What diameter shockcord for Nemo Hornet 2P tent

[Kimberly G]

Hello backpacking enthusiasts. I need to replace the shockcord on my 2016 Nemo Hornet 2P tent. Does anyone know whether I need to get 1/8″ (MSR) or 3/32″ (Coughlan)?

Thank you!

Kimberly

[Dan]

I measured the shock cord diameter in the poles of my Nemo Hornet 2P with some calipers and it appears to be 1/8″. It may 2016 or 2017, I can’t swear to the year.

[Adrian Griffin]

As a Covid project, I replaced the perfectly good 1/8 inch shock cord in my Hornet 1P with some 1/16 inch I got from Dutch. Works fine. I think Nemo uses 1/8 inch because they don’t want to fuss with warranty replacements.

[bradmacmt]

I believe the 1/16″ will save around an ounce?

[JCH]

Litesmith has 3 sizes of shock cord all of which are smaller than 1/8″ if you want to consider other choices.  The difference in weight between the non-reflective 1/16″ and 3/32″ is .033 oz/ft.  Assuming you need 20′ that is a 0.66 oz difference.  For that minimal weight saving, I’d go with the heavier weight cord on the assumption it would last longer.

FWIW, without first doing the research to verify, I stupidly went to the trouble of replacing the shock cord in my Helinox Chair Zero with 1/16″ cord assuming it would make an appreciable difference.  Obviously it made almost no difference and 1/16″ is really wimpy.  As Adrian says, 1/16″ works just fine, but I should have left it stock.

Unless we are talking about a lot of shock cord, it makes so little difference I would choose to stick with a more robust size.

[Dan]

It will be interesting to see how much use Adrian gets out of the 1/16″ cord. If it lasts a few years, then I don’t see much of a down-side. Good experiment.

[David Thomas]

To some extent, you can get the same performance out of smaller cord by stretching it tighter. I suspect it won’t last as long, but the tent I re-strung 7 years ago is still doing fine.

And that’s only if by “performance”, you expect the popes to self-assemble, snapping together as soon as you release them. If you only need the elastic to keep them organized in the proper set and sequenced in order, much lighter cord suffices. You could even use 1/5 elastic and 4/5 fishing line inside.

[Kimberly G]

Dan – Thank you so much for getting out the calipers to measure your shock cord. How sweet of you!!

Aidan – Thank you for opening my mind to the existence and possibility of using even smaller diameter cord.

JCH – Thank you for the referral to Litesmith. What a neat site. I ordered their 3/32″ reflective shock cord in neon green!

David – Yes, that is the situation I find myself in, the cord is completely slack. I didn’t realize until this last outing that a slack fishing line would work. For me, however, I love the snap-together performance of the shock cord.

[Adrian Griffin]

Here’s the whole nine yards from my post in Covid projects. It was a combo shock cord & microcord rig. Saved 0.7 oz from the original.

On the TARPTENT PROTRAIL LI… HMMM thread, John noted that

“You can save just under an ounce on the Nemo Hornet 1P by replacing the standard shock-cord in the poles with 1/8” shock-cord. It’s very easy to do. 1/8” shock-cord has worked fine on my MYOG tent for several years and over 100 nights.”

So I tried it. To reduce weight even further, I used 1.18mm microcord (from Dutch) in the  Y-legs, threading it from the tip up the leg to the hub, then into the center pole and looping back through the hub and down the other leg. I ran 1/16 inch shock cord (Dutch’s thinnest) down the center pole from the loop to the tip.

Using microcord means that the Y-legs have to be assembled after and disassembled before snapping the center pole together, but I think microcord is lighter per foot than shock cord.

Alas, I didn’t get as good weight reduction as John. Even with my thiner cords, this reduced the weight of my pole set by only 0.7oz.

A picture is in my original July  post.

[Dan]

Just a side-note here. In my experience, it’s not necessarily the number of nights used that determines the longevity of the shock cord, but just the total time elapsed, and perhaps the storage conditions. I have unpacked a rarely used tent after a couple years of storage to find the cords totally stretched out. After all, the cord is always elongated and under tension, whether the poles are assembled or collapsed, and I’m not sure that wear and tear associated with assembling and disassembling the pole-set is a major factor in the elastic failure of the cords. I suppose it would be marginally better to store the poles assembled instead of collapsed, but that seem impractical for most people.

[JCH]

Re: longevity of shock cord.  I would bet that environmental elements such as ozone can wreak havoc with the rubber content of the cord. Everything has a life expectancy :)

And while a very light non-stretchy line does work just fine to keep the pole sections organized, I have found that the stretch helps keep the poles assembled during tent erection.  Nothing sucks worse than trying to get your shelter up in a storm while fighting to keep the poles together during the process.

[John S.]

I am in the planning stages of replacing my Nemo Hornet 1P shock cord and bought some 3/32″ cord to play around with. Check out Roger’s post about how he does pole cord.

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/95418/#post-2136703

It would be interesting to have the cord set up to release the tension after a trip and see how  much longer it lasts? That may be ridiculous since it is not expensive.

[Author]

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