What ropes could I use to suspend a hammock?
I use paracord for a lot of stuff but looking for something stronger, for holding up a hammock. I'm thinking it would need to be 1000lb strength or stronger.
Would type IV paracord (850lb strength ) be strong enough?
Note: I do use wide webbing [protects the tree] for the tree part. The paracord/rope would be from the straps to the hammock.
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The strength is dependent mainly on the angle between the two ropes form, on which the hammock is hung, and the weight you want the hammock to support.
For a traditional hammock the angles of the ropes (measured to the horizontal) are about A=30° (just an estimate). Lets assume we want to design the system for a person weighing W=200lbs. Then we can derive a formula for the force ( acting on the ropes using trigonometry:
Force on each rope (in the same unit as the weight W):
F = 0.5 * W / sin(A)
(Note that the Force gets extremely high, the closer to horizontal the ropes are / the close a is at 0°)
With the assumptions from above we get F = 200lbs, but this is just static loading, as soon as you "dynamically" sit down in it the forces can be higher. I'd go with a safety factor of about 5 to be on the absolute safe (that means 5 times the static weight it absolutely needs to support, consider that any knots weaken the rope, a knot can reduce the strength by up to 50%), so that results in about 1000lbs strength.
I have no experience using parachord, but this site also suggests to use rope of at least 700lbs - 1000lbs.
Another reference I just found is this online hammock anchor calculator.
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I've recently got into hammock camping and roping it to a tree is a bit more complicated than it first sounds so please bear with me
- You need something to wrap around the tree to protect it from holding your weight, these are unsurprisingly called tree straps - mine are made out of seat belt material.
- You need something adjustable from the tree straps to the hammock (if it's not adjustable, you're limited to the trees you can use). Most people use something called a whoopee sling which is made out of Amsteel and is an adjustable, non stretchy material
Lastly, you need to connect your hammock, whoopee slings and tree straps - the best thing is some heavy duty karabiners. I try and keep everything rated at a 1000lbs which I think is overkill even if I can't get decent angles with everything else going on
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