Sun fading and hammock integrity

[JollyRoger70]

So I love my Ridge Runner, but I’ve tended to leave it set up too much in my screen room, and I’m starting to get faded spots. I’ve shared pictures with Warbonnet, and they confirmed that it looked like sun fading, no big deal on the non-weight-bearing areas. I do have some on the bed fabric, though not the webbing. It is not my belief that this represents any manufacturing defect, just the hammock spending a lot of time outside. I slept in it for about three weeks straight last summer, as well.

So my question for the collective brain trust, as I don’t think it’s fair to ask the vendor, is how worried should I be about a catastrophic failure? That is, have people experienced this sort of fading as a warning about incipient disaster? It’s a double-layer, and the bottom layer doesn’t seem to have any fading.

I know in the long term I will need to buy a new one, and quit leaving it set up in the screen room, but I’d like to hold off the purchase for a little while if I can do so safely.

Thanks for your feedback.




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[TominMN]

The material has probably degraded a bit. That said, if it was mine, and the fact that it's double layer, I wouldn't worry much.


This is where many folks used to pipe in with "You're gonna die!!!."

or "Don't hang higher that you're willing to fall." Of course, the latter always applies!

[JollyRoger70]

I *definitely* never hang higher than I’m willing to fall. I’d rather not fall, though :-).


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[richtorfla]

My blackbird has faded spots like that. Mine could be it's age and storage. I have my camping stuff in metal storage lockers in a non temperature controlled environment. So, heat and humidity play a factor. My son used it a couple of times with no issues. Fabric still seems strong. K did spray it with Martin's permethrin a few times. So far discoloration hasn't been an issue. It is vintage 2010 which I can't believe ive had it that long! Old shug video got me to get one. So just keep an eye on it. My tarp discolored also but it still keeps the rain off. Good luck !

[JollyRoger70]

That’s good to hear — mine is about 2 1/2 years old, but I’ve had it in heavy rotation for most of that time. The fabric doesn’t feel weakened, or show an uneven surface.

My thinking is that sun damage to the dye, and sun damage to the actual fibers, might not be the same thing, and your story seems to support that somewhat.


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[cougarmeat]

If you are just using it for night sleeping, you can buy something like a Bliss SunShade - a snakeskin for the hammock - and cover it when not in use. The downside is you'll have to be careful you sent the spreader bars correctly each time you put it up.

If you sleep in it every night the statistics aren't good that some mistakes won't happen. Things wear out. I'd be so happy if I use my hammock so much that the material started to weaken. But you are right to worry about UV damage. I had a cheap blue tarp covering one of my kayaks for the summer. The tarp just pulled apart at the end of the summer.

[iceman857]

I work for a textile company and can tell you that's a common outcome for a lot of the materials we use in hammocking. The product my company makes (Sunbrella) is a solution-dyed acrylic material, which allows it to maintain the color, whereas these fabrics are likely dyed via a different method and so the color only exists on the outside of the fiber. That means probably nothing for your situation, but I doubt that it degraded the fabric enough to cause a failure. Like others have said, the double-layer fabric should be enough to give you confidence that it will still hold.

[JollyRoger70]

Thanks, everyone. I don’t leave it outside all the time; I just tend to stage for weekend outings in my screen room, and have been more casual than I should be about leaving it up for a week at a time, from time to time. I’ll have to stop doing that now. When camping, it’s always under a tarp, and rarely has direct sunlight on the actual hammock.

I’m not even entirely sure what fabric Warbonnet uses on the RidgeRunner, to be able to find out whether the dying is a surface thing or really *in* the fibers. I’ll trust that second layer, though, and will probably eventually get a new one so I don’t have to worry about it much.


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