In an effort get as ultralight as I can, I was thinking of removing most of the hammock ropes and replacing with a 300lb rated spectracord. I just got a hummingbird single and love the 'soft biner' concept...thought the material could well be incorporated into the HH. Anyone have any feedback, maybe the spectracord doesn't hold up or something?
Last edited by nuknees; 08-25-2016 at 11:18. Reason: spelling
That will save you a few grams but won't be a huge difference. 300lbs is actually a pretty low rating for hammock suspension. The stock ropes on the Hennessy are 1600lb rated polyester rope. Most of the webbing used is well over 1000lb and even the amsteel whoopies are upwards of 1600lbs rated strength. A 200lb person in a hammock suspended at a very flat angle can create some pretty amazing static loads on the suspension. Add to that the dynamic load of someone "plopping" down in a hammock and they're surprisingly easy to snap.
The Expedition is a pretty heavy duty hammock to start with. If you're going to mod it maybe look at whoopie slings instead of cord. The best thing you can do to shave weight is just look at another hammock. The backpacker model weighs 13oz less than the Expedition.
Not many people are using 300 lb. rated cord for hammock suspension. Most are using at least 1000 lb. rated Dynaglide or 1600 lb. rated Amsteel 7/64.
Still, look around HF and you'll find the odd person who tries to hang on Zing-it 1.75 mm. Is it wise? I don't think so, and apparently many others think the same or we'd see 300 or 450 lb. rated hammock suspensions all over the place, even being sold by cottage vendors. We don't see any of that, which tells you something.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Good point!
Don't do it!
Cords are generally rated to 4-6 times the expected load in most situations because that's what complex math and engineering tells us is the range that the cord will need to be rated for to survive the unexpected force put on it in a shock situation.
You will probably never have a situation where you're going to shock your hammock cord, but what about that small chance that you are? If you don't have replacement cord on you then you'll be sleeping on the ground like a chump!
Check out the various a steel products. For example, dutchwaregear.com offers a steel in 25 foot lengths (did heaven tab, rope section). That stuff is very light and very strong.
My Expedition is modified. I cut the stock suspension line down very short and attached a light weight (but still very strong) caribiner to the line. Then I attached a length of mule tape to the tree huggers and I use a Marlin spike hitch with the biner as the spike... That modification is not appreciably liter than stock due to the biners, but it is easier to adjust the hang than the stock figure eight method.
If you want to cut the weight and have an easier setup, change to 8" continuous loops connected to woopie slings using Dutch's woopie hoops and a pair of tree huggers.
Reduced weight & bulk and easier to set up
Malo Periculosam Libertatem Quam Quietum Servitium
Re: my above post, that should be "amsteel" but autocorrect does what it will and I wasn't paying close enough attention to catch the error.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks