Critique my suspension set up please.

[atison]

Ok, tired of the hennessy figure 8's, especially since I am still playing with my setup a lot. It is a pain to feed the rope through the opening of the straps when you load them (opening wants to clamp shut), and time consuming to work with my setup each time.

This is on a HH Exp

Here was my criteria when coming up with a new setup:

• Adjustable
• Simple to setup
• Simple to break down
• Little additional weight and bulk added over stock, but ok with some weight if other criteria are met
• No modification to HH
• All materials need to be available at local outfitter and inexpensive

So here is my new setup:

Materials purchased:

• 2 Black Diamond Biners @ $6.50 a piece
• ~ 5' of 5mil 1060# rope @ $.20 a foot

I clip a biner to my tree straps either through both loops or through one loop with strap threaded through the other.

I then made a small loop of 5mil (1060#) rope using double fishermans to connect the ends.

I use a triple wrap prusik to attach this loop to the hennessy rope and clip the loop to my biner.

Done.

Now I can leave the prusiks attached to each hennessy rope for quick set up, and the prusiks allow for quick adjustment.

I layed in my homemade hammock for a while last night with this and it held well and was easy to set up.

Questions

1. Are the prusiks secure enough?
2. Should I triple wrap my double fishermans, or is it sufficient as is?
3. Any other suggestions for improvement with the materials I have here?

[MacEntyre]

1. Are the prusiks secure enough?
2. Should I triple wrap my double fishermans, or is it sufficient as is?
3. Any other suggestions for improvement with the materials I have here?

Your prusik is secure unless the rope gets wet and then freezes.

Double fisherman is fine unless you use rope with high lubricity, like Dyneema, which requires a triple fisherman.
Make sure your prusik loops are strong enough for the job. They are the weak link.

I like the idea of using a small strap instead of rings! The only improvement I can think of is drip strings to keep water from running into your hammock.

Still, I don't see the advantage over JustJeff's method of using rings without cutting the HH suspension.

What have I overlooked?

[atison]

Any concerns with the fact that there isn't a huge difference in the diameter of my prusik rope and the support rope it is grabbing on to?

On my homemade hammock the difference is just 1 millimeter, but on the Hennessy it is probably a greater difference.

Oh, and not much of a concern for freezing, as I am a 3 season camper currently.

[MacEntyre]

Any concerns with the fact that there isn't a huge difference in the diameter of my prusik rope and the support rope it is grabbing on to?

Nope. A prusik with three wraps will work just fine.

I edited my post while you were responding... what do you think of JustJeff's method?

[atison]

Ok, another idea getting rid of the rings.

This is assuming that a prusik will hold well onto the rope it is made with.

Hopefully I can explain this correctly.

Take the support line from the hammock and run it through the biner, then prusik the line to itself below the biner. You have to tie the prusik using only the end, which involves following back through your knot. Once you have tied it, you can simply clip and unclip the main loop from the biner and slide your prusik to adjust tension.

the only downside I could see would be that you are limited to half your ropes length for the shortest hang distance on each side.

Its simple, adjustable, and easy to set up and take down.

[sir White Wolf]

The rings also serve as a Drip stop in wet weather.
you might get a little wetness leaching down your suspicion.
But I havent tried the sett up your talking about
Just something to think about

[atison]

I plan on taking some cotton strips and attaching them to the support rope for drip strips.

[MacEntyre]

Ok, another idea getting rid of the rings.

JustJeff's method uses rings, but doesn't modify the HH suspension.

[Mrprez]

JustJeff's method uses rings, but doesn't modify the HH suspension.

I used that on my HH and it works just fine. But, I will be converting it over to a dedicated suspension using buckles and a 'biner. After seeing Hetairoi's setup this weekend, that is the way to go for me. Very clean and easy to setup/adjust.

[MacEntyre]

...converting it over to a dedicated suspension using buckles and a 'biner.

You're going to strap through the buckles instead of rope through the rings, right?