Ring Buckle Supports

**Shadowmoss** · 07-18-2007, 06:59

I will have to get out and actually try my ring buckle setup. However, I'm wondering if what you are trying to do is loosen things up so you can undo the biner to get the webbing from around the tree? I'm thinking that I'll keep the webbing on the rings all the time in storage (as it is now).

Is it difficult to rig the webbing so there is no pull on the biner? The friction of going around the tree is what should hold the weight, not the biner, anyway. I was taught to rig a climbing rope this way, run it multiple times around a tree, then LOOSLY attach the biner to the rope. The biner was just a safety backup, not what was to take the weight of the people on the rope. I am thinking that I'll hang my hammock the same way. That's why I got 13' of webbing one each end, so I can go around most trees at least a couple of times.

If there is no tension on the biner, then there is no need to loosen the rings. Just undo the biner and unwrap the webbing from the tree. What am I missing?

**Cannibal** · 07-18-2007, 07:27

Very rarely do I have any real tension on the biner. Mostly because I worry about the effect on the tree itself with a tensioned biner against it. I do exactly as Shadwomoss was stating; just wrap the webbing around the tree a couple/few times. It has limited some of my site selections due to large diameter trees, but it has never been an issue for more than a minute.

**Cannibal** · 07-18-2007, 07:28

However, I am going to order some buckles today, just to try them. Never hurts to know about options.

**GrizzlyAdams** · 07-18-2007, 07:31

Originally Posted by Shadowmoss

I will have to get out and actually try my ring buckle setup. However, I'm wondering if what you are trying to do is loosen things up so you can undo the biner to get the webbing from around the tree? I'm thinking that I'll keep the webbing on the rings all the time in storage (as it is now).

Is it difficult to rig the webbing so there is no pull on the biner? The friction of going around the tree is what should hold the weight, not the biner, anyway. I was taught to rig a climbing rope this way, run it multiple times around a tree, then LOOSLY attach the biner to the rope. The biner was just a safety backup, not what was to take the weight of the people on the rope. I am thinking that I'll hang my hammock the same way. That's why I got 13' of webbing one each end, so I can go around most trees at least a couple of times.

If there is no tension on the biner, then there is no need to loosen the rings. Just undo the biner and unwrap the webbing from the tree. What am I missing?

You're missing nothing. Thanks for bringing this out.

I multi-wrap the webbing around the tree when I can. I've not left much play between biner and webbing though, out of a concern (misplaced?) for a bump in the night due to slippage. I don't have the biner touch the tree though.

But of course if the biner is loose enough to take off first, then that's what I do. Otherwise I shift to plan B, see above (which indeed is just a matter of loosening tension enough so that I can release the biner from webbing. I leave the webbing in the rings too).

I'll have to pay more attention to this next time out.

Grizz

**stoikurt** · 07-18-2007, 07:35

CC Buckles are great and work fine. But if you pull them as tight as it seems Grizz is pulling them then they would be nearly impossible to loosen. There must be a little slack in order to loosen them. Early on (probably in another thread), someone said they had to cut their webbing to to release the buckles.

**angrysparrow** · 07-18-2007, 07:49

Originally Posted by GrizzlyAdams

I know that I can, with effort, loosen a ring buckle by moving the standing end enough, I'm not seeing how to loosen a CC buckle if things are really tight. Going with a system known to loosen---eventually---versus one that may not, well, seems like a no brainer to me too. Perhaps I misunderstand the CC buckle,

Loosening a buckle isn't any harder than loosening the rings..as a matter of fact, they are about the same difficulty. All you have to do is tug on the hammock side of the buckle with one hand, and feed the loose end of the webbing back through the buckle a little with the other. I've used the buckles for a while now, and I've never had a hang that didn't have some sag to it (you can't really keep a perfectly straight suspension line between the two trees) and that sag is all the looseness I've needed to untension the buckles. YMMV, but for the way that I hang my hammocks, the buckles are a good solution.

**GrizzlyAdams** · 07-18-2007, 08:02

Angrysparrow--are you doing this with a non-removeable ridgeline? For better or worse, my modus operandi with my HH is to leave no sag except what the ridgeline (under considerable tension it seems) gives the body of the hammock. That's sag that I can't get to the ring buckles. I'm talking about tight tight tight all along the webbing through ring buckle through ridgeline.

Shadowmoss--I imagine that if you can leave the biner connected so loosely as you describe, then the webbing is not constrained by it in any significant way, which means that it comes off the side of the tree, rather than the center (because to be centered it has to be constrained by the biner). Since a good size tree cares not a whit about where the sheer forces are happening, perhaps I'm contributing to this situation by my over-developed appreciation for symmetry?

zzirG,
Grizz

**Hooch** · 07-18-2007, 08:26

Ok, so if I wanted to maybe try the CC buckles, just for the heck of it to say I tried them, what would be a good source to get them? Anyone who wants to get rid of a good pair cheap? What do they cost, roughly?

**angrysparrow** · 07-18-2007, 08:30

Originally Posted by GrizzlyAdams

Angrysparrow--are you doing this with a non-removeable ridgeline? For better or worse, my modus operandi with my HH is to leave no sag except what the ridgeline (under considerable tension it seems) gives the body of the hammock. That's sag that I can't get to the ring buckles. I'm talking about tight tight tight all along the webbing through ring buckle through ridgeline.

I use buckles on several hammocks (HH, ENO w/structural ridgeline added, Speer w/structural ridgeline added).

But, I've never pulled the webbing so tight that when I layed in the hammock for a while *some* small amount of sag wasn't introduced to the webbing. And that sag, however slight, has always been enough for me to untension the buckles once my weight is removed from the hammock.

You and Stoikurt are right that there must be a little slack to loosen them.

But I must ask, what is the benefit of having the webbing pulled so tight that it cannot have ANY minor amount of sag, even when weighted? That isn't necessary for a secure hang, and it seems like it would needlessly multiply the force that you're placing on the trees and your suspension materials. 'Tight, but not too tight' has always seemed more appropriate to me.

**angrysparrow** · 07-18-2007, 08:34

Originally Posted by Hooch

Ok, so if I wanted to maybe try the CC buckles, just for the heck of it to say I tried them, what would be a good source to get them? Anyone who wants to get rid of a good pair cheap? What do they cost, roughly?

I'm not sure how much cheaper they could get, Hooch.
OnRope1 $4/pair