Author Topic: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots  (Read 6667 times)

trevorqd

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Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« on: September 05, 2014, 04:49:15 AM »
I want to verify I'm recommending proper knots for hanging a hammock to our customers. I'm currently using 3 different knots for:

A)Securing Rope to Hammock:
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-tie-a-hammock-knot/

B) Securing Rope to Tree: 
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-hang-a-hammock-from-a-tree/

C) Securing Rope to screw eye:
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-hang-a-hammock-indoors/

Can you tell me two things:

1)   What are each of these knots actually called?

2)   Are they safe or are there simpler/better alternatives. (Priorities are safety + ease of use & adjustment)

Thanks for any help you can give.

roo

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2014, 06:05:37 AM »
I want to verify I'm recommending proper knots for hanging a hammock to our customers. I'm currently using 3 different knots for:

A)Securing Rope to Hammock:
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-tie-a-hammock-knot/
This looks like it might be a Bull Hitch:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/bullhitch.html

Here's a better option:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/gnathitch.html


Quote
B) Securing Rope to Tree: 
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-hang-a-hammock-from-a-tree/
This looks like a round turn and two half hitches:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/roundturntwohalfhitches.html

It's OK to use round turns, but you'd have better security by finishing with a Gnat Hitch, and if you use it for the preceding example, it'll be less to learn.

Quote
C) Securing Rope to screw eye:
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-hang-a-hammock-indoors/
This is a Figure Eight Loop:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/figure8loop.html

Since you mentioned adjustability, you might look at a Slippery 8 Loop:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/slippery8.html

A simple bowline may suffice if the rope isn't too stiff or slippery:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/bowline.html

If you leave carabiners with the hammock, there's no reason you couldn't leave a Gnat Hitch permanently tied to the carabiners.  It'll look cleaner, too.

« Last Edit: October 18, 2017, 04:02:25 AM by roo »
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asemery

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2014, 06:15:50 PM »
For additional information and reccomendatons on knots and suspension systems check out the Hammock Forum
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/forum.php    Cheers, Tony

trevorqd

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2014, 08:50:23 AM »
Thank you so much, Roo! That was super helpful. I'm sure I'll have a follow up question in a day but off to practice this for now..

Dan_Lehman

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2014, 04:15:32 PM »
I want to verify I'm recommending proper knots for hanging a hammock to our customers. I'm currently using 3 different knots for:

A)Securing Rope to Hammock:
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-tie-a-hammock-knot/
Yes, this is the bull hitch, and works fine enough.
Perhaps some potential advantage to it over hitches
that pass through the anchor point with a single pass
(vs. two as done here) is that, with aging of the rope
and increased frictive *bonding* in the turns, there
will be distribution of force onto both passes --and
not only on the directly loaded one from the S.Part.
(I've not played with this to see what hope one might
get towards this by setting it with strong hauling on
the tail, or in adding another turn; I surmise though
that in relatively smooth/slick rope it will be hard to
achieve this distribution.)

Quote
B) Securing Rope to Tree: 
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-hang-a-hammock-from-a-tree/
Here I suggest aiming for having the loaded line go
more to the tree as a tangent than roughly centered
to its breadth as indicated --you'd like the "tensionless
hitch"
aspect of little force on the knotting; and so,
even an extra wrap, and then securing the tail with
less pulling of the line towards center, should work
--and this means not tying that first half-hitch as the
overhand crossing depicted!

Quote
C) Securing Rope to screw eye:
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-hang-a-hammock-indoors/

I'd like to know the difference between an eye joint
(shown) and a securing with a stopper knot through
the eye!?  Here, I"m tempted to use a taut-line hitch
which gives adjustability.


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dsd3519

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2017, 02:15:14 PM »
I can't seem to visualize the tree tying instructions.  Can someone provide a few pictures?
And, I'm wondering if a Lighterman's Hitch can be used on a tree using the standing end
as the load baring line?
I question it because the load would be pulling down at an angle of 30 degrees where as
most applications the load is pulled at 90 degree from the hitch.
Darren D.

Dan_Lehman

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2017, 10:51:13 PM »
I can't seem to visualize the tree tying instructions.  Can someone provide a few pictures?
Ha, nor can I, and yet I seemed to have not had any
issue with the instructions previously (did they change,
or have I just awakened?!)

What is show seems to me (now, at least!) simply tying off
a wrapping of rope around a tree,
as though that wrapping would somehow be used in the
anchor.  The images don't do the words justice; I think
that Roo has it, roughly --but it's the RT & 2 Half-Hitches
plus another turn and another hitch!

Lighterman's hitch would consume more rope by going
around the tree/post more, I think.  As for angle of pull,
just consider the particular friction of a given situation
--in many cases, it will be enough to preclude sliding.

--dl*
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mainterm

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2017, 01:31:17 AM »
... just consider the particular friction of a given situation
--in many cases, it will be enough to preclude sliding.

I've just registered to this forum in the hopes to get more information about knots in practice - slightly different concept than practical knots...

This somewhat old thread inspired me to post however.

I've just spent the last 6 months traveling on the road, camping whenever possible.  As it turned out among the different sleep systems me and my family used, I ended up preferring to use a hammock.

I tie knots both as a hobby, but also in practice, typically in camping or securing loads to a vehicle.  In any case, Dan's statement above rang quite true for me due to my recent experience rigging my hammock countless times over the past summer months.

Different camps called for different rigs, but of particular relevance friction-wise was the occasional case where I wanted the line to extend to the hammock anchor from one side of a tree and NOT the center.  Provided the circumference of the tree isn't too great, the bark not too slick, I found that a single hitch or a round turn with a single tuck worked very well in practice.

I'm not going to disclose my physical weight, but let's say it's above average.  The forces exerted upon these hammock rigs with me getting in and out, my daughter jumping on me whilst in the hammock etc...  were quite substantial.

-JK

sgrandpre

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #8 on: October 24, 2017, 06:37:58 PM »
B) Securing Rope to Tree: 
http://www.lazybandido.com/how-to-hang-a-hammock-from-a-tree/
This looks like a round turn and two half hitches:
http://notableknotindex.webs.com/roundturntwohalfhitches.html

It's OK to use round turns, but you'd have better security by finishing with a Gnat Hitch, and if you use it for the preceding example, it'll be less to learn.

The knot shown doesn't look like a round turn and two half hitches to me.  I believe it's actually a few round turns secured with a cinching square knot. 

A round turn and two half hitches is a much better alternative.  @Roo's suggestion of round turns secured by a Gnat Hitch is fine too - in fact, any knot where you're securing round turns with a hitch around the standing end will be much better in this application than tying a hitch around the tree directly.  You will have the advantage of being able to tie it while the line is under tension. 

I personally always secure my hammock with a trucker's hitch.  It makes it easy to adjust the tension exactly where I want it.

ParLeijonhufvud

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Re: Advice on 3 Hammock Knots
« Reply #9 on: November 01, 2017, 06:34:06 PM »
I have spend a few hundred nights in a hammock, and the knot that I use is dead simple, and besides non-jamming even after heavy load. basiclaly a set of figure 8 wraps, and then secure. Versions of this is pretty common among the hammock camping community, i.e. "swingers" :-)

« Last Edit: November 01, 2017, 06:37:32 PM by ParLeijonhufvud »