RE Tree Huggers

**warbonnetguy** · 11-11-2007, 12:41

Originally Posted by Nudgeworth

Hennessy has a factory set up in a small rural town here in the South Island of New Zealand. He spends the northern Winter here.

you live on the south island, do you ever go to castle hill?

**daibutsu** · 11-12-2007, 08:57

The little tag that came with my HH and the screen printed advertisment "stuff" bag both say "Made in China," Maybe China, New Zealand ?

**HappyCamper** · 11-27-2007, 08:54

FYI. My HH huggers started to fray after not much use. I sent Hennessy an email yesterday asking for new huggers and they are sending replacements, no questions asked. Response was within a few hours. The great customer service is much appreciated. I'm hoping the new huggers will be made of something stronger.

**Nudgeworth** · 11-29-2007, 05:43

Originally Posted by warbonnetguy

you live on the south island, do you ever go to castle hill?

Nah, I've been past that area mutiple times, but never seen it in person.
I've heard it's stunning.
I think that there's a music festival there sometimes
Have you been there?

**warbonnetguy** · 11-29-2007, 20:53

no, but its one of the most famous bouldering/climbing areas in the world. i've drooled over many pictures of the place. i think it costs about 2000usd to fly to nz, i checked.

**Javaman** · 11-29-2007, 23:14

HH sent me a new set of tree huggers unsolicited. One day I had an email from Tom's son? brother? (same last name) saying they had been having "wear" issues and were sending me a new set. New material looks shinier, feels tougher, wearing fine so far. I am using SMC rings with garda hitch and running the strap through a 'biner for easy set up so not much rope wear on the hugger in the first place.

**JohnW** · 11-30-2007, 00:39

I haven't had any problems with my newly purchased HH's huggers. I did immediately switch to using the default lash on a carabiner and attaching the webbing to the carabiner. Using the default lash on the webbing loops bunched them together and to my eyes generated an alarming level of wear and deformation.

**greggg3** · 12-08-2007, 03:41

I recently purchased some 1" wide polyethylene webbing from strap works, and on a whim I also ordered some of the 1.5" wide polyethylene seat belt webbing (maybe to be more tree friendly). Upon receiving it, I was suprised to find that the seat belt webbing was noticeably lighter than the 1" webbing (both are 20' length). Anyway after reading the posts here, I'm wondering if maybe the seatbelt weave lacks durability like the HH huggers? Otherwise the wider and lighter seems like a better choice (I couldn't find 1" wide seat belt weave).

**warbonnetguy** · 12-08-2007, 12:49

never heard of polyethelyne webbing, but car seatbelt webbing is heavy and usually made of polyester, most folks use polyester webbing that is alot lighter than polyester seatbelt(which should be plenty durable), common choices are the 1" 3500# polyester from www.strapworks.com or the 1" 2000# polyester from www.owfinc.com, which is lighter, but still plenty strong.

**greggg3** · 12-08-2007, 16:06

oops, you're correct warbonnetguy - I meant polyester not polyethylene, sorry. I was comparing:

Polyester Seat Belt Webbing 1-1/2", 0.42 $/ft

Polyester Webbing 1", 0.38 $/ft

The seat belt webbing is significantly lighter than the 1" webbing, because its thinner I guess.