UL “carabiner”

I searched and had no luck finding the instructions to make these. Do you have a link for them?

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=18996

http://shop.whoopieslings.com/Soft-Shackle-SS.htm

http://www.sampsonrope.com has a good resource page on splicing, WS, technical info. pdf downloads. Applicable to most types of braided line.

The oSS have replaced the snakeskins for furling the hammock tarp. Almost weightless. The 2 x 6ft WhoopieSlings(WS) used to hang the hammock are ~12gm vs. the ~50gm snakeskins. Mini-WS may work better but have limited mult-purpose use. When conditions are glove/mitten cold mini-WS would be my choice.

Noel, are you saying that you use the constricting loops of your Whoopie Slings to bind up your tarp? I thought snakeskins were used only on the hammock itself for packing.

Sort of yes. Right now I'm using 3 oSS. The WS may work better under real windy and adverse conditions. The oSS stay on the tarp. Just sliding them to the ends like snakeskins. Prefer to sleep under the stars. Skins or the oSS allow hanging of the tarp ready for rapid deployment if needed.

Hammock is stuffed into a double open ended Bishop style bag made of silnylon that is generously sized. Allows for fast easy stuffing and packing. Not dealing with a hard sausage package.

Noel,

You don't happen to have a photo that you can post do you? I've considered snakeskins but have always been put off by the extra weight…

Thanks!

Kevin, photos of skinned tarp or my current set up? Below are photos of the tarp & shackled in the oSS.

Gusty (10-25mph) winds while setting up for photo. No more difficult than using skins. Only advantage skins have would be some protection from abrasion and uv when tarp is not deployed. Tarp is a 1st gen OES MCDeluxe Spinntex. ~8.5oz with oSS. Current OES version is a bit larger.

I have to say that these "soft shackles, nacrabiners, etc…" are great. They are very easy to make (takes less than 5 minutes), weigh in at 1 gram and are dirt cheap. I would think a much better alternative to some of the min-biners that are around for attaching things to your pack or for around camp use and remember they only weigh in at 1 gram.

The ones below were made with 2mm 500lb spectra cord.

New to the hammock game (esp ultralight), but just recently got a WB Traveler w/ whoopie slings and am working on putting together my full kit. I didn’t order carabiners initially cuz I had a bunch sitting around, figured I would just use some of them for the tree strap to whoop connection. When I searched for “ultralight carabiners” though, was a bit surprised to see its tough to find ones for less than .5oz, and all the good ones are $6-10 each. In my search, I came across soft shackles and immediately liked that idea better. So here’s what I made. I’m posting this cuz I searched and haven’t seen anyone else do this particular style, which doesn’t take any special rope splicing skills. Plus I did some destructive testing to verify strength, which is always fun to share :)

So, basically, I just made a simple ~12″ continuous loop out of Zpacks 1.2mm spectra line w/ the braided outside. To make it a soft shackle (aka necrabiner), I simply made a loop in the end opposite the knot, passed the knot (creating the continuous loop) through that second loop, and tightened the second loop around the knot. 

As for strength, I rigged up a testing setup using an engine lifter, some chain & a steel bar. I started w/ the engine lifter set to 3/8 ton (750lb) and cranked it up. The shackle held so I bumped the lifter up to 3/4 ton (1500lb). I was able to cut through the outer sheathing of the line, but it didn’t break. Since I was using a friends lifter w/o his knowledge, I decided not to push my luck at a higher setting, possibly damaging his lifter and/or having something snap catastrophically injuring myself. So, I can believe I can safely assume that these shackles can handle 1000lb w/o a problem. 

Last, as for weight… the two of them together literally don’t register on my kitchen scale… lets call it .5g :)