Tyvek Hammock: taking bets

**Pitch** · 10-16-2009, 15:56

Originally Posted by JohnSawyer

RE: Pair of tyvek hammocks for sleepouts:

From a durability standpoint, I'd expect the whipping to slide off the end before the material failed.

I've made bivy sacks from 3' wide tyvek and double-sided carpet tape with good results... Tyvek is amazing stuff...

A big X 2 on that one...

Tyvek is amazing. I'm not sure if it has UV stabilizers in it but that would be the only thing I could imaging harming it w/ respect to this application.

Do measure it before and after though - I think it may stretch a lil bit initially.

**Captn** · 10-19-2009, 20:08

Originally Posted by oldgringo

^^^Failed how? Did the knot pull out?

Sorry ... been out camping or working!

The material ripped .... it's not ripstop, that's for sure.

It ripped about 1 inch from the knot.

**JohnSawyer** · 10-19-2009, 21:39

Wow,

the Tyvek ripped...

Now I have to go question everything I know to be true about the universe...

**MacEntyre** · 10-20-2009, 03:49

If you put a piece of masking tape on Tyvek, then rip it off, you will see that a layer of fiber is removed. There is no shear strength in Tyvek.

- MacEntyre

**oldgringo** · 10-20-2009, 04:52

Originally Posted by JohnSawyer

Wow,

the Tyvek ripped...

Now I have to go question everything I know to be true about the universe...

You just can't believe everything you know.

**Grid Runner Adventures** · 10-26-2009, 11:04

I am surprised that the tyvek didn't work well, I sew tyvek sails for my sailing canoe and such and havn't had one blow out in the severe winds I've sailed in.

**Gary from Yonkers** · 11-01-2009, 22:53

Perhaps a double layer might be a bit more resilient?

**KerMegan** · 11-02-2009, 09:05

Originally Posted by Grid Runner Adventures

I am surprised that the tyvek didn't work well, I sew tyvek sails for my sailing canoe and such and havn't had one blow out in the severe winds I've sailed in.

Might that be the difference between peak load and sustained load? just thinking out loud..KM

**MacEntyre** · 11-02-2009, 12:12

Point loads are the problem. Sails have huge gussets for distributing corner loads. Perhaps that is the key with a Tyvek hammock.

**Captn** · 11-02-2009, 20:42

I would think that gussets made out of ripstop, laminated to the Tyvek, in peak load areas would go a long way.

Tyvek is great until you get a stress riser in it ... a nick on a side, for example .... There's where the tear will propagate from.