Looking for some oddly shaped dyneema fabric

[Matthew M]

Ive been toying around with an idea for a while now. I’m hiking the PCT this Spring and i need to replace my hammock system with something that can go to ground a lot easyer and more comfortably. Ive therefore been prototyping a bridge hammock sort of thing that can be pitched on the ground like a bug tent. My hope was to make this bridge hammock a bit lighter then your average by reinforcing the sides with dyneema composite fabric. Heres the rub. I need 2 6 foot long by 3 inch ribbons of dyneema. I cant find anyone who sells it in this form factor and im wondering if anyone just has some hanging around they could sell me. It needs to be a continuous length and I had been planning on the 1 oz a yard or higher stuff. This would be an experimental sort of thing replacing the normal side reinforcement of a bridge hammock with dyneema hasn’t been done before (at least that i can find). So if anyone wants to weigh in please let me know if you think it will work. Also if you have some long but very thin scraps of this super expensive fabric please let me know. Thank you

[Lance]

Hey there Matthew,

I could be missing the idea but couldn’t you just purchase two yards of dyneema and cut 3 inch wide ribbons from that? You’d have quite a bit left over but I’m sure it would come in handy at some point down the road. I know places like rip stop by the roll has a laser cutting option, however it’s pretty expensive.

[Matthew M]

Nope you have the idea right I could do that fairly easily. My problem comes with the extra fabric. I live in a very small space and just don’t have room to store tons of extra fabric for years until I can use it. I know that DCF is super thin and light but I would still rather not. I also have an odd bit of reluctance buying a large piece of super nice fabric to then use only a tiny bit of it making reinforcements. I was hoping someone would have scraps laying in there garbage pile I might be able to get cheaper for experimentation.

[matt kirk]

I don’t know what fabric you plan to use for the hammock body, but why not just thread dyneema cord thru a side hem of the body fabric? I’ve successfully made a bridge hammock this way. You can buy various diameter dyneema cordage by the yard or foot for a lot cheaper than sheets of DCF. It may even be as light or lighter than your approach…?

[Matthew M]

I will have to look into dyneema fiber webbing and rope to see if some of that would end up being stronger or lighter or both. My thought was that it would end up being more heavy or more bulky and not sew to the fabric quite as well. True that I could sew channels into the hammock body and run dyneema cordage though them, but then how do I go about sewing that to the webbing at the sides that at aches to the suspension? and if its not sewn though though the length of the hammock body what stops the hammock from bunching or sliding around on it like a curtain on a rod? Maybe im overthinking this a little?

[matt kirk]

A 72″x3″ 1+ osy piece of dyneema fabric would weigh 0.17+ oz, roughly the same as a ~72″ length of 2mm dynaglide cord. No need to sew the cord to the body, which are completely removable from the channels of bridges I’ve used. The idea is to splice eyelets in the dyneema cord where bridge poles attach. You will have to sew a reinforced button hole through the body fabric at this precise spot in the channel for the pole tips. Here’s a video illustrating this: https://youtu.be/Qhw2g5hJMJM?t=190 You can use a brummel lock splice at the cord ends with whatever suspension hardware you prefer.

You can get more ideas and guidance over at hammockforums.net regarding bridge construction.

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