I've spent a lot of time on the forums reading about rings, buckles, and straps for hanging my Hennessy Hammock. Admittedly I've never had trouble tying the HH figure eight but I've hated untying to readjust. However I was hesistent to switch to a strap. I wanted something that worked with the spectra line. Then I started reading about Hitchcraft and the Panther Rope Cleat but didn't like the questionable weight limitations and potential for rope abrasion.
So I went out and picked up some SMC rings, Camp Nano biners, and straps. Came home and went wandering the forums again. Found a post by greggg3 about the garda hitch where he provided this great link http://www.chockstone.org/TechTips/GardaHitch.htm (original post at: http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ighlight=garda)
It seemed great. I got out my hammock ran a garda hitch through the biners and just pulling it was clear how well it would hold. However the biners are 29 grams each (by my little hanging postal scale). While the SMC rings are only 11 grams each. A savings of 72 grams (2.5 oz) when using four.
So here's my idea ("mine" only if you ignore all the help from this site, which shouldn't be done!) for a really light, fast hanging option using the original spectra line on a Hennessy Hammock (or others). It requires making new tree huggers similar to slap straps that have SMC ring pairs sewn at one end. There would be a loop at the other end for the rings to pass through. There would also be other loops (as in a rock climber's daisy chain or a Slap Strap) that you could pass through instead, allowing for you to adjust for tree size. (This might not be necessary, but I've hung between some pretty close trees. Trees too wide to wrap around twice, but if I'd just looped through the end of my tree huggers I'd have not been able to tighten the hammock). After wrapping the straps as many times as needed around the tree, you would pass the rings through the best loop, tie a garda hitch into the rings, pull tight, and lie down. From what greggg3 suggests it should be easy to undo the garda hitch once you are no longer hanging in the hammock.
I've mocked up what this would look like. Imagine my super shelter bag is the tree trunk and you are looking down from above. The strap goes around the trunk and through a loop. The hammock line is then tied through the rings in a garda hitch (really easy!) and the loose end pulled tight. Test it by pulling down, and then lie down. (I think if you wrap the line the wrong way you won't be able to pull tight and get tension so you'll know you've made a mistake). After your weight is off the hammock it should be easy to pull the knot back out.
You could add a couple of half hitches for peace of mind that the line won't pull through.
Does anyone see problems with this? I'll try to find sewing time later in the week and give it a real test. I've posted an image in the gallery and will attach it here.
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