Crzyivan13 wrote:I really enjoyed the article also. Ravi's comedic anecdotes always deliver. Well written.
Simply put, I sleep like a drunk baby on Xanax in my hammock.
I posted a couple questions in the article comments, but I will post it here also.
A few questions. What type, and lengths of cordage do you carry with you in all these different scenarios? It seems that you would have a standard "list" of cordage for each type of setup. Or is this something that is just part of your kit that you always have with you regardless of the setup?
Good question regarding the cordage…it’s almost a article in itself, especially when it comes to hammocks, but I’ll give the basic rundown here. Believe it or not, this is the short version...
For starters, line can add a lot of weight and bulk to a system, especially a hammock or tarp system that uses a fair amount of line to begin with. It doesn’t matter quite so much in an airplane, but for a long backpacking or pack rafting trip, replacing 2mm line with .75mm line can make a very noticeable difference. Ultralight line like Spectra and amsteel are the bees knees for weight-critical applications, but are often much harder to work with than nylon line. I have a few different cordage setups for different applications, mostly based on weight.
Some of the images show pretty large lines being used on tarp pitches. Those are river throw bags that got hijacked because there wasn't any other option. I don't recommend using cord that large if you have a choice.
Tents:
All my tents have around ten feet of line for every tie-out. I generally use 1.5~2.5mm nylon cord, or whatever came with the tent, as most high-end tents come with guy lines. For the heated teepee tent I rigged up a half dozen amsteel whoopey slings…sort of a crude version of my tie downs which utilize the same friction splice, but which cannot be released while under load. That’s not an advantage…just the result of a simpler system. I went to the trouble of making those because the teepee tent catches a lot more wind, and the consequences of tent collapse are a lot higher with a lit stove inside. At 550 pounds breaking strength and zero stretch they’re overkill for most applications.
A word on using dynema fiber (amsteel…ZingIT…etc.): It’s the lightest and strongest fiber made, but it’s not the best for every application. For one, you have to splice the ends to keep it from unraveling since it doesn’t melt well. For another, it is too slippery to work with 90% of the knots people commonly use. Finally, because there isn’t any stretch in the fiber, it can be hard to tension a ridge line or guy-out. A line with some stretch in it will tension much better than a line without any…imagine trying to pull a steel cable tight between two trees and tie it off.
Some people have come up with clever little pieces of hardware to replace knots when using small dynema line like ZingIT, and while they do work, they’re somewhat of a pain in the arse to use and they cause a lot of tangles. If weight isn’t a super-critical part of the matrix I’d much rather just use good nylon line and a knot.
Tarps:
For the Tarp I usually cary 150 feet of 2.5mm nylon line for the ridge line. It’s usually way more than I need, but sometimes that extra length really comes in handy. To reduce tangles I feed the line into the bottom of the stuff sack that carries the tarp and use the sack like a rope bag after I pull the tarp out. If I only need 40 feet of line the other 110 feet stays in the bag, which just hangs there after I tie it off. You don’t coil the line into the bag…just thread it in and it stays remarkably tangle-free.
If I’m going ultra-light I substitute 150 feet of ZingIT, which is very thin dynema line. As mentioned above, the reason I don’t use dynema all the time is it’s harder to work with…thinner, slippery, and difficult to to tie a good knot in. You cannot use a taut-line hitch with dynema, for example, and you cannot use a simple Prussic hitch to secure the tarp ends to a dynema ridge line because it’s too slippery.
All the tie-out points on my tarp have 16 feet of either .75mm or 1.5mm nylon line permanently attached and rolled n’ tied into little sausages for travel. The .75 line is really a bit of a pain in the arse to use, but it’s light and adequately strong so long as it’s not abraded in any way. 1.5mm line is much easier to work with and lasts longer, but on a ultralight backpacking trip the weight actually does make a difference.
Hammocks:
Hammock rigging is the most line-intensive, and I have three different systems I choose between depending on weight and bulk. Hennessy sleeping hammocks come with the lines attached to the hammock. It’s lighter and more compact, and the manufacture can spec it with high quality line that nobody but an arborist or sailor would even know exists. It’s the lightest, most versatile, and simplest system, but the most inconvenient to adjust. Every adjustment means untying then retying a couple knots.
With a hammock you have to decide if you’re going to suspend the tarp from the hammock lines, or if you’re going to run a “top line” above the hammock for the tarp. If you go for a top line you don’t need anything like 150 feet of cord, since you cannot hang a hammock from very wide supports regardless of how much line you have. Hammocks need to be hung with a distinct bow…they need to look more like a “U” than a “—“ to hang right. The distance between the supports is limited by how high you can secure the line in order to get the proper shape. So 30 feet of tarp line is usually more than adequate. Again, I generally use 1.5~2.5mm nylon line because it’s the easiest to work with, and dynema line when I’m going super-light.
I use a wide webbing “cambium saver” strap around the tree to protect the bark, then tie or clip into that strap with whatever system I’m using that day. On a large tree with heavy bark (think ponderosa pine or Doug fir) you can skip the cambium saver…you can’t hurt that bark, and the straps I cary won’t go around a really large tree anyway.
Not surprisingly, I use a set of my airplane tie downs to hang my hammock most of the time. They’re faster and more convenient than any other system because it’s super easy to adjust the tension of the lines, but if I’m going ultra-light I substitute 16 feet of 3mm spectra-core line on each end of the hammock and just tie knots. 16 feet is a lot more line than you’d think you need, but wrapping around a large tree eats up a lot of cord. I rigged my hammock so I can easily swap out the lines as I choose to.
On my lounging hammocks that have hooks at the ends I use two sixteen-foot nylon kernmantle ropes about 5mm thick, with a loop tied in one end and a Prusik loop made from ZingIT amsteel cord attached. The hammock hooks clip onto the Prusik loop. I just girth hitch the loop around the anchors, and the Prusik loop slides up and down the rope when not loaded, then cinches tight when you weight it. It’s the easiest set-up for a hammock that doesn’t have attached lines.
There’s no single best cord or system for every application. They all have different trade offs in regards to weight, bulk, strength, ease of use, availability, and cost. Cord from reputable manufactures such as Sterling, Blue Water, Yale, Samson and Teufelberger will outperform the imported budget line from your local hardware store 10:1 and be cheaper in the end.
Of course good line is of little use if you can’t tie a knot. Learning even three or four good knots well enough that you can tie them with your eyes closed will halve the time it takes to pitch a tarp or hammock or tie out out a tent.
