Hmmmmm - shock cord tensioners helpful with SilPoly?

[Cagouillard]

Hello all! Hope you got lots of hammocking gear for your Christmas. Hope you are all well. Thinking of joining the group hang at Grayson Highlands SP in VA next month.... At the very least I'll bring comic releif with all my noobity-ness. (Say that 3 times fast.)


So I got all excited and read through a good bit, but not all, of the thread below.
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...arp-Tensioners

I was thinking this might be a good idea. Then I hear SilPoly doesn't stretch or at least not as much as SilNylon... I have the Superior Gear (SG) 12' shelter/tarp that is made of .... SilPoly.

What prompted me to think of this is my crappy backyard 4X4 posts that sag when I put my 250 lbs in the hammock...everthing loosens up when I do that. (Of course that is another project started but not finished... warm weather will come soon. I hope to build a hammock deck this spring.)
But, for those of you that have done this, how well does it packup?

Do ya'll leave it on the tarp all the time?
Is this something I want to do?
What benefits, those of you who've added this, do you like most?

Thank you all in advance for any of your kind responses!

[cougarmeat]

Here are two reasons to use shock-cord with the guylines even if you are using non-stretch material.
1) If there's a strong wind, the stretch allows the tarp to deform a little to spill the wind load, then spring back into shape
2) If something - or someone - falls against the tarp or trips on a line, the stretch will absorb some of the stress, reducing potential damage.


There are all kinds of ways to make/attach the bungee tensioner. My latest idea is to make a short LashIt dog bone - maybe around 9 inches - and feed a single line of 5-inch long shock cord through the weave just below the loops; then tie a stopper knot (like a figure-8) on the bungee ends. The tightness of the LashIt weave - especially - when under tension - will keep the cord from slipping out. Remember, this is all theory.

I'd garth hitch the bungee and LashIt dogbone "limiter" to the tarp. The longer guylines would be separate (I have more than one tarp) and attach to the other end of the dogbone with a clip-on LineLoc. So my tarps wouldn't have to deal with attached guylines but they'd all have the bungee and dogbone loop for a clip-on LineLoc attachment.

[Cagouillard]

Absolutely Love that you are telling me a way to do it.... But, given my join date is May '22 my main reaction is ... Huh?

Parlez-Vous Anglais? but thanks! Really! I'm just cracking up. I've had similar experience explaining hover hold in the apache.... ya just drop a box and stay in it.... buddy said... ya gotta open the window for that?!?!?!


thnx cougarmeat.... gotta go pull my copy of 'Ultimate Hang" now....

Whatever makes you feel truly appreciated - I'm sending that too!

[JPCPAT]

I'll add #3 : if your Tarp does have some stretch. your guylines still stay tight.

I tie bungee cord into my 1.5 mm dyneema lines like Shug does here at 7:49 https://youtu.be/4GQPY5BuyPI , though I use about 4 inches of bungee cord that I put as close as I can into a to the stake end, where I've already tied the loop that goes over the stake.

The other end goes into a line lock hook that Dutch sells: https://dutchwaregear.com/product/line-lock-hook/ So I just pull to tension. I find the line I use holds well in the hook, but I do back it up with a slipped half hitch.

The hooks stay attacked to the gosgrain loops my tarp has, so I leave them, but you could remove them if you want.

[Alamosa]

The surgical tubing tensioners are another nice option that provide really good stretch, strength, and are very clean - Jeff's Homemade Gear (tothewoods.net)

[cougarmeat]

> But, given my join date is May '22 my main reaction is ... Huh?

Ah, the lingo, jargon, the capiche ...
Bungee and shock-cord: The same thing. Comes in different diameters. 1/8th inch is about as large as you'd need; nylon/polyester sheath with rubber cord (sometimes stranded, sometimes solid).
LashIt: LashIt and ZingIt are two brand names for woven cord that is usually used in 1.75mm and 2.2mm sizes: For the example above, I'd use 1.75mm.
Woven cord means that instead of tying knots, you weave the ends into the hollow center to make things; i.e. dogbones.
You will come across another cord referred to as Amsteel. It is LashIt and ZingIt's big brother. The usual diameter is 7/64th inch.

