Ultralight Hammock Line

[Miguel Arboleda]

I'm in the middle of designing a lightweight hammock that can convert into a bivy. The shell will be made of Epic Malibu and will have bug netting that will fully enclose the occupant. My one stumbling block is trying to find a good, strong dyneema or spectra line that will be amply strong enough to fully support someone, but that is thin and light enough to not take up so much weight and space. Until now I always used the polypropylene strapping that Ed Speer recommends in his excellent book, "Hammock Camping", but it is quite bulky and somewhat heavy. I'd like to use the line that is used on the new Hennessey Hammocks, but I can't find it anywhere. I've used T100 dyneema line from West Marine and it is strong and compact and light, but when coiling it so many kinks with dyneema sticking out develop that it is hard to unkink and the safety worries me. Does anyone know of a strong light line that coils easily, holds knots well, has a non-slip casing that isn't too abrasive, and that doesn't develop kinks, plus can hold at least 600 kg? I've been looking for more than a year now and I simply want to get started on the project.

Thanks!

Miguel

[Miguel Arboleda]

I guess I pose the question again just in case someone might know an answer to my question above. I do know about the hammock yahoo group, but since I know people here I thought I'd post the question here first.

[Jason Turner]

You may ask this question on http://www.hammockforums.net. I guarantee you will get plenty of answers. :)

[Lance Parrish]

I know that I'm a bit late coming into this thread, but you may want to call Tom Hennessy for the line he uses. I bought his Scout model for my wife and it came with some obnoxiously huge rope (yes, I said rope) for the support lines. Using the ultralight A-sym myself, I was expecting the nice thin lines that came with that. I called Tom a month or two later and bought a good hank of the the good line. I can't remember how much it cost, but it was more than reasonable. I'd give him a call and see what he'd charge you. The worst he could say is "No" and you wouldn't be any worse off than by not asking at all. Hope this helps.

-Lance

[Matti Raustia]

My first post…

I suggest that you contact some marine store which sells quality ropes. There are plenty of rope brands with sleeveless dyneema, for example New England Ropes Endura 12. 3 mm rope, 6 g/m and with its breaking load of nearly 1000 kg strong enough for quite heavy backpacker…

Why sleeveless? Because with high tech ropes the load is carried with core, which is made of some exotic fibres (usually Dyneema, Vectran etc.) and the sleeve is there just to combat chafe which is caused by sailing yachts rigging (blocks, jammers etc.)

HTH

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