Ucr

[SGT Rock]

In some other thread I cannot now find, someone suggested using a cord lock, at least he asked if anyone had tried it.

I thought it was an interesting idea, and as I was about to make a set of UCRs I gave it a try.

Attachment 32707

Details:

• a pair of these locks weighs 5 grams. Way heavier than a prussik solution.
• These will admit two strands of 2mm Dynaglide class cord, the lock is pinching down on the UCR tail. I doubt very much that these locks would work with 7/64 Amsteel---too fat.
• you can't tie a knot in the tail end and get it and another strand of cord through the lock, I doubt you'd be able to splice back the end. I melted the end and when it was still hot flattened it. This means I can keep the cord lock out of the way of the bury piece when I'm setting the length, and then slide it to the tail, work the tail through, and clamp it down.
• It was trivial to introduce the cord lock. I put it on the UCR system after all the splicing was done. The double cord of the fixed eye at the end of the system can be pushed through the cord lock's hole.
• It is a pretty easy to use solution

It has not yet stood the test of many hangs, but on a few times out it has yet to fail. The spring in my cord locks are pretty strong, it seems to me it has to have as much grip as the silicon tubing + tie-off solution.

What have I become??? Five grams seems heavy to me. For this. But it is easy to do.

The next thing you have to decide with that is will it be lighter to just make a WS of the same overall length as the UCR. I had to bounce that around myself when I was making those. One of my UCRs without a Dutch hook or straps, or anything else was about 7 grams for an overall length of 70", to make a WS that length would be ~11-12 grams I would guess. If I did a cord lock instead it would be ~9-10 grams. Is losing 2-3 grams of weight worth the possible hassle? In my case I was trying to get the entire hammock system below a pound so ever gram I saved counted, but is it worth it to you?

[krshome]

Did it! UCR with a micro cord lock. It works very well. I'll hang the hammock tomorrow and do the full test but I don't see why bit wouldn't work.

[SGT Rock]

That looks good but I feel I should make one suggestion based on experience. I double the amount of bury for a UCR than what is recommended for a WS - it tends to help with that problem slide that sometimes occurs. There is a lot of wasted material between your bury and the cord lock - I would bury some more of the cord in that since you have it available. YMMV.

[krshome]

SGT is this better I don't think I can get much shorter.

[SGT Rock]

It looks good. Time will tell. I mention this because recently I tried going just a little skimpier on a set of UCRs and they worked well for a time. But last trip up to the Smokies I watched as my foot end slid though the bury a little. When I got home I changed the configuration a little and added more length to the bury on that set and solved it. I like the micro cord lock, if memory serves they weigh about 1 gram each which is about what my silicone tube thing adds and that would be much easier to make than that tube thing. I'll have to see about getting some more of those tiny ones and try it out.

[krshome]

Just outa curiosity what length bury are you using SGT?

[SGT Rock]

For anyone doing the silicone tubing version of this UCR idea one of the things I reconfigured was passing both lines through the tube to add more friction. In my original model I did that and it worked well. In the video I only put the adjustable line through the tube, but found that it didn't have enough friction at times. With the re configuring I did after the Smokies hike I put it back through like the original ones.

[SGT Rock]

Just outa curiosity what length bury are you using SGT?

Let me preface this by saying that on eyes I bury less than the recommended amount. I wanted to be able to hang in very tight spaces so on a fixed eye I am only burying 2" with a .25" taper. I also don't do locked brummels after doing some reading - I lock stitch all my eye burys. I've never had an eye fail that was done this way.

On the UCR bury I am burying about 13" which turns out to only be about 10" or so of length after you get the line buried in it. Does that make sense the way I explain it?

Anyway, I can hang my hammock in about a 10' gap between trees.

[krshome]

perfect sense SGT thanks

[SGT Rock]

Good.

When I first started making UCRs I had read somewhere that you bury 1 fid of rope for an eye and that put me at about 2" for 1.8mm cord. I did a 1/4" of taper just because.

I got the 10" for the bury by playing with it - trail and error.

A lot later after I had been doing it this way for a long time I read that they changed the recommendations for stuff like dynaglide and amsteel because of low friction on the rope. Under these guidelines I was WAY too short, but since it had worked for me I wasn't going to stop. Here is a good chart I think Papa Smurf made:

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/a...6&d=1329754867

It recommends 5.79" for the bury on a WS but I go about twice that for a UCR.