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  1. #11
    Senior Member Mule's Avatar
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    I posted somewhere a few weeks ago that I removed the ridgeline from the two hammock that I had earlier installed them on. That explanation is well said. The other reason I removed mine was to let the hammock find it's own place / hang between the trees naturally. It just bothered me to have that line over my head, and sometimes I would pitch my hammock so that the ridge line was not taught. I liked the feel. Nuff said. They are gone.
    Predictions are risky, especially when it comes to the future.

  2. #12
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    Thank for all of your advice. I think I'll go w/o for now to see how it feels.

    Thanks, BABO
    If you dont know where you've been, how do you know where you're going?

    Words to Live By: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent

  3. #13
    Senior Member headchange4u's Avatar
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    All my hammocks will keep their ridge lines for now. In fact my HH clone kinda has to have one because of the set length of the netting and fabric top covers.

    It is good to know that using a ridge line does have effects on the forces of the hammock suspension. I currently use 1500lbs breaking strength polyester webbing and 1200lbs breaking strength Dyneema rope. Come to think it I am using a suspension system that uses the 2900lb AS-78 Samson from APS that came with my Warbonnet hammock. I've just been switching it around to whatever hammock I am using at the time.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett



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  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by headchange4u View Post
    It is good to know that using a ridge line does have effects on the forces of the hammock suspension.
    I believe most people have understood that, just not the extent of how much extra force you can apply with a structural ridgeline. With a structural ridgeline you have a range of attachment heights you can use for any particular span between supports where the hammock will have the same sag and be at the same height above the ground. At the low end of that attachment height range you can put multiples of additional force on the suspension lines as compared to the high end of the attachment height range.

    I brought this up on the Yahoo group recently when adding a structural ridgeline was brought up and ended up putting a short writeup with a couple of diagrams in the files section. Sometimes a diagram or picture helps to explain things. This is a diagram from that article showing the effect of attachment height for the hammock geometry I chose for that example, please note that a particular geometry is used and these numbers change with that geometry and the choice of how high one wants the hammock to rest above the ground:
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    Youngblood AT2000

  5. #15
    Senior Member Perkolady's Avatar
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    Youngblood,
    Thanks for posting the diagram for us visual learners!
    VERY good information!

    Perkolady

  6. #16
    slowhike's Avatar
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    yep, thanks youngblood. charts like that are a real help to me.
    I too will something make and joy in it's making

  7. #17
    Senior Member Hooch's Avatar
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    Hoo-yah! Good intel, thanks Youngblood!
    "If you play a Nicleback song backwards, you'll hear messages from the devil. Even worse, if you play it forward, you'll hear Nickleback." - Dave Grohl

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by slowhike View Post
    yep, thanks youngblood. charts like that are a real help to me.
    Ain't that the truth. Sometimes we can read and re-read and re-read, and it doesn't sink in until we see it for ourselves, either first hand or with pictures.
    Youngblood AT2000

  9. #19
    Senior Member TiredFeet's Avatar
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    Missing something?

    Youngblood - I asked my girlfriend about your posts on the ridge line. Her reaction was that you are totally correct on the forces involved, but that she thought you also missing something.

    If she was hanging a hammock 10 or 15 years back, she would probably follow your preference (at least your implied preference ) for not using a ridgeline.

    But with the modern fibers used in ropes now and how light the ropes are with the modern fibers, she would just use something like the 2.8 mm Spyderline rated at 1200 lbs or the 3.8 mm rated at 1900 lbs. If a person didn't feel comfortable with a 1900 lbs rating, then using the 3 mm Amsteel rated at 2100 lbs or the 5 mm rated at 5000 lbs would more than suffice for anybody that could climb into a hammock. You could also use one of the modern ropes made from vectrus which are even stronger. Pricier, but stronger.

    Her thought was that if you wanted to stay with ropes from 15 or 20 years back then, OK, don't use a ridge line. But if you wanted to use modern ropes which are stronger and lighter, then go with the convenience that a ridge line gives you.

    As you also implied, the forces on the trees increase, but that is largely offset with the use of the straps around the trees instead of just wrapping the suspension rope. 1" straps are popular, but 1.5" or even 2" strap could be used if necessary.

    So you could stay with the old way of hanging a hammock and if that is comfortable for you, then that is fine. But We'll stay with the new-fangled ridge line and the convenience it affords with modern suspension ropes. Instead of having to hang high and finding something to climb on so that she could hang that high, the ridge line lets us hang lower, where it is more reachable.

    You seem to think that hanging lower is bad, whereas we think that hanging lower is better- we don't need to carry a ladder to use trees further apart. And getting the sag just right is no longer a try and adjust, try and adjust, try and adjust procedure. Hang once and it's there. I guess with lots and lots of practice, estimating the hang without the ridge line gets easier, but why bother when the ridge line eliminates the need. We could still all be driving manual transmissions, but why bother?? Modern automatics are more efficient than the manual, both in my energy and the gasoline.

  10. #20
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    I am not sure if there was an implication that structural ridgelines are good or bad in Youngblood's posts. I think what Youngblood posted is very helpful and lets the hanger make a smart decision about their suspension system and the kind of trees they hang from.

    There was a thread here recently about heavy hangers, and it is easy to see how some folks could put 3,000+ lbs of force on their suspension and the tree if they hang it the wrong way with a structural ridgeline. That could bring some trees down, even if the high-tech rope doesn't snap.

    I plan on trying out a structural ridgeline to see if I like it. The graph tells me that the benefit of being able to attach at a lower point comes at the cost of a reduced safety margin. So I won't hang low, and see if I like the ridgeline for the consistency of sag alone. If not, I'll dump it just like I did my car that had an automatic transmission. I'm back to a stick shift, and I'm happy.

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