Novice Hammock Camper Needs Help With Karabiner Mod!

Malpaisian

Hello All,

Got my first ever camping Hammock and Tarp today. The Hammock is a DD Travel Hammock. There is a modification which many Hammockers seem to reccomend involving attaching karabiners to the webbing in order to prevent rain water from traveling down the webbing and into your hammock.

this a link to a how to for this modification:

http://www.naturalbushcraft.co.uk/shelter/dd-hammock-karabiner-mod-rain-proof-your-hammock.html

Is there anyone out there who has experience of doing this mod?

This mod involves cutting the webbing close to the hammock at both ends
and forming a loop using a fishermans knot. If I were to this, I would then be left with four 2 metre lengths of webbing, two at each end. As far as I can tell from this video on setting up a hammock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78OhtWrIInE&feature=related

I need to splice or connect each pair of webbing lengths together to make one longer length for each end of the hammock to wrap around the tree. If you stop the video at 3:29, this appears to be what they have done.

What I want to know is what is the best/strongest way to splice or connect two lengths of webbing to make one length. Would a fisherman's
knot be enough? Bearing in mind that webbing has to hold my 90kg weight.

Donny5

Hey, I've done this to my DD Travel and Scout. The webbing is only run through the fabric of the hammock, it's not sown in or anything, so you only need to pull the webbing through the hammock until there's only about 10 cm on one side, and cut it about 10 cm from the other. Then you seal the cut with a lighter, and tie the two ends off.

If you do it this way, then you should end up only having to make two cuts in total (one at each end of the hammock) and you should be left with two lengths of webbing that are only about 25 cm shorter than before. I put a loop in the middle of each of those remaining lengths for hooking on the carabiner when I'm putting up the hammock.

I also wouldn't put too much interest in the fella rigging that hammock in the Youtube vid. He has the hammock taut, which I don't like at all. I leave a fair amount of slack in the hammock, but lay diagonally to keep the body flat when sleeping. For me, a taut hammock means instability. That said, it's very much a matter of taste.

RICHIE.39

Am starting into hammocking soon too. have purchased a tenth wonder hammock to start and see how i get on. was looking into this mod and only today got my hands on 'alot' of spare tape. im in westmeath and you're more than welcome to some tape to save you any splicing. pm me if you are interested....richie.

irishlostboy

instead of using the supplied webbing excess to anchor your hammock to the tree, you can use good quality roofrack straps with self locking buckles or ratchet straps. make sure they are good thick ones though. no lidl or pound store ones. you can get a good anchor with these that has minimal slip on the tree and that gives good tension on the hammock.
try and be kind and make sure the tree choice you make has good tough bark to stand up to the strap abuse. make sure no standing dead-wood. dont camp under beech trees, and practice hammock camping with a back-up plan available in case something goes wrong with your sleep system until you know what you are at.