Becket Hitch - What Material?

[mathineer]

A while back I switched from using whoopie slings to polyester webbing and cinch buckles mainly because I can hang between trees that are closer together (the whoopie slings add at least a couple of feet on either end in addition to the length of the hammock. Anyway on a recent hang, the cinch buckle stripped out one of the webbing straps. I'm not sure what happened, but it was shredded. I'm looking to make a new set (sew loops into the end that goes round the tree) but put continuous loops in the hammock and tie to those with the Becket. For those of you that use that type of suspension, do you make them out of polyester webbing, mule tape, UHMWPE?? Ideally, I'll use the same strap to go around the tree, and tie the other end to the continuous loop.

kevin, the mathineer

[leiavoia]

Continuous loops are generally made from amsteel, but really you could make them from anything that can hold the weight. You can certainly make them from 1" webbing too.

My setup has off-the-shelf 1" polyester straps with a sewn eye on one end, tied to amsteel loops with an X-Bend.

[mathineer]

Continuous loops are generally made from amsteel, but really you could make them from anything that can hold the weight. You can certainly make them from 1" webbing too.

My setup has off-the-shelf 1" polyester straps with a sewn eye on one end, tied to amsteel loops with an X-Bend.

I don't mean the loop, I mean the webbing: polyester, mule tape, what?

[cmoulder]

Kevlar or poly webbing or Dutch poly/spider all hold well with basic Becket. With UHMWPE you might have to throw in an extra wrap or tie a stopper knot to prevent slippage. Also helps enormously to put a little pull loop on the CL to make releasing much easier.

[cmoulder]

Mule tape works but it snags on stuff and gets really ratty looking in short order. Any slippage can quickly shred it.

[u.willie]

I'd say cmoulder pretty well covered it.

fwiw, you can tie a bowline eye at one end of your 1" webbing (which ever type you decide on) instead of sewing an eye. The sewn eye is neater, but not a "have to". I've not tried the tied eye on any of the "slippery" webbing though, only poly and nylon - with which it worked just fine.

willin'

[Nodust]

I use kevlar tree straps and amsteel loops on hammock. Becket hitch is all I've used for 5 years now.

[leiavoia]

Depending on what material you go with, it might influence what knot you tie. There's more to life than Becket Hitches.

Becket Hitch - the standard go-to hammock knot. Not good for slippery stuff. Can bind hard when loaded. Can be reinforced with double becket hitch.

J-Bend - "Always works". Works with any kind of strap or loop. Easie to loosen and untie. Requires a bit of practice to aim it right.

Slipped Lapp Hitch - Exploding hitch. May not work on slippery stuff.

X-Bend - Very easy tie/untie. Works best with regular polyester strap.

[ibgary]

Mule tape works but it snags on stuff and gets really ratty looking in short order. Any slippage can quickly shred it.

I'll second that. I have a lot of mule tape, but just don't like it, so it sits unused.

Sent from my SM-T720 using Tapatalk

[mathineer]

Depending on what material you go with, it might influence what knot you tie. There's more to life than Becket Hitches.

Becket Hitch - the standard go-to hammock knot. Not good for slippery stuff. Can bind hard when loaded. Can be reinforced with double becket hitch.

J-Bend - "Always works". Works with any kind of strap or loop. Easie to loosen and untie. Requires a bit of practice to aim it right.

Slipped Lapp Hitch - Exploding hitch. May not work on slippery stuff.

X-Bend - Very easy tie/untie. Works best with regular polyester strap.

I watched one of Shug's videos where he showed the Becket and the J-Bend. From his videos it looked like the J-Bend didn't slide down as much as it tightened, but it did look like it might be a little bit harder to gauge where to tie.


kevin, the mathineer