I'm going to try using structural ridgelines for a Clark and Calytor hammocks. I don't have time to wait for mail order rope. Home Depot and Loes don't apper to have anything rated over 200lbs load weight. However, EMS has this rope (the link is to another site that gives more info about the rope than the ems site.) Is it appropriate rope for a ridgeline? What legth would you suggest that I carry? Thanks
http://www.rescueresponse.com/store/sterlinghtp5.html
That's some big rope. Most people use 4-5mm rope or AirCore Spectra line. I know you don't have time for mail order, just letting you know.
Can only tell you what worked for me, but when I started making hammocks I used ( and still have hammocks I sleep in ) braided nylon rope with 1/4 inch or 5/16 inch diameter. Both sizes worked fine for ridge line only applications for me.
What I lack in knowledge I MORE than make up for with opinions.
Green Therapy
The ridgeline carries less load than a suspension rope might. There's a tongue-in-cheek post here that goes through the math. View at your own risk, pay up the life insurance first. Take-home message, if the angle from the suspension rope to the horizontal is 30 degrees, and the hammock hangs at, say, 45 degrees with respect to the ridgeline, then ridgeline will be carrying about 75% of your body weight. So rope rated to 200 lbs may well be just fine for you.Originally Posted by nogods
Grizz
For a quick fix until the mail order rope comes in, maybe consider the yellow poly rope used for anchor lines. It is a yellow plastic rope that is extremely strong, and you can get it at k-mart, walmart, and all boating and outdoor stores. I can't think of any ratings, but I know they are really high.
Thanks for all the help - I was going to use the yellow kmart anchor rope but called a local outdoor store and they have 5 and 6 mm "non-stretch". They only sell high quality and expensive equipment so I don't often shop there because of the price but this time it work out for me.
Now I'm going to search the forum for info on the best method for attaching the ridgeline to the trees and attaching the hammock to the ridgeline. The Clark should be simple because it has a single rope for attachment, but the Claytor I'm getting might be more difficult because it has two strands coming out from the hammock that appear to need some space between them.
If anyone can point me to a tutorial I'd appreciate it.
Generally a ridgeline goes from one end of the hammock to the other, not to the trees. Where the suspension rope is tied to the hammock is where you would also tie the ends of the ridgeline, or whatever method you are going to use to attach it (carabiner etc). By tying it to the tree you effectively turn it into a suspension rope as well, and that 200lb test rope may end up breaking on you.
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Yes to what Hogin8tor said. When I posted I assumed that you were just using it for a ridge line attached to your main hanging rope. 200 lbs is not enuff for a main rope. I wouldn't go with less than 1200 lb breaking strength for a main rope.
What I lack in knowledge I MORE than make up for with opinions.
Green Therapy
Newbie question here...
Why would a structural ridgeline be advantageous for the Clark and Claytor?
I'm think the ridgeline will make it faster to tie up with the same sag in the hammock. I have the Clark tied between two eight foot 4x4 post on my deck. They are about 15 feet apart. In order to get a comfortable hang, I had to tie up near the top of the posts - about 7 1/2 feet. I could not reach much higher than that. So if I had trees further apart than that, I would have to suffer a less than desirable hang. I'm thinking that the ridgeline would eliminate this issue.
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