Monolite Carnage

**MikekiM** · 09-15-2019, 18:26

Out this weekend for an overnighter.. with a little under ten miles done, most of which was in the rain, we made camp with the intention to do another 10-ish on Sunday.

Set up everything, had a bite to eat and since it was still early (EARLY!) I got the urge to take an afternoon nap.

No sooner did I ease my butt into the hammock, and.... Riiiiippppp! Down I go.

Total and catastrophic failure of the Monolite hammock.

I made this hammock a few months back.. Right when this fabric/netting was first launched. Prior to this one I had made about five hammocks so this wasn't my first rodeo. I didn't plop, hop or otherwise drop into it... I never do. It had about fifteen trail nights on it and a few more in the back yard. It showed no signs of distress or damage.. it lust failed in the middle and the rupture went right up to the side seams.

Immediately packed up everything, snapped a few pictures and was ready to hike out.. Fortunately we had met a few other hangers at camp, and were under two miles from where they parked. One of them had a spare hammock so I hiked out to their car and back, salvaging the trip. The hammock... Not so much. It's trash.

The upside is I got to try 1.0 Hexon for the first time and liked it quite a bit.

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**HandyRandy** · 09-15-2019, 18:57

Dang! Were you wearing any clothing that has any hardware? I don’t wear any clothes with metal or hard plastic bits anymore because I worry it will damage the fabric, especially if they themselves get damaged and develop sharp edges or burrs. Also empty your pockets of hardware too.

**TrailSlug** · 09-15-2019, 19:01

Wow, that was a very very nice jester for someone to hike out to get you a loaner hammock. Was this a total stranger?

**HandyRandy** · 09-15-2019, 19:13

Originally Posted by TrailSlug

Wow, that was a very very nice jester for someone to hike out to get you a loaner hammock. Was this a total stranger?

Originally Posted by MikekiM

One of them had a spare hammock so I hiked out to their car and back, salvaging the trip. The hammock... Not so much. It's trash

Sounds like he went and got it from their vehicle. I wonder if and how he managed to return it to the owner though! BTW, it’s not necessarily “trash”. Could make a ridgeline organizer, stuff sack, tarp sleeve, or whatever out of the remnants!

**Heavyhiker** · 09-15-2019, 19:33

Ouch! Sorry to hear about the failure. I was actually out in my backyard today testing an UQ since you can see through the hammock. Haven't seen any signs of failure, but since I got my fabric right around when it launched as well, I am going to be extra careful for a while

**Shug** · 09-15-2019, 21:39

That is a bummer.
Save weight elsewhere but not in your sleeping rig.

Shug

**MO-Camper** · 09-15-2019, 21:47

That’s a bummer, I just picked up 7yds of that stuff to make my daughters’s enclosed hammock with and I’ve sold two others made with it in the past. She doesn’t weigh much, but maybe I should just use it for a couple hammock nets and buy some normal fabric for the body? Glad you didn’t get injured and thanks for the heads up.

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**MAD777** · 09-15-2019, 22:53

MikekiM how close are you to the rated weight of Monolite, if you don't mind my asking?
I ask because I made two for the wife & me. We use them only as summer yard hammocks because I'm very near to the 200 mark.
They are quite breathable on a hot afternoon. Sorry to hear that yours got too breathable!

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**SilvrSurfr** · 09-16-2019, 00:39

My days of using 1.0 fabrics are long over - disposable hammocks just aren't my thing. Glad I'm not part of the MonoLite experiment!

**MikekiM** · 09-16-2019, 05:07

Originally Posted by HandyRandy

Dang! Were you wearing any clothing that has any hardware? I don’t wear any clothes with metal or hard plastic bits anymore because I worry it will damage the fabric, especially if they themselves get damaged and develop sharp edges or burrs. Also empty your pockets of hardware too.

Nothing in my pockets.. back pockets on my shorts are velcro closure. Front pockets were empty other than my flat wallet with ID.

Originally Posted by TrailSlug

Wow, that was a very very nice jester for someone to hike out to get you a loaner hammock. Was this a total stranger?

Me and my hiking partner went out to get it.. The gent who lent it to me is someone I know well..

Originally Posted by HandyRandy

Sounds like he went and got it from their vehicle. I wonder if and how he managed to return it to the owner though! BTW, it’s not necessarily “trash”. Could make a ridgeline organizer, stuff sack, tarp sleeve, or whatever out of the remnants!

The fabric will be re-purposed.. but as a hammock.. it's a gonner.

Originally Posted by Heavyhiker

Ouch! Sorry to hear about the failure. I was actually out in my backyard today testing an UQ since you can see through the hammock. Haven't seen any signs of failure, but since I got my fabric right around when it launched as well, I am going to be extra careful for a while

Can't say more than I have. I am not suggesting issues with the fabric, make of this experience what you will. Freak failure or what.. I don't know.

Originally Posted by Shug

That is a bummer.
Save weight elsewhere but not in your sleeping rig.

Shug

True that Shug.. but I have to say.. after seeing a much heavier person bouncing it, I was pretty confident it would work well... until it didn't!!

Gotta say, it's really comfortable for hammock fabric as long as is stays a hammock.

Originally Posted by MO-Camper

That’s a bummer, I just picked up 7yds of that stuff to make my daughters’s enclosed hammock with and I’ve sold two others made with it in the past. She doesn’t weigh much, but maybe I should just use it for a couple hammock nets and buy some normal fabric for the body? Glad you didn’t get injured and thanks for the heads up.

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You can see the rock that was just to my starboard when in the hammock.. There was a second one, much larger right behind it. Could have been problematic. I did mention to my hiking partner, I wished I had hung a little higher. Now, glad I didn't.

Originally Posted by MAD777

MikekiM how close are you to the rated weight of Monolite, if you don't mind my asking?
I ask because I made two for the wife & me. We use them only as summer yard hammocks because I'm very near to the 200 mark.
They are quite breathable on a hot afternoon. Sorry to hear that yours got too breathable!

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No worries.. I am between 195 & 200 depending on the day.

Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr

My days of using 1.0 fabrics are long over - disposable hammocks just aren't my thing. Glad I'm not part of the MonoLite experiment!

I had just finished a second 1.6 Hyper D, which is my favorite fabric. I use a zippered Half Wit style bug net that is interchangeable between all of my hammocks and the net was on the Monolite. I packed late Friday night and didn't want to swap the net.. otherwise, I wouldn't have brought the Monolite.

As far the experiment.. someone has to do these things.