Strap length

[BigBill]

I was just wondering what length of straps most of you bring along?
I have 12 foot hammocks with continuous loops and straps of 12, 7 and 6 foot lengths. So far, the 6 footers have been adequate. I suppose the long hammocks give me more room to work with. In the few places that I hang, we don't have trees of huge girth and they are mostly numerous enough to find a pair that work well. As I want to expand my range to other areas I thought I'd enquire as to your experiences.

[cougarmeat]

If you come to the PNW, 15 ft straps would not be unreasonable. Not all trees are that large of course. But if too long, you just have some extra suspension webbing. If too short, you don’t have a hang.

I carry 8ft’ers on day hikes and more than once wished I had gone to 12 ft. You get to know the trees in your area.

[SilvrSurfr]

For many years I used 4 ft. tree straps, then switched to 3 fit. tree straps. Here in the Northeast, it is rare to encounter large girth, old growth trees, so short tree straps have worked for me. However, I switched to Beetle Buckle suspension with 12 ft. straps a few years ago, and appreciate the ability to master any span, basically.

[BigBill]

I'm thinking in regrowth areas, shorter straps would probably be ok, more mature forests or sparse areas I'd be apt to need longer ones.

[DrPhun]

A lot of people take 1 long strap and 1 short strap. It is rare to hang from 2 wide trees since the larger trees usually don’t have other large trees right next to them. The circumference of a tree is 3.14x the diameter so you need about 3’ of strap just to go around a 1’ diameter tree, or over 6’ for 2’ diameter tree. So I usually use a 10’ and a 6’ here in the NE.

[Phantom Grappler]

Two 15 foot straps here
If they prove to long, cumbersome, heavy, and not needed, I can always cut some of that length off.
Maybe just a foot or so off at a time, because once it’s gone—it’s gone.
I’m guessing most people can be just fine with 10 or 12 foot straps, or half that length, if a whoopie sling is used with strap.

If I’m hanging with friends, and am late to the party, sometimes it’s good to have long straps, so I can make use of trees near my friends, instead of going 75 yards away in search of perfectly spaced trees.

My straps go from tree to hammock, with no whoopie sling.

[rickgilbert7822]

thank you for sharing

[Semiuseless]

I have a LOT of adjustability in my setup. The hammock is 11ft. The whoppie slings are 2.5-5ft.

I have three straps - two @ 5ft, one @ 9ft. Mixing & matching offers a LOT of flexibility in terms of tree girth and total distance. I use a marline spike hitch & toggle to attach the suspension to the strap. So any "extra" strap length is trivial to let dangle.

[cmoulder]

Two 10' straps (Kevlar or Myerstech hybrid) suffice for me 99% of the time here in the NE. I also have a 3' Amsteel dogbone that covers the other 1%.

For other parts of the country I consult the natives before going there.

[gooless]

I carry two 2"x5' dyneema huggers for normal trees and two 1"x15' dyneema straps for whatever else comes along. I also carry spikes and custom short whoopies because I like to fiddle with them more than knots. Excessive but I enjoy challenging hangs.