J-Bend vs Beckett Hitch

[tangara]

We just did a frozen butt hang, 16*, and set up after dark. Becket hitch was perfect and easy with frozen fingers. I love it with mule tape.

Just be careful with the becket and mule tape. I dropped myself on my butt last summer with mule tape and still can't figure out why. I almost always use a becket and have been using hammocks for decades, but that's the first it's failed on me. I don't know if I absent mindedly tied it wrong, or too short a tail, or if the mule tape was too slippery. I've been using mule tape for a few years, but added kevlar straps a couple years ago, so maybe that was the key. But I'm with you on the mule tape; very easy to work with.

[DuctTapeMessiah]

Just be careful with the becket and mule tape. I dropped myself on my butt last summer with mule tape and still can't figure out why. I almost always use a becket and have been using hammocks for decades, but that's the first it's failed on me. I don't know if I absent mindedly tied it wrong, or too short a tail, or if the mule tape was too slippery. I've been using mule tape for a few years, but added kevlar straps a couple years ago, so maybe that was the key. But I'm with you on the mule tape; very easy to work with.

I have a pretty good idea because I've done this before. I call it a false hitch. It happens when you cinch the hitch using the standing end (the end running to the strap or tree) of your Muletape. You have to cinch using the continuous loops. It will appear similar but will slip under load.


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[mountain_man_mike]

[QUOTE=DuctTapeMessiah;1727356] I call it a false hitch. QUOTE]

Sounds like something you would get in Las Vegas

[MikekiM]

The BH has been working ok. If I have to give the Kevlar a bit stiffer yank to untie it, no big deal. Overall, thinking averages instead of one-off situations, the BH is winning.

It did just occur to me that I could just as easily carry the whoopies instead of the dogbones to augment the Kevlar/Amsteel in a longer hang. No real weight penalty, but options are always good.


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[Country Roads]

I have tried the J-bend. I like it. I have used the Beckett, with 3.3 Kevlar straps, in my UL hammock kit, and I find that a pretty hard yank is required to release it. The J-bend is so darn easy! So far, it has held very well. This keeps my UL hammock weight, including, suspension (2-10 foot straps with no hardware), ridgeline/organizer, Knotty mods, and Tulle bug net, at less than 14 oz total.

[Theguywitheyebrows]

yes to all these things. the BH has dropped me mid-sleep and two seconds after laying. i am certain i tighten properly in order to ensure it isn't my doofy mistake, and i have had the strap from a BH dig lines into my crappy grandpa fingers that i felt for over a week from having to yank it out after my 220lb baby brother tried my hammock. the J-bend comes undone cakelike, but has to be untied to be readjusted to perfection. i find that i'm getting better and better at guessing where my MSHs for the CLs go so i almost never have to readjust, where as the BH pulls tight and ties right there handy and that can make the J-Bend seem cumbersome. i've had to hold my hammock setup with my teeth to retie and that can suck. i always have a second hammock setup with 5' straps, soft shackles, and ridiculously long WSs so that heavens forbid something crappy happens i have a secondary, and it can all be undone and used according to the calls of the hang at hand. i never use the BH for my hammock ever. bad back/knees/shoulders/hips were the reason for hammocking in the first place and i hate hurting, screw unexpectedly falling on my butt. i use the MSH and a biner sometimes, but not to hang me from [principles and all that]. im glad those of you that like and use it do, please continue and teach others the ways of the J-Bend; those of you that aren't into learning it, you already know it just tie it: a MSH where your CL should start, CL through, cinch MSH, strap tag end bight fed through CL loop, pull 'closed' and hang. thanks for all the love you guys!

[Heavyhiker]

I use the J-bend because it's just so easy to use and it has never failed me.

[BillyBob58]

I have been using the Becket Hitch recently as it was the recommended knot for the Hammocktent that I have been playing with more and more. But especially when hanging from my back yard stand, as I have difficulty getting things as high as needed with this hammock, I went ahead and tried something I had mentioned I think in another thread on this subject: a simple slippery 1/2 hitch backed up by another 1/2 hitch, the knot recommended by Claytor. Also have some biners clipped into the CLs of the hammocktent 90 for convenience, since weight is no object in my back yard or on day hikes. I 1/2 hitch to the biners. It could not be simpler and has worked flawlessly.

But as has been mentioned: if an adjustment is needed, it is probably really hard to beat whoopies. So reading about the use of the Marlin Spike hitch used with the J bend, using the strap as a toggle, has got me thinking: would this work with the traditional WSs and MSH? Instead of putting a toggle through the MSH, what if I just put a slippery loop of webbing through the MSH instead of a toggle? Would that give a good enough knot that would hold, to hang the WS on? I'm already in for the night or I would run out and try it.

[cmoulder]

As far as adjusting/readjusting, etc etc, to achieve correct height, I found that early in my hammock learning curve the tendency was nearly always toward hanging too low. I'm guessing that this is nearly universal, no?

So what I do now is to make sure when attaching tree straps to CLs that the hammock SRL comes out level with my neck, just below my chin. It always looks too high at first, but, when I sit on it, darn if it doesn't come out just about perfect when the system is loaded and everything is stretched, cinched, etc.

[Theguywitheyebrows]

I have been using the Becket Hitch recently as it was the recommended knot for the Hammocktent that I have been playing with more and more. But especially when hanging from my back yard stand, as I have difficulty getting things as high as needed with this hammock, I went ahead and tried something I had mentioned I think in another thread on this subject: a simple slippery 1/2 hitch backed up by another 1/2 hitch, the knot recommended by Claytor. Also have some biners clipped into the CLs of the hammocktent 90 for convenience, since weight is no object in my back yard or on day hikes. I 1/2 hitch to the biners. It could not be simpler and has worked flawlessly.

But as has been mentioned: if an adjustment is needed, it is probably really hard to beat whoopies. So reading about the use of the Marlin Spike hitch used with the J bend, using the strap as a toggle, has got me thinking: would this work with the traditional WSs and MSH? Instead of putting a toggle through the MSH, what if I just put a slippery loop of webbing through the MSH instead of a toggle? Would that give a good enough knot that would hold, to hang the WS on? I'm already in for the night or I would run out and try it.

i would super not try the strap-as-a-MSH-toggle, the MSH depends on the circumference of the toggle to create enough bend in the line that the loop can afford to lay on the knot and not the toggle, if you use a floppy toggle, it won't hold. i use three+ small sticks whenever i have to use deadwood just to make sure its enough. otherwise, i chop a live branch to about 4" and use that.