Making Clews, their jigs, and making a camping hammock.

**CamoDeafie82** · 03-18-2014, 16:55

A thought came to me.... if I made nettles out of looped seat belt webbing, with a 6,000 pound limit per nettle, perhaps it would be overkill, but it would give me more peace of mind than the current 800 pound limit continuous loops of 1" Polypro webbing I have (doubled over and ends clipped into quick links)...... I wonder how this would affect the "no tangle" aspect.... there is also the idea of using a single strip of 2" seat belt webbing with end loops and threading it in such a way that it essentially becomes a spider web..but I'm not sure how that would affect the strength rating of the webbing... or I could use 1" dogbone nettles (fixed length, sewn ends, and lower weight rating but with a number of them, should be OK?)

**Paprika bohlmann** · 03-19-2014, 09:58

Originally Posted by CamoDeafie82

A thought came to me.... if I made nettles out of looped seat belt webbing...

Give it a shot and report back to us! If your concern is that rope will fail you, I think you can rest assured that rope has, and is being used, all over the world right now and no major failures is being reported.

If your hammock is for home use or site camping then your system I'm sure is great. I would imagine that backpacking with a webbing clew would be a little bulky.

What does a webbing clew look like?

**CamoDeafie82** · 03-19-2014, 19:28

Originally Posted by Paprika bohlmann

Give it a shot and report back to us! If your concern is that rope will fail you, I think you can rest assured that rope has, and is being used, all over the world right now and no major failures is being reported.

If your hammock is for home use or site camping then your system I'm sure is great. I would imagine that backpacking with a webbing clew would be a little bulky.

What does a webbing clew look like?

I'm not sure. Could not find any pics where webbing replaced nettles....

here is what my current suspension looks like on a 103" hammock body; with 12" mini spreader bars
Closeup of Hammock end with bars.jpg

I am considering removing the MSB parts and sewing on webbing loops on the channel portion of the hammock body and thus make it easier to attach nettles of either cordage or webbing. Am trying to find local sources for rope that is camo or earth tones that have a higher safe working limit than the handy hundred.... since my gf sometimes like to snuggle in the hammock with me

**Paprika bohlmann** · 03-20-2014, 02:29

I dont know where you live in Oregon, But here in Portland there is West Marine, Andy and Bax, Next Adventure, and other rock climbing shops. West Marine does price matching with Redding Marine!
http://www.westmarine.com/new-englan...id--P011069325

**CamoDeafie82** · 03-20-2014, 02:58

I live rather far South.....well, I'm closer to Eugene than to Portland.

**Paprika bohlmann** · 03-20-2014, 23:20

12inch nettles for a 53inch wide hammock is just as comfortable as full length nettles. Now I need to get myself 1.6 ripstop and make a 8 foot hammock and attach these nettles to it. Nettles are the most amazing aid to help a hammock body open up, I think that a shorter and more narrow hammock can be as comfortable as longer/wider hammocks.

Instead of making a standard clew I made loops using the Handy Hundred. They are tied together using a triple fisherman knot. I would have used clews, but didn't have a long enough line to do the job. Animated Knots indicated that the fisherman knot was like welding two cords together and that it is used in rock climbing to combine two ropes. I got pretty good and quick at making them by the end! Lastly, while the fisherman knot is an appropriate knot, I think I would rather splice lines or make the naval clew.

IMG_5128 by bohlmann.eric, on Flickr

IMG_1052 by bohlmann.eric, on Flickr

I attached the loops using a larks head knot. This is a fine way to attach them to ring, but a traditional navy clew is just so much more attractive and easy to work with. The clew keeps everything tidy while the loops act like a moshpit at a Pantera concert.

IMG_6930 by bohlmann.eric, on Flickr

**lijn** · 03-21-2014, 01:24

Looking good!

**CamoDeafie82** · 03-21-2014, 04:50

Originally Posted by Paprika bohlmann

I should buy some lash-it and do this myself, but the Handy Hundred stuff is only two dollars for 100 feet! I'm not always cheap, but when I am I choose a Handy Hundred.
If I could splice the Handy Hundred I would, but sadly its not a hollow braid rope.

I've been looking at Animated Knots by Grog website..and there's a way to make eye splice with twisted rope...theoretically you could do this with HH? If its twisted not braided?

http://www.animatedknots.com/splice/...matedknots.com

**dirtwheels** · 03-21-2014, 05:55

What is the advantage to the naval clew over dogbones?

**Paprika bohlmann** · 03-21-2014, 09:52

Originally Posted by CamoDeafie82

I've been looking at Animated Knots by Grog website..and there's a way to make eye splice with twisted rope...theoretically you could do this with HH? If its twisted not braided?

http://www.animatedknots.com/splice/...matedknots.com

The Handy Hundred is not twisted. below is a link to the Handy Hundred's page on rwrope. Interestingly, here they list 3 different line sizes and each, as to be expected, has different strengths. I think I've been using the 1.8mm line.
http://rwrope.com/outdoors-sporting-...-cord-509.html