Behold the G-Hook!

WARNING: I haven't used this on a hammock yet, and probably won't have a chance to until sometime later this fall. There was a posting on another thread about using BD Ergo poles and this idea popped into my head, so I stepped into the workshop this morning. I wanted to post this before I forgot how I did it. This seems like it should be amply strong, but heavier folks may want to be wary since I haven't even loaded these yet. As Jean-Luc would say, "Proceed with caution!"

Black Diamond Ergo poles have a 'bent' handle. I love this feature when hiking (actually, I wish it were bent more), but it would put significant bending stress into the shaft if the pole were loaded at the tip of the handle. Ideally, the load from a bridge hammock suspension would contact the handle here...

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I never cared for the wrist straps and cut them off my poles several years ago. If you want to try this and still be able to use your wrist straps later, the rolled pin holding the straps can be pressed out and back in again. I then used a box knife to shave off the rounded edge of the handle into a flat face.

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Steps to make the G-Hooks:

1 - Cut 2 pieces of 1/2" x 1/16" Aluminum strap 2-3/4" long. Generously round over the corners with a file.

2 - Scribe lines @ 7/32" and 2-1/4" from one end on the front side, and at 1-1/4" from the same end on the back side.

3 - Round the edges at the 2-1/4" scribe line. I used a chain saw file and then smoothed them out with some emery cloth. Your suspension will rest here, so you want it smooth.

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4 - Bend a U-shaped hook for the suspension @ the 2-1/4" scribe line. I formed the bend around a small pry bar, but almost any thin piece of metal should work. It's probably best to have rounded edges on whatever you use to form the bend. Place the scribe line slightly above the forming tool so that the rounded edges will end up at the middle of the bend.

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5 - Bend a hook at the other end to catch the roll pin where the wrist strap had been attached. Make this bend slightly past 90 deg.

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6 - Bend the opposite direction at the 1-1/4" scribe line on the back side. This should be right where the aluminum exits the "hole" in the handle. Adjust the bend angle so the hook contacts the face of the handle.

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I plan to use this with Dynaglide dogbones as the suspension triangle, girth hitched onto either either webbing suspension or Dynaglide suspension.

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I've always liked the BD Flicklock clamps - it's one of the biggest reasons I bought the poles. Although others have reported success relying only the Flicklock to hold length adjustment for a bridge hammock pole, it seems marginal to me. Adding dowels inside to keep the pole from collapsing is also complicated by the curved Ergo handle. It turns out that the inside of the handle has a hollow cavity as an extension of the inside of the shaft. You can easily feel this by inserting something small, like a coat hanger or 1/8" dowel.

A 1/2" dowel fits nicely in the upper section of the metal shaft (7/16" in the lower section). I pushed in a 1/2" dowel until I felt a slight resistance at the curve and then backed off about an inch. This told me how much of the handle cavity I wanted to fill. I then cut a 3/8" dowel to fit from there to the top end of the handle cavity and I pushed this all the way in. It went in with a bit of resistance as the dowel bent to fit the curved cavity (hint: it's not coming back out!). Now the 1/2" dowel has something to push against.

Total weight of the G-Hooks: 7.5 gram/pr

I'll eventually rig up a small cord to attache them to the hammock so they don't get lost.