1/4” Amsteel suspension?

**SCReddog** · 12-17-2017, 13:50

Grizz videos have drawn me down the splicing rabbit hole. Is there any problem, other than the weight penalty, with using 1/4” amsteel to make whoopies ridgelines etc? Bad eyesight and fumble fingers make the 1/4” stuff easier for me to use plus I get an enormous safety factor built in as a bonus. Am I wrong? If I lose my glasses on the trail I am so farsighted that I won’t be able to even untangle 7/64 whoopies, guylines or whatever much less make repairs or adjustments. For a few more grams I’ll take the stuff I can see. Educate me if I am crazy please.

**johnspenn** · 12-17-2017, 14:10

I don't see any problems with it. Super easy to splice and super strong, and still relatively lightweight. Go for it!

**pgibson** · 12-17-2017, 17:31

Do you really need to go all the way to 1/4? Nothing wrong with it if you do. It will have more bulk and weight than 7/64 that most use but 1/8th is common enough and what was the standard at first for Whoopies. If you go up to 1/8th just be sure to adjust your bury lengths...they will be much longer than what’s needed in the smaller sizes.

**drifter** · 12-17-2017, 18:23

I use 1/4 inch, it's only .015 of an inch (that's 5 hair's) more than the 7/64.

**swoody126** · 12-17-2017, 19:10

about 3x the $ (<$.30 to $.90/foot)

7/64" - 1,600# breaking strength

1/4" - 8,600# breaking strength

sw

**Rain Man** · 12-17-2017, 23:02

The next step up from 7/64ths is 1/8th. Did you mean 1/8th instead of 1/4th, perhaps?

Nevertheless, the biggest "con" for larger sizes IMHO is the size, the room they take up in my pack.

**jcksparow** · 12-17-2017, 23:21

All depends on how you're using it, I suppose. I made a couple CL's out of 3/16" amsteel because I figured it was only a bit larger than 1/8"--but with it doubled up in the buries, the end result was bulkier than I'd been hoping. If using 1/4" amsteel, plan on having long buries (upwards of 10" I would think) that are about 1/2" in diameter.

**GrizzlyAdams** · 12-17-2017, 23:38

pgibson makes a good point. If you go from 1/8" diameter to 1/4" diameter you'll need to double the length of the buries (between the parentheses math....the length of a bury is recommended to be be some number of 'fids' (maybe 2 fids?), a 'fid' is 21 times the diameter of the rope, so double the diameter and you should double the length of the bury.).

My buries on 1/8" diameter cord are about 6". So increasing the diameter to 1/4" will add about 6" to each bury and increase the minimum distance between trees, by about 2 ft. (On a whoopie sling you have the bury that grabs and the bury for the fixed loop, so the minimum length on each side increases by 12".)

Your safety factor due to breaking cord won't increase though, 1/8" amsteel is so strong that something else in the suspension is the weak point that will drop you first, maybe webbing, maybe the hammock body. Not the cord!

Have at it and hang your own hang!