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  1. #1
    Senior Member Mountainfitter's Avatar
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    Poly vs. Nylon Tree huggers w/whoopie slings

    Hey Everyone,

    Forever now I have used a 6' long x 3/4" tubular Nylon tree hugger w/loops sewn on each end with 6' whoopie slings. A few weeks back I was doing some bartacking so while I was at it I built myself some 6' long x 1" Polyester tree huggers with sewn loops on each end. These straps are basically the exact same besides the material.

    I headed outside to give them a try and for some reason my hammock didn't feel as "comfortable" as normal. I readjusted everything several times and I just couldn't get it to feel right. It felt like I sank more in the hammock then normal and I just couldn't get "flat". So I traded the polyester tree straps out for my nylon ones and it felt great.

    To make sure I wasn't crazy I had my brother do a blind hang test. I had him lay in the hammock using both setups and he could feel also feel a difference.

    This got me thinking... Maybe its a mistake to use a Polyester tree strap with whoopie slings because the live load is not properly being transfered to the whole system and instead the load is directly on the hammock.

    Has anyone else noticed this??? Are there any engineers that could explain whats happening?

  2. #2
    MacEntyre's Avatar
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    I am an engineer, and I eschew nylon tree buggers because they stretch. My tree huggers are polyester, which is both lighter and stronger than nylon and polypropylene.

    Varying the material of the tree hugger does not affect the load on the hammock, once everything has stretched and all is static.

    I suspect that you have become used to the shock absorbing feel of the stretchy nylon.
    - MacEntyre
    "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
    www.MollyMacGear.com

  3. #3
    Senior Member Running Feather's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MacEntyre View Post
    ......... and I eschew .....

    I suspect that you have become used to the shock absorbing feel of the stretchy nylon.

    God Bless you Mac

    I believe you hit the nail on the head.
    2015 John Rock Spreadsheet.

    "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is STOP DIGGING "

  4. #4
    Senior Member Mountainfitter's Avatar
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    Hey Mac,

    Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. I am not an engineer but I have taken enough engineering classes and have done enough research to know that you have posted incorrect information.

    Nylon is both lighter and stronger then Polyester... Nylon has specific gravity of 1.13 while Polyester has a specific gravity of 1.40. Nylon has a tensile of 13,500 psi while Polyester has a tensile of 11,000 psi.

    Additionally a hammock's suspension never becomes static due to the movement of the user, movement of trees, wind drag, and gravity.

  5. #5
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    Poly/polypro stretches once, nylon keeps going and going.... I don't care how strong something is as long as it's strong enough to withstand the physics of hammocking - I'd rather not wake up abruptly with my bum on the ground, or more concerning, my underquilt in the brush or the rocks I frequently hang over.

    Some poly straps are heavier than others. The ones you can get from Arrowhead or Warbonnet will be lighter than ones from Strapworks, for example.

    As for static, all that refers to is the fact that the poly stop stretching after an initial break-in.

  6. #6
    MacEntyre's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mountainfitter View Post
    I am not an engineer but I have taken enough engineering classes and have done enough research to know that you have posted incorrect information.
    I'm talking about weights of webbing, not density of materials.

    Enjoy your nylon huggers!

    - MacEntyre, unsubscribed
    - MacEntyre
    "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
    www.MollyMacGear.com

  7. #7
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    I've been lurking here for a while, learning all I can. This is an instance where I might be able to provide some useful information back

    Anyway, both Mac and Mountainfitter are correct, depending on what you're considering as "strength." I'm assuming Mac is talking about the elastic modulus (i.e. stretch vs load). Mountainfitter is talking about tensile yield strength (i.e. load before the material is damaged). Polyester has a higher elastic modulus (and thus less stretch), but Nylon has the higher yield strength (which doesn't keep your butt off the ground). Ah, the joys of engineering and its inconsistent terminology.

    Todd

  8. #8
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    So would nylon tend to shrink as it stretches? If so what about possible damage to the tree?

  9. #9
    Senior Member Mountainfitter's Avatar
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    So its ok to use a Nylon hammock but not Nylon Tree Huggers haha.. The Irony.

    Waking up with your butt on the ground due to nylon tree huggers stretching is nothing more then pure propaganda. The only way I could ever see this happening is if you use an under-rated webbing or use too much webbing.

    As you can see from my original post I am not here to debate Tensile Strength, Elongation At Break, Elastic Modulus, Flexural Strength, Flexural Modulus, or Impact Strength. I am here to discuss the reasoning of WHY a dynamic suspension system is more comfortable then a Static one...
    Last edited by Mountainfitter; 12-15-2010 at 12:50.

  10. #10
    Senior Member angrysparrow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mountainfitter View Post
    I am here to discuss the reasoning of WHY a dynamic suspension system is more comfortable then a Static one...
    I've used both, and I don't find a dynamic one any more comfortable than a static one.

    Nylon webbing suspensions stretching to the ground isn't propaganda, it has been independently confirmed by several people including myself. But those examples were all using a full 1" nylon webbing suspension, and not just short tree huggers. I think that is one discrepancy in the discussion here. Shorter nylon huggers will certainly stretch, but probably not that far. But that stretch caused me to change to polyester for both full suspensions and huggers, and I've been very satisfied with the result.

    What hammock fabric are you using, out of curiosity?

    If you happened to be using a non-stretching material, that might account for your comfort observation. There probably needs to be some dynamic property to *either* the suspension or hammock. Thus, static suspensions with a nylon-based hammock fabric shouldn't be a problem. But one might need a more dynamic suspension with a hammock made from polyester or cuben, for example.
    “I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

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