yeah, those little things are a bit of a pain, great for something that doesn't get taken off often.Originally Posted by gmcttr
yeah, those little things are a bit of a pain, great for something that doesn't get taken off often.
uploadfromtaptalk1408191535541.jpg
I switched from the safety pin to using a small klemheist knot.
Sorry I'm late on this,
I find the "Improved Soft Shackle"(recomended) to be quite easy to work with, when the line is 7/64" or thicker.
I can attach and un-attach in the dark, even one handed. The standard "Soft Shackle" is not so easy though and defintely requires two hands.
Maybe it takes practice. I do have a lot of experience with them and can handle them in my sleep.
I tend to be around water a lot, usually salt water and find that the lighter metal connectors are usually made out of aluminum and will oxidize. Carbiners will get hard to work with in these conditions. Stainless steel is fine, but too heavy.
I suspect titanium would be fine, but an Amsteel shackle will be stronger for it's weight and I find them very durable.
I even have a 1/16" thick line version as my key ring for the past year. It shows no sign of wear and has never come apart accidentaly.
Soft shackles work well as drip breaks, as well as metal connectors anyway. But the best place for the drip protector is near the hammock anyway. I always have something hung on the ends of my hammock to take care of drips.
I have slept thrtough many hard rains and have never experienced the drip problems that others have had.
Like any connector, you should check that the shackle is attached correctly before you put weight on it. I once didn't check mine and probably didn't pull the loop fully over the diamond knot. I landed on my butt when I got in my hammock.
These kind of mistakes can be made with any connector if you don't check your work.
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
-- William James
From what I have seen on the internet there is a lot of confusion with respect to UCR's. There are some extremely good tutorials out there. They do however leave lots of ambiguity as demonstrated on this thread.
I can confirm that Marlow Dyneema 1.8mm throwline makes a really nice UCR. Just incase anybody was wondering.
I will try to get a video tutorial up that covers UCR's from a different perspective to avoid having to wade through loads of posts on here. Watch this space.
For you folks who have a less than satisfactory experience with the Utility Restrictor for Amsteel, the integrity of the restriction is due to the coefficient of friction between the "Sheath" and the "Bury".
The Sheath is pulled taut so that it constricts around the bury, and as long as the "Sheath" remains constricted and taut, with a proper bury it holds remarkably well. It is when the "Sheath" begins to relax and is not pulled taut that the "Bury" has less compression and constriction imposed by the "Sheath" and that is a problem.
This is very clear to those with a working knowledge of Amsteel. The bury needs to be 72 times the diameter of the Amsteel, and a proper bury incorporates a taper at the end of the bury. Since the Utility Constrictor does not incorporate a taper, another method must be devised to properly maintain the tautness of the "Sheath"
Prusik Knots, Magnus Hitches and the like have had some success with this, but each has it's own set of issues.
I have been using a Taut-Line Hitch and this can be used with good results to tension the "Sheath" on the UCR Hammock Suspension.
Amsteel 1/8-inch
So, you use the "Sheath" to make a loop towards the Hammock. Make 4-turns inside the loop as shown below:
Amsteel Taut Line Hitch 1.jpg
Now, go over the loop, and run the line under the "Bury" with 4-turns as shown below:
Amsteel Taut Line Hitch 2.jpg
Grasp the original loop and the existing "Tag End" and pull to tighten the turns, and dress it up snug.
Amsteel Taut Line Hitch 3.jpg
Finally, a Slippery Hitch is placed over the Amsteel line between the inner and outer loops and pulled tight. This just makes it easier to take apart, if used for attaching directly to the Tree Straps. If, for some reason the Slippery Hitch does not hold well for you, just eliminate it and use a loop knot (first half of a Square Knot) to cinch down and create enough tension to not allow the bury to slide through.
Amsteel Taut Line Hitch 4.jpg
Heck, you can even use this method for the suspension for the Tree Straps and be able to cinch the hammock to desired tautness and hang angle.
Taut Lines, 40-years of working jest fine for me.
Just something to experiment with...
