Tree webbing question

[Spydermn]

I sincerely apologize if this has been covered before. After years of camping in tents I was made a believer... We all know the rest as we are all hammockophiles. Hammock challenge, say Hammockophile fast 10 times, ok if you did that consider yourself mentally unstable, please check in to your nearest cluster of trees and sleep it off in your hammock.

And finally for the actual question. After googling and giggling tree webbing with the whoopee sling setup I am unsure about removing carabiners from the tree webbing. Would it be possible to just put a water knot in 1 inch webbing, girth hitch the tree and use the remaining free end to tie the marlin spike for the knot needed for the whoopee loop?

Has anyone tried this before? AKA - I need some trees in my yard to try this and want someone else too see if it's possible without harming the tree or making the knots hard to work out.

[pgibson]

Most of us use straps with a sewn loop rather than knotted. But yes many people skip a carabiner or other hardware. No need with shorter straps that we usually use with Whoopies.


check out my video on our beginner hammock kit on our how to videos page to see how I do it with sewn loop straps.

[TrailSlug]

Does this Shug video help?
https://youtu.be/giumWY1zknU?list=PL2999144D4771F20F

[Spydermn]

Does this Shug video help?
https://youtu.be/giumWY1zknU?list=PL2999144D4771F20F

Thanks Trailslug! That is exactly what I was thinking about using minus the sewn loop. Might be easier to just buy the webbing with the loop sewn in. I have a good bit of old climbing gear that I wouldn't trust to use for anything higher than a couple feet off the deck that might be perfect as well. Lots of old runners and webbing that probably don't have a lot of stretch.

After browsing the forums more I'm realizing that the most fun had is crafting and testing out what works for people individually. I'm digging the whole hammock experience and forums so far, very crafty, ingenious individuals that make it work with what is available. Creativity at its best!

[GadgetUK437]

My go-to straps are knotted, no issues here. Must get round to stitching them one day!

--
Gadget

[blackbishop351]

Stitching saves a bit of weight, bulk, and just looks cleaner. Other than that, there's no real functional difference between stitching and knotting. That is, assuming you can get a solid knot tied in your straps. The ones I use are fairly stiff, and the straps I've seen that aren't stiff are slick. Neither makes for an easy tie. But, YMMV.

BTW. If you don't sew but want stitched loops, let me know. You're local and I'd be happy to do it for you. Takes literally five minutes.

[kitsapcowboy]

This dude on YouTube has a video that shows how to hang your hammock using a plain webbing strap with a simple figure 8 on a bight tied in it...



From what I understand and have experienced, the figure 8 on a bight is very easy to tie, can be untied after being under significant load, and is considered relatively fail-safe by climbers, provided your rope or webbing takes the knot as BlackBishop cautions.

YMMV, so do your own research and try it at your own risk...

(When I am suspending myself, I always try to dress knots like this as perfectly as possible, which might help with eliminating potential for slippage/failure...)

http://www.climbingtechniques.org/fi...n-a-bight.html

[blackbishop351]

To second what kitsapcowboy said, load bearing knots are tricky. Especially with the Figure 8, dressing is very key - and even trickier to achieve when you're using a flat piece of webbing rather than a round cord.

[Spydermn]

BTW. If you don't sew but want stitched loops, let me know. You're local and I'd be happy to do it for you. Takes literally five minutes.

I really appreciate the advice and offer! I'm going to hold off on sewing the webbing for now and just use knots. I am really interested in learning how to sew from you possibly for designing a tarp in the future though! I'm actually in Shelby and not Charlotte. Don't know if that matters but I changed my profile in case you were closer to Charlotte.

[Spydermn]

This dude on YouTube has a video that shows how to hang your hammock using a plain webbing strap with a simple figure 8 on a bight tied in it...

From what I understand and have experienced, the figure 8 on a bight is very easy to tie, can be untied after being under significant load, and is considered relatively fail-safe by climbers, provided your rope or webbing takes the knot as BlackBishop cautions.

YMMV, so do your own research and try it at your own risk...

(When I am suspending myself, I always try to dress knots like this as perfectly as possible, which might help with eliminating potential for slippage/failure...)

Kitsapcowboy this is great information! I am comfortable tying figure eights as I learned to tie them over 30 years ago for climbing and have used them a lot. You aren't kidding about dressing knots correctly! Disclaimer - even with my experience with figure eights and other knots I'm an idjit in that I never considered using a figure eight to tie webbing. I had only used it in tying rope. What the gentleman used in the video is spot on, exactly what I was wanting to do, eliminate some of the weight from a carabiner in the suspension system. I am going to do what he did concerning the tree webbing and use the whoopee sling on a marlin spike for the rest. It's kind of funny that he ended up using a carabiner after saving the weight in the tree webbing. Perhaps it was just for instructional porpoises? Oh yes, I am fully aware of my misspelling of purposes on porpoise