Tired of HH fig. 8 hitch? Try a Becket Hitch wth a Hennessy

[BillyBob58]

Tired of messing with the HH hitch, but not ready to replace the rope with whoopies or a cinch buckle with straps? No problems, except I forgot to get pictures. Maybe tomorrow, or some one else can try it and get pics.

1: wrap straps around tree as you would do if you were going to use whoopies or Becket or J bend

2: put a figure 8 or Bowline knot in the HH rope. I chose a figure 8, and placed a small stick- aka toggle- through part of the knot before cinching it down tight, so I can undo it with ease after weighting it, even if I have to break the stick(or use a small biner rather than a stick). Which worked as always.

3: run the tree strap back through the hammock's new rope loop formed with the figure 8 or Bowline, adjust the hammock tension/height, and follow the steps from elsewhere for how to tie a Becket hitch. Done, and good to go. OR:

4: Put a Marlin Spike Hitch in the tree strap, run the HH rope loop through the MSH in the strap, then run a slippery loop of strap back through rope loop, IOW, follow the directions given elsewhere on how to tie a J Bend.

I did both, and for some reason kept having a hard time undoing it. J Bend is supposed to be easier to undo, isn't it? Any way, I went back to a Becket hitch, and it worked just fine, and was fairly easy to undo this morning.

Unless there is some reason not to tie the HH ropes into loops, this seems to work just fine.

[Phantom Grappler]

BillyBob, if you can, post some photos of your new suspensions. I’ve gravitated to suspensions that are easy to use. Ease of Use is important to me in set up and take down. I try to eliminate or minimize use of hardware and knots, and still get a suspension that levitates into the naposphere...

[cmoulder]

Two points about J-bend...

1 - J-bend, Becket etc work best when both CL and suspension are made of slippery material. Friction in the strap or HH rope might be the problem, depending on what they're made of.

2 - When releasing the J-bend, pull the tail straight toward the anchor point on the tree.

I'm not familiar at all with Hennessy and don't know if the rope is essential to the design. Will the hammock work with a simple CL? Is it possible to replace with Amsteel?

[BillyBob58]

BillyBob, if you can, post some photos of your new suspensions. I’ve gravitated to suspensions that are easy to use. Ease of Use is important to me in set up and take down. I try to eliminate or minimize use of hardware and knots, and still get a suspension that levitates into the naposphere...

I'll try to get some pictures today, but you can get the idea by just looking at any of the threads already here about Becket and J. bend. The only thing extra needed is knowing how to tie a Bowline or Figure 8 knot into the HH rope in order to now have a loop to run the tree strap through in order to tie the Becket.

Now I realize all ropes are de-rated by using a knot rather than something like a whoopie(can't remember what you call that). And it would be better- if you knew you wanted to go this way for good- to open up the end of the knot cover on the HH, remove the rope, and replace with an actual continuous loop. But this would just be for some one who wanted to experiment with Becket's for a while and did not want to do all of that change to their HH. I think the rope would still be strong enough using the figure 8 knot or Bowline unless you are a lot heavier than me(195-225). After all, I have been using the same 1/2" nylon soft straps with Bowlines added per manufacturer directions, that came with my Claytor hammock in 2007, and no problems so far.

Two points about J-bend...

1 - J-bend, Becket etc work best when both CL and suspension are made of slippery material. Friction in the strap or HH rope might be the problem, depending on what they're made of.

2 - When releasing the J-bend, pull the tail straight toward the anchor point on the tree.

I'm not familiar at all with Hennessy and don't know if the rope is essential to the design. Will the hammock work with a simple CL? Is it possible to replace with Amsteel?

I may have been doing something wrong with the J Bend, who knows. But I will try it with some different straps, the ones that I have been using with the Becket Hitch and J Bend on a 90* hammock. But it just occurred to me: that HH rope is not as slippery as the CL's(Amsteel?) on that 90* hammock. That is probably the problem!. I may need to insert another stick some place to make it easier to untie.

