Ideas in Motion or Taking it to the Woods

**Running Feather** · 04-17-2010, 01:41

Well the winter here is gone and I thought I'd take some new stuff out and give them a tryout. SEHHA Hot Springs hang is right around the corner as is the Linville Gorge Loop hang so I thought it best to get out and tinker a bit. I put a bag of gear together, caged it on my bike, and headed off to the North mills River Recreation Area which is part of Pisgah National Forest.

Hangin' Burrito started a thread not too long ago about minimal straps which lead to another thread about alternates to tree huggers AKA webbing. I likes the pictures obxcola posted.

I went to Wally World and picked up some mini scrunchies and put together a set. Two 8' lengths of shock cord and the scrunchies came in at just over 1oz.

That being done it was time to hang the suspension. I put a descender ring loop on all (6) of my hammocks because I feel it offers the most versatility. They will accept straps, cords, whoopies, and UCRs. I chose two large trees slightly over 20' apart to max out the capabilities of the gear. On tree #1, a huge 3 trunk tree over 8' in circunference, I used a 14' piece of Amsteel with two fixed eyes (I think the end of every piece of cordage should have a loop - because it can!) I simply fed one end through the eye and attached to the descender rings using a Garda hitch with a slippery half hitch behind it as Amsteel is quite slippery.

Moving to tree #2, I started out with another 14' double eye piece of Amsteel but used a Marlin Spike hitch (with a slippery half hitch behind it for safety). To this I hung a UCR with a new twist. I love UCRs because they use a minimal amount of line but they have a weakness. The upper end of the constrictor, not being under tension, can slip. (see ProfessorHammock/GrizzlyAdams video on constriction) I took a piece of Dynaglide and made a Klemheist with the ends left open. I then spliced them into a continuous loop through the upper end loop on the UCR. With this in place there is no chance of the constrictor slipping - at all. The Klemheist is a great connector. I think it better in many respects than the Prusik because it is uni-directional in it's tensioning.

At the hammock end of the UCR (which I could have simply Larks Headed on in the beginning, but this is gear testing day) I used a Loop Shackle/Connector. I find these amazing! The strength of a super biner with negligible weight

Learning the Diamond knot did drive me loony at first.

That being done I hung my DIY silnylon group buy Woodland camo (thank you Scittlefield), DIY tarp.

Lottsa space goin' on in there

While all this was going on the Ranger and his wife came by to see what I was up to. They were most inquisitive. I explained how, as hammock hangers, we are always looking to protect the trees. When I mentioned cambium protection it really caught their attention. Not patting myself on the back just letting them know I was serious. The Mrs. was taking notes to teach the local scouts

Maybe we can make some converts.

Ya gotta love a day spent tinkering in the woods