Last edited by joe_guilbeau; 08-19-2015 at 15:36. Reason: Spell Checking are 90-degree re-orientation of images
the whole UCR thing seems pretty neat, but that extra line of amsteel doesn't weight enough (even with one on each end) for me to worry about it. though, my WS are like 23' or so each, so if i re-made them into UCRs i'd be able to hang at a ridiculous distance from the trees (not to mention my tree straps are 12' each). i dig the UCR idea though, i can't see why the same constriction that works for the whoopies wouldn't work for a standing 'sheath' with an eye buried on the end. i think it was like 9" for my whoopies, and i think i made them like 11" just so that i wouldn't have an issues, so if i make that tag end with an eye have a bury of about 11" then prussic the end onto itself....well...shoot.....looks like im gunna hafta re-rig my whoopies into UCRs....dagnabit, i never run out of DIY stuff with this forum to keep me on my toes. our systems just get better and better and better.
J-Bend HERE -> http://youtu.be/Rk-P-MVnMPk
J. Garcia
For Prusik's to hold well on Amsteel, they need to have a smaller diameter than the line that they are gripping, this holds for other types of rope as well which has been amply demonstrated in the climbing industry. Your idea of 11-inch buries is spot on.
Most of this is a non issue, however if you toss and turn in the hammock so that the suspension loads up and unloads, this can be an issue...it was for me once.
ok, so lemme make sure im on top before i start hacking at my fully functional WS: line at whatever length desired for the 'core' that claps to the tree straps with an eye buried, a 11" or so 'sheath' on that line with an eye that my 7/64 CLs at the gathered end of the hammock can clap to, maybe an eye on the end of that so the constrictor can't slip off. so ill end up with a like 20' 'dog bone' with a 'sheath' with an eye for me to connect to, right? i can see something like that in my mind's eye. would a series of half hitches hold the constrictor better than a prussic considering the lines will be the same size? it seems that Joe is the technical whiz for this thread....
EDIT: i could do some half hitches and the sew the tail end to itself to ensure they never came undone....eh??
J-Bend HERE -> http://youtu.be/Rk-P-MVnMPk
J. Garcia
Not hardly, but I'll be your Huckleberry... so, here we go.
If you have a gathered end hammock or an end channel (my preference) do and end-splice bury in your Amsteel and run it through the channels, make it long enough. This is your "Bury", so no need to anything else to it but to heat the ends.
For the "Sheath" there is a consideration that must be taken into account for trees that are very close together, but that is another thread altogether!
So, if you use an aluminum toggle, an easy method is to put an End-splice to the toggle (you can use a 5-inch bury and do a bit of stitching to keep the integrity). With that loop, you can Larks-head the loop over and around each end of the toggle. I use sailing Dogbones for this, cause they are rated at about 4,000 lbs.
Run 12-inches of the "Bury" thru the "Sheath", leave enough of the "Sheath" to have a way to keep tension, so that no slippage will occur.
Post #155 above shows how I have used a modified taut-line to accomplish this. There are many other methods that have been suggested, and the Distal Hitch is a very nice and clean way to do this.
Pretty simple and easy enough to accomplish. Just tidy up the unused "Bury" in a Figure-8 wrap and tie it off.
I think that would be a nice looking UCR.
Last edited by joe_guilbeau; 08-20-2015 at 10:25.
I'm not fully grasping what your asking but I'll try to help.
You have two lines. One really long one. One end goes to the tree, the other dangles and gets finished with a backsplice.
Your other piece is the part that seems seems to throw people. I cut off about a 3' piece to start with. I'll start by splicing a fixed eye on one end. This will be the eye that connects to your hammock via whoopie hook by Dutch or what have you. I use his hooks so I only make a 2" eye.
Now the bury I had experimented with dynaglide and 7/64" amsteel. I found even a 12" bury would slip over night with the amsteel.
For 7/64" amsteel, I have been using an 18" finished bury with no slippage. Any shorter and it slips over night on me.
Now to the top end, the one you'll need to tie. The method I showed where I tie the prusik at the end, even with thatt backsplice right up to the knot, it would constantly loosen up on me. I saw where someone on here spliced a fixed eye first, wrap the prusik around the long line, the splice in your bury (the finger trap portion) and tried that when I changed out my lines from wear and tear. I like that way much much better. I have yet had it loosen up on me.
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