[Skytow]

Lately I've use the the Becket with the stock HH "rope" on the hammock. I simply use a standard tree strap and run the HH rope through the strap ends tying off with the Becket. Easy Peasy and, so far, it pulls right out.

Cheers,

JD

[BillyBob58]

BillyBob, if you can, post some photos of your new suspensions. I’ve gravitated to suspensions that are easy to use. Ease of Use is important to me in set up and take down. I try to eliminate or minimize use of hardware and knots, and still get a suspension that levitates into the naposphere...

Here you go:

1: figure 8 knot in the HH rope, if you blow it up you can probably see how the knot is tied. I would probably tie a bowline instead if I was going to use this routinely. Tree strap is to the left. ( I just did this real quick, be sure to check the Becket tutorials to make sure you tie the knot correctly, in case I made any error here. Maybe hang low until you are sure this will hold you )

2: tree strap through the newly formed hammock rope loop. Adjust tension and height on hammock. Stick added to the fig 8 knot is not needed, it simply makes it easier to untie the fig 8 knot if you don't like it or want to put it further out on the rope. You can even break the stick if needed. Or use an tiny aluminum toggle or UL non-load biner.


3: Form a loop with the tree strap:


4: come around the back of the rope and strap loop, and pass another strap loop(so that it will be "slippery" and "easy" to untie) through the first tree strap loop


5: Cinch 'er down, and make sure you can see the HH rope on the tree side of the knot. If this proves to be too difficult to untie, I may add a trail stick somewhere into this knot, a trick I have been using for many years to make sure I can untie. If the stick breaks, the knot just tightens up all the way and becomes hard to untie, it doesn't drop me. Actually, I don't think I have ever had 1 break, sort of like a toggle with whoopie slings.



Since I have not seen anyone who knows what they are doing using this trick with an HH, experiment with safety. Hang low enough, or with padding under you, as you experiment with it, so that you won't be hurt with a fall. Let me know if you see a mistake in that knot, or other reasons why this would be unsafe with the HH rope if that is the case. Held me fine the other night. (201 lbs right now)

[Country Roads]

I'll try to get some pictures today, but you can get the idea by just looking at any of the threads already here about Becket and J. bend. The only thing extra needed is knowing how to tie a Bowline or Figure 8 knot into the HH rope in order to now have a loop to run the tree strap through in order to tie the Becket.

Now I realize all ropes are de-rated by using a knot rather than something like a whoopie(can't remember what you call that). And it would be better- if you knew you wanted to go this way for good- to open up the end of the knot cover on the HH, remove the rope, and replace with an actual continuous loop. But this would just be for some one who wanted to experiment with Becket's for a while and did not want to do all of that change to their HH. I think the rope would still be strong enough using the figure 8 knot or Bowline unless you are a lot heavier than me(195-225). After all, I have been using the same 1/2" nylon soft straps with Bowlines added per manufacturer directions, that came with my Claytor hammock in 2007, and no problems so far.



I may have been doing something wrong with the J Bend, who knows. But I will try it with some different straps, the ones that I have been using with the Becket Hitch and J Bend on a 90* hammock. But it just occurred to me: that HH rope is not as slippery as the CL's(Amsteel?) on that 90* hammock. That is probably the problem!. I may need to insert another stick some place to make it easier to untie.

Go over to Jeff Myers Youtube page. He has some nice vids on the Becket and an easy way to get them to release easily. I also use his method on the J-bend. In short, either splice or larks-head a zing-it loop to your continuous loop and it can be used by pulling it one way the tail of your Becket or J-bend the other way. Works very well. His video is a way better explanation than my rambling.

[boothbot]

I've only ever used the Becket Hitch on my Hennessy, works great and never falters

[BillyBob58]

I've only ever used the Becket Hitch on my Hennessy, works great and never falters

Are you using the stock rope that comes on the HH, formed into a loop as described here? Or, have you replaced the stock suspension?

[boothbot]

Are you using the stock rope that comes on the HH, formed into a loop as described here? Or, have you replaced the stock suspension?

Stock rope. Just wrap the tree huggers round the tree, thread the rope through both ends, then tie the Becket Hitch