Hammocktent 90* marlin spike trick

[OlTrailDog]

I have been putzing around with a Angle of the Dangle suspension as in this thread:

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ter-of-Physics

There are a few pics using the suspension with the HTs. I have also been thinking about something else and thought I would give it a try. I sure all HT users have bumped into situations where the hang height is higher than you would like it to be and the hammock sag is not optimal. I thought I would try marlin spiking the suspension to shorten it up. Worked fine. You might put this in your bag of tricks if the need arises.

HTHammockIronHang11032018_5.jpgHTHammockIronHang11032018_4.jpg

[BillyBob58]

Is this for the purpose of raising one end(side) to get more of a level lay, rather than just raising the tree strap? Might be handy!

[TominMN]

Is this for the purpose of raising one end(side) to get more of a level lay, rather than just raising the tree strap? Might be handy!

I always tie the tree straps at the same level, if I can. Are you getting at the idea of raising the foot end to get a proper lay in the hammock? I find the easiest way to do this is to shorten the foot end suspension and lengthen the head end an equal amount if I don't get it right at first. Raising the foot only stretches out the hammock a bit, changing the lay. By leaving the straps in the same place on the tree and tweaking the suspension you shift the center of weight toward the head end, just where you want it!

[Tikker]

haha read that wrong, nm

[BillyBob58]

I always tie the tree straps at the same level, if I can. Are you getting at the idea of raising the foot end to get a proper lay in the hammock? I find the easiest way to do this is to shorten the foot end suspension and lengthen the head end an equal amount if I don't get it right at first. Raising the foot only stretches out the hammock a bit, changing the lay. By leaving the straps in the same place on the tree and tweaking the suspension you shift the center of weight toward the head end, just where you want it!

I think we are talking about raising the sides, not the ends. I guess? I don't know of anything I can do to raise the foot or head end of a 90* HT.

[OlTrailDog]

I always tie the tree straps at the same level, if I can. Are you getting at the idea of raising the foot end to get a proper lay in the hammock? I find the easiest way to do this is to shorten the foot end suspension and lengthen the head end an equal amount if I don't get it right at first. Raising the foot only stretches out the hammock a bit, changing the lay. By leaving the straps in the same place on the tree and tweaking the suspension you shift the center of weight toward the head end, just where you want it!

I see no reason to shorten the foot end suspension as it only exacerbates the curvature and creates pressure on the heels. I have done quite a bit of experimenting with shortening the suspension progressively from the behind to the knees and then progressively back to the lower calf.

I have not found a way to "lengthen the head end an equal amount", i.e. lengthen the suspension. The only way to do that would be to cut and splice or replace the suspension lines. One very nice feature of the Exped Ergo, was the suspension cord knots were easily accessible and lengthening as well as shortening the suspension lines was easily doable. If you have found a way to do so, other than cutting and splicing/replacing, I would be interested to know your methodology.

I am considering taking the leap this winter and replacing some of the suspension lines in order to lengthen the suspension specifically in the foot area. But that will be a couple months off.

I think we are talking about raising the sides, not the ends. I guess? I don't know of anything I can do to raise the foot or head end of a 90* HT.

As TominMN says, suspending the HT level (right hand/left hand) is a must. If not, as you have found out and as Luke states on his website, only rolls you to one side or the other, not a good thing. The purpose of the marlin spike on both sides shortens the suspension and lifts the entire hammock up by that distance. There are times I find the HT hangs lower than optimal under the tarp. This is in part due to the distance between the structural ridge line and the hammock body, a function of the suspension cord lengths. So I thought I would give this a try. My first thought was to undo the SRL and tie an overhand knot, but then I came up with the idea of a marlin spike which eliminated the need to undo/redo the SRL.

To raise the foot or head end, or to add lift under the knees you shorten the individual suspension lines as needed. This can be done either by girth hitching small beads or tying figure eight knots. There is probably other methods, but this is what I have used to give lift under the knees.

[BillyBob58]

I see no reason to shorten the foot end suspension as it only exacerbates the curvature and creates pressure on the heels. I have done quite a bit of experimenting with shortening the suspension progressively from the behind to the knees and then progressively back to the lower calf.

I have not found a way to "lengthen the head end an equal amount", i.e. lengthen the suspension. The only way to do that would be to cut and splice or replace the suspension lines. One very nice feature of the Exped Ergo, was the suspension cord knots were easily accessible and lengthening as well as shortening the suspension lines was easily doable. If you have found a way to do so, other than cutting and splicing/replacing, I would be interested to know your methodology.

I am considering taking the leap this winter and replacing some of the suspension lines in order to lengthen the suspension specifically in the foot area. But that will be a couple months off.



As TominMN says, suspending the HT level (right hand/left hand) is a must. If not, as you have found out and as Luke states on his website, only rolls you to one side or the other, not a good thing. The purpose of the marlin spike on both sides shortens the suspension and lifts the entire hammock up by that distance. There are times I find the HT hangs lower than optimal under the tarp. This is in part due to the distance between the structural ridge line and the hammock body, a function of the suspension cord lengths. So I thought I would give this a try. My first thought was to undo the SRL and tie an overhand knot, but then I came up with the idea of a marlin spike which eliminated the need to undo/redo the SRL.

To raise the foot or head end, or to add lift under the knees you shorten the individual suspension lines as needed. This can be done either by girth hitching small beads or tying figure eight knots. There is probably other methods, but this is what I have used to give lift under the knees.

I can certainly understand the need to raise the entire hammock. I think I understand now. I completely missed that you had a biner/MSH on both sides, and thought you were raising only one side. I couldn't figure out why you would do that, thought you might be adding a trick to level it, rather than retying the Becket or raising the strap, but that seemed unlikely, and I guess it was.

How much does that raise the height?

Is that difficult, putting a MSH into all of those thin strands?

What about a MSH in a couple of the middle strands, to raise the knees?(I know you use the beads, but am curious about a MSH. Probably not, but I have not tried either.

[OlTrailDog]

I will measure it tomorrow. I currently have a different modified HT set up. I think the best measurement would be from the structural ridge line to my body, set the MSH, and re-measure.

When I had it set up I did try MSHing half of the strands, but didn't like the results at all. The thing with the knee lift is I use either different size beads or more tail on a figure eight knot in order to give a progressive lift from the butt to the knees and then progressively back down to the ankle area. The MSH would provide a constant lift and I think the progressive lift method helps to spread the stress across the suspension strands instead of an abrupt change.

[OlTrailDog]

Today I had too much time on my hands so I thought I would tinker with a HT Alpha suspension. Bottom line is I used panel nails as a marlin spike on the individual suspension lines. The advantage of panel nails is they are ring shanked and consequently stay in place once the marlin spike knot is snugged up. You have to be a little careful to make sure the nails don't snag adjacent suspension lines when entering the hammock, but the pad in the pad pocket does a decent job of keeping them separated.

Using the marlin spike on select sections of suspension lines was a quick and easy way to assess what I wanted to do to modify the hammock lengths. For example, it is a very easy way to assess if you want to add some knee lift. It worked very well for me to decide that I wanted to: leave the first head end suspension line the original length; shorten up the head and torso suspension lines; leave the middle three suspension lines at original length; significantly shorten the suspension lines under my thighs to my calves; and leave the four foot end suspension lines at the original length. In summary, what this accomplished was adding some lift to my head/torso and adding lift under my knees. After experimentation was complete I then tied figure eight knots in the suspension strands I want to shorten with increasingly long tails on the figure eight knots where I wanted more lift, e.g. under the knee area.

It worked well enough that I thought I would pass it along for those who want to experiment with tweaking their HT suspension.