Huggerless HH's

[BillyBob58]

Speaking as a forester: A tree can take a lot of abuse including removing most of the bark and not die. .

Well, you should know, thanks for the info!

[darkhawk424]

I have a question. we have all been talking about the bad side effects of rope and about the webbing of our hammock...

But what about our tarp? I confess that i uses rope directly on the tree when i am tying my tarp but i do wrap it around a few time to ease the pressure on the tree. But would the rope which we use our tarp to tie to affect the trees? or should we also get another huggers for our tarp?

[Just Jeff]

I'm sure it affects the trees somewhat, but a tarp doesn't put hundreds of pounds of pressure on the tree like a hammock does. I'm just careful not to cause a sawing motion as I wrap the guyline around the tree and I think it's ok. But this is one reason some parks don't allow ANYTHING to be tied to trees.

[T-BACK]

If you use a small biner on your tarp lines for quick setup it's easy to leave a little slack in the line around the tree. All you have to do is loop the line from the tarp around the tree and through your biner 4 or 5 times (like is done to increase friction for rappeling) and it will hold your tarp just fine. If you are still concerned you could place small sticks under the area contacting the tree. I did this on a few thin skinned trees that had been rain soaked for days. I don't know if it was needed or not but it made me feel better. This also works with hammock suspension lines if needed.

[Youngblood]

I have been trying out using rope that tends to flatten for the tarp ridge line. I used some light duty hollow braid polypropylene for a while but am now using 7/64" Amsteel Blue like I switched to for my bear line. It helps some, it is low friction on the trees so less likely to cut with any sawing motion.

[MacEntyre]

Education is not the problem, apathy is.

As Charlie Brown's friend Linus said, "I love Mankind... it's People I can't stand!"

[snstl1]

Please forgive this beginner, but I just want to make sure...
The seatbelt-like straps that were sent with my HH are fine, right?
Or are tree huggers something different. I have only used them in
my woods and haven't noticed any damage to the pine bark yet.
Thanks.

[MacEntyre]

Yes, those seatbelts are really tree huggers, Wrap them around the pine tree instead of the rope.

It keeps the sap off the expensive rope, and won't damage the tree.