Since my ancestors immigrated from Switzerland (legally of course) I, like okazami, tend to also be a bit biased towards all things Swiss. Especially their cheese, watches, and the standing militia with armed homes policy My favorite hammocks are a modified Hammocktent and I previously owned an Ergo so this post caught my eye. It is clear from Exped's website that the suspension is supposed to be used with tree straps and there is no mention of carabiners, only using the aluminum toggles for setting up the suspension.
I had the polypropylene version with the Ergo that had tree straps included. Although the Dynema version looks nicer I really didn't use their suspension because I personally like long 1" wide nylon, kevlar, or Dynema webbing with cinch buckles or a single rappel rings with a slippery girth hitch.
OlTrailDog, two hammockers that are prominent at John Rock Hang also have used slippery girth hitch for their suspensions—Foxpoop and Intimidator.Also at a Tarheel State Hangers, Pickle demonstrated a tensile sky hammock and he used a slippery girth hitch to suspend tensile sky hammock. Slipped larkshead is another name given this incredibly strong, yet simple hitch.
Great minds think alike.
Last edited by Phantom Grappler; 08-18-2018 at 22:08.
I was surprised at the short bury too. I'm actually a bit surprised there aren't more stories like mine, especially considering I'm far from the weight limit of these. Fortunately I don't mind fiddling with these things and the new locked brummel with a nice and long bury has worked well for two years now. The store sent me a replacement kit as well, which I will not use without first making the necessary modifications to feel safe.
What are your thoughts on this:
Take a Yellow Adhesive Heat Shrink Tube of 1-Inch to mark the exact middle of the (more or less) 15-meter Slit Line length. Then using 2-inch wide Kevlar tree huggers with loops at each end to wrap around a tree. the middle of the Slit Line is laid between the trees, and the "loop eyes" of the Slit Line are used as quasi "truckers-hitch" to crank down tension to "banjo string tight."
Now, I have an excellent ridgeline for a tarp, and a hammock may be centered and hung from the appropriate "loop eyes" to create the correct Hammock Ridge Line along with the correct xxx-degree angle of one's preference. The head and foot Amsteel need only be a foot or two in length, with a Brummel Eye Splice at the end of each short Amsteel line. Aluminum toggles will be used to slip through the "loop eyes" and turned 90-degrees crossways to secure.
That should give a weight of 3.5 Ounces for a Tarp Ridge Line + Hammock Suspension + Hammock Ridge Line + (whatever two toggles weigh)
Inserting 8-inch to 10-inch aluminum arrow shafts between the Hammock Ridge Line and each of the head and foot Amsteel hammock suspension lines would tension any sag in the Tarp Ridgeline, along with ensuring a non-sagging Tarp Ridgeline.
Seem feasible?
Does it seem reasonable?
Joe I hope you can make new suspension work as planned.
I have given my Kokomo suspension a rest and have installed a more conventional suspension with tarp and hammock suspensions not connected. Kokomo ridgeline under tarp was too loose and rain would pool in trough at tarp ridgeline.
Joe if your new suspension is a go—please make a YouTube video and let us know. It’s great to see new ideas to make hammocks easier to setup
P/G - No can do...I have no desire to do videos. However, in the interest of clarity, we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
In this instance, credit goes to
I have captured a screen-shot within the video: Tensioning the Tarp against the the Hammock Suspension..JPG
Using our imaginations, we may envision the tarp in the image above is our hammock. The tarp ridgeline in the image above is imagined as the Exped Slit Line Extreme. Now we have our hammock suspended from the Exped Slit Line, and all that is left to do is to throw the tarp over the Exped ridgeline.
Yes, the first thought that comes to mind is tensioning the tarp will cause a problem, yet if we further engage our imagination, we may easily envision tarp pole mod tensioners, mounted underneath the tarp, and the poles are inserted THROUGH the Exped Slit Line eyes at the appropriate location.
No need for any tarp tensioner lines to ground, the tarp and the hammock are free-standing, so when you climb into the hammock, the tarp swings along, as they are necessarily attached together in this scheme. The tarp is tensioned with three aluminum pole mods, and the ridgeline is tensioned by Zing It to the Exped Slit Line eyes ridgeline.
The wooden stick shown will be replaced with aluminum tubing (.340" - .742" ...depending upon necessary robustness)with the appropriate aluminum with a an aluminum washer to prevent the aluminum tensioner from slipping through the Slit Line Eye.
Locking-Tip for Aluminum tensioner.jpg
Of course, high winds will make the set-up a huge swing, yet this occurance can easily be mitigated with elastic cordage, if required.
Why do this, well why not?
Well, time has a way of evolving ideas. I was successful in setting up my Tablecloth 11-foot hammock with tension ribs in a triangle at the end of the hammock using the Exped Slit-line. Ultimately, the weight of Easton Aluminum (Black Military) stakes with 1/4-inch titanium rods added so much weight that it was not enough of a worthwhile gain to continue to use.
Luckily, patience won over, and the 2019 Amok Draumr Camo regular size was purchased. The toggles at the end of the slit line were cut out, these are not some type of locked brummel, I never figured out how they were manufactured, even after cutting one out, I just sizzored them off and with an exacto blade (taking about 3-minutes) to remove.
I believe that Exped no longer offers the Slit Line Extreme. I purchased one of the 15-meter lengths several years ago.
The Amsteel is woven together, and the straps or toggles are then attached with a bury.
The straps use a bury that differs from the toggles. When I tried to remove the bury from the toggles, I found it to be impossible, I had to use a razor to cut them loose. I think that Exped had the manufacturer use epoxy to secure the toggles.
Here is a close-up of the Amsteel weave (not my image, it appears as image #3 in an earlier post).
Photo of Slit Line magnifiedjpg.jpg
I will get around to posting an image of two Roben 4x4 meter tarps with two carbon poles in a modified weaver configuration. The Exped line is useful in quickly setting up the two tarp configuration. The image is a Velum mock-up used for modeling.
WIN_20200425_16_37_01_Pro.jpg
Last edited by joe_guilbeau; 12-30-2020 at 08:57.
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