Knot School Dropout!

[Julie8]

I gotta face it. I just CAN NOT tie knots. I have watched the videos. Bless Shug and the rest for trying to teach me. I simply have a knot tying disability.

The good news is I have 3 teenage boys I - can pass my old gear to them and buy new stuff with lower guilt.

I am upgrading to a BB XLC and superFly with UQ and I am not sharing!
My goal is to be independent with my set up - no knots, no help from the kids.

From the videos I think the Dutchware looks intuitive and I can manage it better. Am I on the right track switching to hardware? (Weight is not my concern - I can still throw stuff in my kids packs without them catching on

Question is Exactly what hardware should I buy to set up my new rig, including tarp?
thank you!
Julie

[ZULUMASTER]

I'm a fan of the cinch buckles and webbing on my hammock suspension. Fast, easy and provides a lot of adjustment to dial in how you want your hammock to lay.

[nualle]

No advice, I'm afraid. Just: Brilliant first post. And welcome!

[BanjoPicker]

Before you give up, if you still want to learn some knots try this: only focus on one knot at a time. Don't try to learn them all at once. That can run them all together in your mind and get confusing. Just pick one knot, and tie it every day several times. Do this for a month, or however long it takes to tie that knot in your sleep. Then you can move on to another.

As you build up your "bag of knots", periodically practice them, so that you don't forget come camping-time. There is something very satisfying about being able to tie a proper knot, so it is worth putting in the effort if you still have the desire to try.

Hope this helps… good luck!

[gfortune]

Welcome Julie. If you are wanting to avoid knots entirely, you have to include some hardware (or a "soft shackle") somewhere in your suspension system.

The most straightforward and easiest to understand is a climbing rated carabiner (don't use the generic ones from the hardware store). Something like http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/fs_mini_carabiner.html works well (note the weight capacity rating, 22kN, on the carabiner). With a carabiner or two, you simple hook the loop on your tree huggers into the loop attachment point on your hammock and you're good to go. That doesn't give you a good way to adjust the length of your suspension to easily deal with different distances between trees.

To add adjustability to your suspension, cinch buckles/webbing was mentioned above, but I'm not very familiar with them. I'm working with whoopie slings instead. If you are using whoopie slings, you would attach the whoopie sling to the tree straps directly with a larks head (really easy to do) and then attach the hammock to the whoopie sling with the carabiner. A lighter option is to get whoopie slings from Dutch with a whoopie hook already installed into the adjustable loop. Here's a nice diagram showing the attachment points - http://theultimatehang.com/2012/04/the-whoopie-hook/ The whoopie hook or the carabiner both go in the same place and serve the same basic purpose.

[old creek]

I just started using Dutch's hooks and fleaz for my tarps and it looks good so far. I bought some zing it or lash it, cant remember which, but have not tried it yet. I am a big fan of braided masons twine and even with 30 bucks worth of zing it on hand cant bring myself to change. I will add that using the masons twine I finish with a half hitch to keep it from slipping, using zing it or lash it would might eliminate the need for that from my understanding.

creek

[SilvrSurfr]

The only knots I use are a larkshead, a marlin spike hitch, and a slippery half hitch. I suppose you could toss prusiks in there, but it's not really a knot you "tie" every time you go out. Other than that, I'm knot-free!

In the hammocking world, it is easy to go relatively knot-free. I use Dutch's hardware on my tarps, and rely on continuous loops, dogbones and soft shackles for almost everything else. I always carry a few of each item in case I need to make a connection somewhere.

[TominMN]

If you get your XLC with straps, you'll have a wide range of adjustment but it won't be the absolute lightest. There's always the opportunity to swap it out later and the straps will always be useful.

For the tarp, I see two simple options for the ridgeline:

1) separate 12' lines each spliced to a Stingerz from Dutch.

2) a CRL (continuous ridge line) with a light biner on one end, e.g. Dutch's ridge line biner, and a Stingerz on the other end. The two pieces of hardware each go around a tree and clip to the split rings. Center the tarp, and do the final tightening with the Stingerz. There are more complex CRLs but this could get you go if you want to try a CRL.

For the tie-outs, this is just like a lightweight tent. If you like reflective guylines, you can get some of that and do the tensioning with something as simple as Nite Ize Figure 9s (in the smallest size in aluminum.) You can make it more complicated/sophisticated, but that wouldn't be a bad start. The guylines can even be made removable using them if you want. Same with Dutch's Hook Worms. His tarp worms will do the job too and results in the guylines remaining attached to the tarp. Fleaz work too.

One more thing: a lot of folks like the Dutch Clip for securing the strap around the tree. Cooler, lighter, and a bit more expensive than using biners.

Now go hang!

[tommu56]

As a knot head (pun intended)
I suggest one knot unit you master it as others said
Keep a piece of rope on the end table when watching tv on the commercials practice practice

When you get better do it while watching the tv

good luck


tom

[Julie8]

Boom! This helps - thx