Dogbone: imagine two circles on a horizontal plane with a straight line connecting the two edges: O-O
You'd take a length of LashIt cord and weave a loop (YouTube is your friend) on each end. It's called a DogBone because the usual picture of a dogbone treat is a rectangular cookie with two bulges on each end; like a cartoon bone.

JPCPAT gave you a link to LineLocs. They are absolutely NOT necessary. But for each person, there's a balance between tying knots (like a taut line hitch) to adjust the length of a line and using some hardware - even if that "hard" ware is made out of plastic - where you adjust the line as it passes through something you can lock off.

imagine sweatpants with a drawstring. You can adjust the drawstring then tie a knot - like a bow - to hold it in place. Or you can put the two drawstrings through a plastic toggle that has a spring lock - Personal preference.

Leaving the guylines on the tarp all the time vs putting them on at setup. If I had only one tarp, I'd probably leave them on. But I have several tarps (spoiler alert - you will too) and I usually keep a guyline set separate from the tarp. There is no "right way". The only goal - and some would say this is too competitive - is to set up your hammock and tarp before your tent buddies get their shelter up. It isn't really fair because you can probably find two good trees before they can find a flat spot for their tent. But you want to camp with them. So your tree choices are sort of dictated by where they need to camp. Later, when you are "into it", you can look at a TensaOutdoors Solo Pole. The pole acts as one-half of a tree pair. So you don't need to find that golden, "... two trees about 12 ft apart with no brush between them and no foliage off to the side that would interfere with your tarp." Note: for a bridge hammock you'd probably want trees 15 ft apart.

[WV]

Some years at the Grayson hang it has gotten cold enough (around zero, I think) that some types of bungee colds have lost their stretch. Apparently there are different formulations of rubber, latex, and other elastic materials used for bungees, and some do better than others. There are "weather resistant" bungees advertised, but they may have more to do with the UV resistance of the covering materials.
These might be okay: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AAZ0RX4...d_plhdr=t&th=1

I have 1/8" bungee loops on my tarp - possibly from Dutch - that have performed okay, but it hasn't been that cold for the past few years. Don't sweat your tarp connections. Instead, look for a spot out of the wind, and concentrate on keeping yourself warm.

[cmoulder]

Hello all! Hope you got lots of hammocking gear for your Christmas. Hope you are all well. Thinking of joining the group hang at Grayson Highlands SP in VA next month.... At the very least I'll bring comic releif with all my noobity-ness. (Say that 3 times fast.)


So I got all excited and read through a good bit, but not all, of the thread below.
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...arp-Tensioners

I was thinking this might be a good idea. Then I hear SilPoly doesn't stretch or at least not as much as SilNylon... I have the Superior Gear (SG) 12' shelter/tarp that is made of .... SilPoly.

What prompted me to think of this is my crappy backyard 4X4 posts that sag when I put my 250 lbs in the hammock...everthing loosens up when I do that. (Of course that is another project started but not finished... warm weather will come soon. I hope to build a hammock deck this spring.)
But, for those of you that have done this, how well does it packup?

Do ya'll leave it on the tarp all the time?
Is this something I want to do?
What benefits, those of you who've added this, do you like most?

Thank you all in advance for any of your kind responses!

I don't use shock cords on the tarp but if I was going to I'd use the method you linked in your post because it is 1) simple and 2) works with slippery cord.

Silpoly doesn't stretch as much as silnylon, although it does stretch a little. However, with either material, if you wait a while after pitching it and re-tension — maybe twice with silnylon — it does eventually reach its limits and doesn't stretch more.

[Shug]

They have been my preference for years. Trees sometimes give a little when one one crawls in for a night of slumber.
You can see how to make one at 9 minutes into video below.
Enjoy the hammock quest.
Shug

[Cagouillard]

Thanks Shug... thought about PM'ng you but didnt want to bother... I hope you are coming back to High Point soon!