Amsteel blue hardening and becoming not usable.

[bikegoddess]

Greetings, a few years ago I used information from this forum to help me set up a camping hammock for myself. I am using 7/64 amsteel blue for woppie slings. They have both begun to harden where the where the amsteel passes through itself. This makes unlocking them very difficult. I can and will replace these in the near future but is there something I did wrong? They've likely gotten about a hundred uses which isn't too bad but I feel they should have lasted longer. Should I just but 1/8 this time?

[ibgary]

Mine haven't gotten hard. Actually more the opposite, getting soft. About a yr ago I changed setups and no longer use the amsteel except as a loop on the end of the hammock. Did you try washing them?
Now I just hook the loop to the sling on the foot end and use zing-it on the head end to make adjustments.

Sent from my couch

[bikegoddess]

I've never thought of cleaning a rope. Strange. .

[bonsaihiker]

I've been using 7/64 whoopie slings since the first Amsteel group buy. That was what, 10 years ago or so? Never had the rope harden permanently. It will harden under load due to the coating but loosens up with a bit of massage. The coating does wear off with time so the weave actually loosens the more it is used. Are you by chance always hanging in the same location so that you never need to change the length of the sling? If so, that might require a longer massage, maybe starting with some wine and soft music...LOL

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[Bubba]

I’ve had the same experience as the other in that my Amstel has gotten a little softer as time and usage has worn of the coating in places.

[born2climb]

Are you hanging on conifers? The sap/resin of conifers tends to get into the fibers and cause hardening. Some of my 3/4" rigging whoopies get to the point they are no longer adjustable if subjected to too much sap.

[WV]

That's a good question. I have some that have behaved the same way, and I just push the loose end of the bury a little harder to make the whole thing loosen up and pull a little harder on the line sliding through, but it's not a great solution. I have a feeling it's not caused by one end tightening up, but rather the other end getting so slack that the braid doesn't transmit the effort down to the other end of the bury. Warning: this is an extreme case of "SWAG" (scientific-wild-***-guess). At the risk of a multi-swag answer, try washing the entire whoopie sling in warm, soapy water. Rinse well and let dry before testing again.

[chapinb]

Amsteel gets softer with use generally, even at the apex where it repeatedly sits on a biner or loop.
But I have seen substantial hardening in one particular case. Was a new loop that I was testing various hardware free hanging options. New knots, different suspension options, ect.
When I was hanging amsteel to amsteel, many normal knots that work with webbing would tighten then slip fairly violently at some point. This type of high pressure slipping caused the rope to look kind of melted at the apex of the loop. It certinally made the rope hard, more slippery and more difficult to tie.
My line was brand new, fresh off the reel the night before so dirt wasn't an issue. It could have been that slick coating in fresh amsteel, that's probably more likely then the amsteel actually deforming. Manipulation with hands did not soften the hard spot.
Maybe the pressure and friction is enough to cause plastic deformation?

Ps amsteel to amsteel is fine, just requires more care and perhaps a different knot then a plain beckett. Don't want to imply it's a bad method. I was experimenting with the new knots that were rapidly becoming options at the time and expected most to fail in this situation. This type of abuse would not be real case use in the field.

[bikegoddess]

I somehow forgot my plan was to do a local camping trip again tonight, so I forgot to actually clean the woopies as suggested. I've tried working the hard spots loose but I'll try that again with a little more effort but I want to use it tonight. As far as trees I've hung on I've not even thought of mentally keeping track. I use it while bike touring for which I have the goal of hitting all the US states before going international. Two years ago I did 7 New England states in two weeks, one night I couldn't find a place, I ended up seting up on the ground of a fire station as there were no trees. The suspension system stayed in my panier that night though. So all types of trees all over the place once on the ground. Thanks for the reassurances ie. I'm not the only one to experience this.

Edit: forgot to mention I also always completly reset the woopies to full length sometimes when I set up they are long and other times short. I like wine though. Of course I likely should mention I usually sleep with me Ka bar just incase a pass isn't wanted.