View Full Version : Help with my new hammock!!
Hi!
I recently was given a hammock, which was found in a charity shop at the bargain price of 3 quid!!
Anywho, its not one I've heard of, the writing on the stuff sack is all in french, and it appears to be made in china, I think ('Fabrique en Chine'???). I think its this one on this site (http://www.maisonduhamac.com/ProduitsDetail.asp?Section=12&SousSection=110&NoProduit=110A)
Anyone experienced this hammock before? From looking at the web site it looks like a hammock you would use with a stand, however I don't have the stand and wouldn't want to carry a heavy metal stand when going camping... But I was wondering if I were to fix some webbing straps to each end, if it would hold my weight all night when tied to two trees...? What do you think?
The end of each end is a metal ring with the cord going from the ring to the hammock fabric. You can see the metal rings on the pic on the site if you look closely (sorry couldn't work out how to upload pics of the hammock).
Any views?
Dan
Im using a similar type of nylon cord hammock. They do work and you can either use cord (paracord) or webbing to attach to the two connectors.
I have three issues with them though.
1) they are narrow. Hence not suitable for sleeping in if you turn around/move around anything. This can be my model only though.
2) the nylon cord when stretched a lot can very easily be cut by for example a button. I actually managed to sever 2 of them while just moving about and the cord got stuck on the plastic button on the back of my trousers.
3) Insulation is absolutely nil. Now. a normal fabric hammock won't exactly be the top of insulation but in this case you defiantely have absolutely 0.
Best tip is to try it out and see if it works for ya =)
Cheers for the tips!! I've layed the hammock out and it's seems pretty wide (1.5m by what it says on the stuff sack), so it may be ok in that respect!
I think webbing straps would be the most strong and secure option, however not sure what the best setup/knots would be? I guess I need one permanent knot for the initial securing of the straps to the metal rings, and then a good knot for securing to the tree.
Anyone got any suggestions?
For tying to the rings use a larksfoot/barrel hitch, and have two "tails" to tie to the tree with.
Fold the rope in half and pass the loop you will make through the ring, then put the "tails" through the loop leaving two lengths to tie on with. It depends on the thickness of trees as to what knot you use, but make the ropes too long rather than too short, I find taking a couple of turns round the trunk or branch stops it slippping. There have been a couple of threads about this already try, a search, you may find every body has their own way of doing things, experiment but be carefull incase you suddenly get dropped! I tried out a couple of ways diagonally across the kids bunk beds!
RE: attaching the cords.
I would go for a figure of eight to attach the straps to the rings.
For the straps to the trees, have you seen how Ray Mears does it?
IIRC, he uses a slippery figure of eight on one end and a taut line hitch on the other.
Hope that helps.
innocent bystander
04-06-2005, 23:02
RE: attaching the cords.
I would go for a figure of eight to attach the straps to the rings.
For the straps to the trees, have you seen how Ray Mears does it?
IIRC, he uses a slippery figure of eight on one end and a taut line hitch on the other.
Hope that helps.
The destructions for doing "his" knot's are here :
http://www.pyramidbodyguards.co.uk/raymears/hintsandtips.asp
They are quite useful knots, either way...
Cheers guys for the knots tips! I'll try some of them out!
The destructions for doing "his" knot's are here :
http://www.pyramidbodyguards.co.uk/raymears/hintsandtips.asp
They are quite useful knots, either way...
destructions?? Sounds like dangerous knots to me ;) ... Cheers, I'll have a look!
The destructions for doing "his" knot's are here :
http://www.pyramidbodyguards.co.uk/raymears/hintsandtips.asp
They are quite useful knots, either way...
They certainly are useful, and although the second one shown wasn't the one I was thinking of, it'll work perfectly well.
Good link!