Easier way to hang a cinch buckle suspension?

**barchetta** · 03-03-2014, 17:56

So I planned on hanging my new blackbird at work today and stupid me forgot my carabiners at home.

So I thought to myself, why can't I just hang it without them, and I did.

I basically unthreaded the straps from the buckles, tied it around the trees like you would with any tree strap, toggle, whoopie suspension and everything worked out fine.

After doing this I figured I could just do the same thing all the time for a couple of reasons. First, it saves the weight of the carabiners if you care about such things. Second, I've noticed a couple of times that it looks like the carabiners could possible rub on the tree if the suspension settled the right (or wrong in this case) way. I personally don't like having anything metal even remotely close the the tree. Lastly, and I think this reason offers the best benefit, I've found that my straps get covered in sap pretty quickly and I never like putting them in the stuff sack with the hammock. Maybe I'm being a little anal, but I wouldn't want sap all over my lovely mulitcam

I always end up removing the suspension and shoving the sappy straps into a separate bag if there is any sign of sap anyways, so why not do it all the time.

Maybe I'm not the first person to think of this, but I've never read anything on here about anyone else doing it so I thought I'd share

**pgibson** · 03-03-2014, 18:09

That works just fine....just takes an extra moment is all.

**nothermark** · 03-03-2014, 18:13

I'll give you an alternative. Next time find a couple of suitable sticks with a fork. You want them about 6 inches to a foot long on one side and short on the other. 1-2 inches diameter good wood. Run the strap around the tree and pull a loop of the slack side through the sewn loop. Insert a stick so the fork is in top so it cannot slide down and out. That gives you a toggled loop that will support you. When done pull the toggle and you are ready to go. Dutch clips are nicer but that is cheaper and easier than restringing. ;-)

**barchetta** · 03-03-2014, 18:21

That would work too

**ShellHammock** · 03-03-2014, 19:01

I much prefer to forgo the carabiners and take the extra time. That way, you don't risk packing the tree straps with the hammock. Those straps have a way of picking up all kinds of gunk from trees that I don't want anywhere near my hammock

**fly fisher** · 03-03-2014, 22:09

That certainly works and reduces weight. But, I like the ease & speed of lightweight, high quality carabiners.

Thanks for sharing,

fly fisher

**Tendertoe** · 03-04-2014, 06:31

Something to think about if you're forgoing the carabiners or Dutchclips or some type of quick removal device is if you are hanging from a tree or both trees with multiple limbs all the way up is you setup your hammock and get in and you need to raise the straps up the tree to get the right hammock height. There are multiple tree limbs above both your straps so you can't simply slide the straps up the tree.

If you have carabiners or Dutch clips all you have to do is unclip the biner, move the strap up past the limb and reclip it. If you don't have a biner or Dutchclip you have to totally remove your hammock from the straps, unthread the straps, move the straps up the tree, rethread the straps, reconnect the hammock.

I've been in this situation more than once especially hanging from pines where there are limbs every 12 inches or so all the way up the tree. It's nice to have the ability to quickly disconnect and reconnect the straps up the tree especially if you want to tweak the hammock height once you totally setup your hammock and it's filled with your quilts and extra gear.

YMMV

**barchetta** · 03-04-2014, 07:11

Originally Posted by Tendertoe

Something to think about if you're forgoing the carabiners or Dutchclips or some type of quick removal device is if you are hanging from a tree or both trees with multiple limbs all the way up is you setup your hammock and get in and you need to raise the straps up the tree to get the right hammock height. There are multiple tree limbs above both your straps so you can't simply slide the straps up the tree.

If you have carabiners or Dutch clips all you have to do is unclip the biner, move the strap up past the limb and reclip it. If you don't have a biner or Dutchclip you have to totally remove your hammock from the straps, unthread the straps, move the straps up the tree, rethread the straps, reconnect the hammock.

I've been in this situation more than once especially hanging from pines where there are limbs every 12 inches or so all the way up the tree. It's nice to have the ability to quickly disconnect and reconnect the straps up the tree especially if you want to tweak the hammock height once you totally setup your hammock and it's filled with your quilts and extra gear.

YMMV

That is a very good point and I too have been there.

**txrackack** · 03-04-2014, 07:51

Try using a Garda hitch setup. Light, still metal, but definitely gets the metal away from the trees and is easy to use, adjust and is economical. Check out the reviews at http://www.theultimatehang.com

**altruistguy** · 03-04-2014, 10:28

Originally Posted by txrackack

Try using a Garda hitch setup. Light, still metal, but definitely gets the metal away from the trees and is easy to use, adjust and is economical. Check out the reviews at http://www.theultimatehang.com

Garda hitch works great ... until it doesn't. Many folks have reported that the line broke, dumping them on the ground. It is easy to see why: the rings have an extraordinary compressive force concentrated at one small point. Even if you don't completely sever the line, it is likely that you are damaging it.

So yes -- Garda hitch is extremely elegant -- but those who have used it report catastrophic failures ...