* hangle to test it out, bouncing and swinging, etc. I have about 20 or so hangs with this suspension so far. For you and the grand kids, I think dynaglide would be sufficient.

Like others have noted, there isn't a huge weight savings in the whoopies alone. Though, as gram counter myself (and with a few shattered vertebrae in my past), I understand the sentiment. That being said, there are a few other areas where you could save weight. Like others have mentioned, you could go with kevlar tree straps. That should cut your tree strap weight in about half. You could use a titanium pot with a fancy feast alcohol stove and get your cook kit weight (including pot, sack, burner, fuel bottle, windscreen) down to about 4oz. Going with the Arc Blast would cut about 18oz, but be expensive. Switching from a silnylon to a cuben fiber hex would cut about 10oz, but again be expensive. Not sure what type of fabric you are using for your hammocks, but I am using NylonD 1.0 and love it. My current rig is 10ft, but I am planning on shortening it to 9ft. That would make the hammock body about 5oz, making for about 4oz of savings over a 10ft 1.6oz/sqyd rig.

Assuming you are carrying most of the grand kids' kits, you could save almost 1lb/person with upgraded hammocks, suspensions, and tarps. You could save over 1lb by switching your pack. That could be up to 4lbs of savings. Pretty dang good if you ask me. And that is without looking at your sleep insulation (the only one of the big three not mentioned), your clothing system, hydration system, etc.

If you are looking to really shave even more weight, you could check out the backpacking light forum. There are some nutters over there, but they sure know how to trim down pack weight.

[geneaut]

Thanks all for your good info, it is much appreciated.
since I have already broken my back I take special note of PGibson's comments but since I carry gear for up to three people at times I have started looking at all options for weight savings, packs, tarps, food, pretty much everything. I have learned the hard way ounces equal pounds. I have some dynaglide I bought for ridgeline and I didn't find it to hard to work with so I think I will build some whoopies with it and put a mattress under my hammock in the house and torture test it there. I know it sounds ridiculous to some to look so hard for weight savings but between spending most of my life at hard labor and an insane fantasy as a young man of making a living in rodeo + several hellasious wrecks you can get an idea of what kind of shape my skeleton is in. I want to be in the woods with my grandkids as long as possible and since I didn't take care of my body as a young man I am having to double down as an old man.

Many Thanks.

creek.

Good luck with your test, and please let us know how it goes. My gut tells me you'll be fine as long as you keep an eye on your suspension for any degradation.

As a rather larger fella myself, I stick to Amsteel or muletape, but we all have to hang our own hangs

There's only one hard and fast rule to hammocking : Never hang higher than you are willing to fall LOL.