DIY Heavy duty mule tape bark friendly tree strap and suspension all in one

[onetearless]

I think MR TREE is awesome. I want him to have a funny slow motion tree voice and a tag line.

[Jeff Myers]

I think MR TREE is awesome. I want him to have a funny slow motion tree voice and a tag line.

He is a pretty nice guy ! His secret identity must not be revealed.

[syc]

You just cluttering my thread at this point as you go on and on trying to re iterate your point. You do not understand the benefit of my straps , I get it. I think we can move on from that.

I've been thinking about redoing my suspension and your argument makes sense to me. Maybe if I put it in terms of 2 analogies you can tell me if it's the same as what you are saying?
The "armor" is pretty much like putting on a pair of gloves when moving lots of heavy, hard stuff around. Whatever you are moving grinds against the gloves, but the gloves are free to slide over your skin so that it doesn't tear up your hands. In this case the "hands" being protected are both the bark and the mule tape.

For the more compliant strap, it's like tires on a mountain bike. If you have 2" tires on your bike and pumped them up rock hard, you would find that when you got on the bike, the area of the tire that contacted the ground is very small because the tire is rock hard and you would have crappy traction, with the tires breaking free and throwing dirt everywhere. But if you had a 1.5" tire and only put in something like 20psi the tire would deform once you put weight on it and have a much larger contact patch with the ground - despite being only .75% of the width of the 2" tire. It would have a soft, wide grip on the ground and not break free as often.

[tangara]

Where you're making your error is in wrapping the webbing around the tree at an angle. Regardless of how the tree leans, you wrap the tree strap around the smallest diameter to cause the least amount of damage. I gotta say I'm in the window dressing camp. You still have 3/4" of pressure on the tree. Think of it this way: if you put the mule tape in a piece of webbing that is 4" wide. The pressure is only going to be on the 3/4" of mule tape.

[Jeff Myers]

I've been thinking about redoing my suspension and your argument makes sense to me. Maybe if I put it in terms of 2 analogies you can tell me if it's the same as what you are saying?
The "armor" is pretty much like putting on a pair of gloves when moving lots of heavy, hard stuff around. Whatever you are moving grinds against the gloves, but the gloves are free to slide over your skin so that it doesn't tear up your hands. In this case the "hands" being protected are both the bark and the mule tape.

For the more compliant strap, it's like tires on a mountain bike. If you have 2" tires on your bike and pumped them up rock hard, you would find that when you got on the bike, the area of the tire that contacted the ground is very small because the tire is rock hard and you would have crappy traction, with the tires breaking free and throwing dirt everywhere. But if you had a 1.5" tire and only put in something like 20psi the tire would deform once you put weight on it and have a much larger contact patch with the ground - despite being only .75% of the width of the 2" tire. It would have a soft, wide grip on the ground and not break free as often.

Pretty close. Thanks taking the time to think out of the box. The thickness of the straps also fills small voids on the tree surface where the thin 1 inch stuff collapses. I like the mtn bike tire analogy.

[Hammonkey]

You just cluttering my thread at this point as you go on and on trying to re iterate your point. You do not understand the benefit of my straps , I get it. I think we can move on from that.

This isn't "YOUR THREAD" this is a discussion that you started on a public forum. It's all of ours. If you don't like that people disagree with you then you probably arent ready to be posting on a public forum. As far as your straps go, he understands the benefit YOU think it provides, but like myself does not see it as a benefit at all. Your youtube video did little to convince me otherwise.

Damage to trees when hammocking doesn't come from the webbing sliding around and sawing off bark. I've never ever had my webbing shift or even move in the slightest when hanging. When I set up my webbing, I put it where I want it and cinch it down and it stays in place until I move it myself. The damage to trees comes from the webbing digging into the bark due to too much pressure being put on too little a surface area. No amount of "armor" webbing is going to change the fact that all the pressure is being put on the 3/4" mule tape. The armor will still deform and it'll still cut into the tree because nothing has been done to change the fact that the load bearing pressure is still only being applied to 3/4".

[Jeff Myers]

This isn't "YOUR THREAD" this is a discussion that you started on a public forum. It's all of ours. If you don't like that people disagree with you then you probably arent ready to be posting on a public forum. As far as your straps go, he understands the benefit YOU think it provides, but like myself does not see it as a benefit at all. Your youtube video did little to convince me otherwise.

Damage to trees when hammocking doesn't come from the webbing sliding around and sawing off bark. I've never ever had my webbing shift or even move in the slightest when hanging. When I set up my webbing, I put it where I want it and cinch it down and it stays in place until I move it myself. The damage to trees comes from the webbing digging into the bark due to too much pressure being put on too little a surface area. No amount of "armor" webbing is going to change the fact that all the pressure is being put on the 3/4" mule tape. The armor will still deform and it'll still cut into the tree because nothing has been done to change the fact that the load bearing pressure is still only being applied to 3/4".

I can tell you are here to argue with me and carry on. Good luck to you

[Yukon]

Lets keep it civil please.

[Jeff Myers]

Lets keep it civil please.

I asked moderators to clean up the thread 2-3 times. I am happy to keep it civil of course. Just seems a little unfair to me when one guy is clearly operating just within site rules and typing 3 paragraphs essays knocking my efforts.

He does not like the idea and he does not understand the value of it , great. He has made his point , maybe he could move on.

How about we just clean up the thread of the back and forth between me and him?

[ocnlogan]

Just want to clear the air here.

I never intentionally "knocked" your efforts, and apologize if thats what you thought that I was doing. I have no ill feelings towards you, and certainly didn't think that anything here needed to be cleaned up. But if the mods want it cleaned, thats fine.

What I WAS doing, was trying to understand how these worked. I asked 2-3 times, and never got an answer changed my perspective or understanding. After that, you told me to leave, and I did.

My one "other motive" , is that I'm worried that if I can't understand these, then park rangers/etc will not be able to either. I'd hate for someone else hanging from something that they (park rangers/etc) might see as trying to cheat the system, influence where I can or can't hang in the future, or cause them to view others (me) that like to hammock camp negatively. Thats it.

I'm surprised that you think that I was operating "just within site rules". It is true that I disagree, but I was never trying to argumentative or attacking. I'll try to be more careful with my wording in the future. If the mods feel that I'm close to breaking any rules, I'd really like know (pm/email me please if thats the case), so I can adjust behavior in the future.

Also, for what its worth, I discovered recently that they do make 1" mule tape.

Carry on, happy trails, happy hanging, etc.