Trying this gizzmo for tying off...

[FreeTheWeasel]

I tried out these cleats this weekend on a Hennessy Hyperlight and my friend tried them on his Asym Deluxe. Neither of us hit the ground and I didn't have to fiddle with it at all. Worked well. Thanks for the tip and for all the testing. Knowing to tie a knot at the end to keep the cleat from twisting out helped as well.

I was reluctant to modify my hammock to use the rings. This is an easy, cheap, and effective substitute.

I'll be picking up a second set for my daughter's hammock.

FreeTheWeasel

[NCPatrick]

You tied a knot to keep the line in the cleat?

[FreeTheWeasel]

After zigzagging the line up and back through the cleat, I took the free end and tied a simple half hitch just to keep the line from working its way out. I believe TeeDee found that the cleat had twisted once during his testing and lowered him to the ground gently. I didn't trust the plants I was stomping around in and I wanted to make sure I didn't get poison ivy on my rear

[NCPatrick]

I didn't trust the plants I was stomping around in and I wanted to make sure I didn't get poison ivy on my rear

Oh ok, not a knot, but a half hitch. That makes sense, thanks.

Gotta watch out for those poison ivy plants...

[FreeTheWeasel]

Gotta watch out for those poison ivy plants...

Last October I went camping out in the state forest here in MN. We set up camp in a nice pine stand and I sat there pulling roots that were lying on the ground near the fire we had built. Just playing around, really.

Later I went to the bathroom.

The next day I took a trip to the doctors.

Needless to say, I'm not all that interested in repeating that experience.

FreeTheWeasel (The name has nothing do with the aforementioned experience . . .)

[NCPatrick]

Yeeek. Scary stuff, that. It's not like you would recognize the 3 leaves since they were just roots... glad you're ok now (ok, I'm assuming you are )

[FreeTheWeasel]

I've recovered physically, but the emotional trauma and heightened sense of paranoia will last a lifetime.

This weekend, I spent about 30 minutes staring at the ground playing the "Is it poison ivy or is it blackberry?" game. Great fun.

So far, Blackberry seems to be winning. No rash yet.

I really need to get better at spotting that stuff. I've scoured the web sites and I'm learning, one rash at a time.

FreeTheWeasel

[GrizzlyAdams]

I've recovered physically, but the emotional trauma and heightened sense of paranoia will last a lifetime.
FreeTheWeasel

you've got that straight. As a college kid I went canoeing one weekend down the St. Croix River. We got a late start Friday p.m., and when we came out of the water to make camp it was dark. I was in shorts. We pulled the canoes up right into the midst of a patch of PI the size of Cincinnati; and then of course proceeded to go back and forth through the patch to unload the gear.

Two days later I was at the doctor, I was a solid mass of blisters from ankles to navel. Think about it. Happy to say that later I fathered four children. I learned that cortizone comes in injection form, and that even then it takes a long for the PI to dry up.

I don't wear shorts when hiking now. Ever. Anywhere.

Grizz the PI traumatized

[FanaticFringer]

Last October I went camping out in the state forest here in MN. We set up camp in a nice pine stand and I sat there pulling roots that were lying on the ground near the fire we had built. Just playing around, really.

Later I went to the bathroom.

The next day I took a trip to the doctors.

Needless to say, I'm not all that interested in repeating that experience.

FreeTheWeasel (The name has nothing do with the aforementioned experience . . .)

Sure it does'nt.

[TeeDee]

I've recovered physically, but the emotional trauma and heightened sense of paranoia will last a lifetime.

Many decades past, my family visited some relatives to the south in Oregon. My sister, younger brother, myself and 2 cousins went for a hike through the local woods. We found a really, really nice meadow covered in some nice looking plants. We liked it so much that we stretched out on the ground on top of the plants and stared at the sky and clouds and then were rolling around playing and what not. Cut to the end - the next day we learned what poison oak is. I am still shy of that stuff. Poison ivy and stinging nettles never bothered me, but that poison oak lasted a few days and left an indelible impression.