HH Sling Shot tie-outs

[tlbj6142]

This is not my idea. It is from message #2505 of the HammockCamping Yahoo! Group. This small addition is worth the 30-40 minutes it takes to install them. It costs all of $5, a bit of spit (I didn't use soap) and a pair of needle-nose plyers. Here are a couple of pics.

My comments in red.

A Wrist Rocket uses two pieces of rubber surgical tubing about 6 inches long separated by a leather pouch. The two free ends fit over the aluminum frame of the slingshot which is form fit to go over your wrist for support and then up through your fist. Surgical tubing is very stretchy and tough (as in not breaking).

Go to Wal-Mart and buy a set of replacement tubes and pouch for a sling-shot. It costs all of $4.

So, what I've done (courtesy of Jerry Goller who taught me this in the first place...which is why I call it the Goller Grabber) is cut off the tubing where it attaches to the pouch (Jerry "undoes" the loop that it makes but I find it's easier to cut it and make a new loop around the ring on the fly).

I cut off the pouch instead of cutting the tubes. This allows you to see what the final "loop" will look like and it means you can skip the next step since a hole will already be along the one end. Just undo the loop and continue.

I take a nail or other pointy skewering tool and poke a hole in one wall of the tubing about a half-inch from one end (the whole goes through only one side of the tubing...not both).

Remove the line that is attached to the ring on the fly tie-out.

Then I feed the one end of the tubing through the plastic ring the fly cord was attached to until the ring is just below the hole I just skewered through.

Then I reach through the opening on the short end of the tube (near the skewered hole) with a pair of needle nose pliers, out through the little skewer hole and grab the long end of the tube (which puts the plastic ring under the pliers). Then I pull the long end of the tubing through the little hole and out the top of the tube. (A bit of spit on the tube helps it slide through the hole easier.) This traps the ring in the tubing and when I've gotten the tubing pulled all the way through it ends up rolled over itself just like when it's attached to the leather pouch. It will never let go of the ring this way. The only way to get it off is cut it or break the ring. (Picture #1)

Now I take a 1/4" nylon spacer (Home Depot/Lowes -- 25 cents each or so) and run the old fly cord up through the center (a nylon spacer is a hard plastic cylinder with a hole running the length -- the 1/4" dia one is about an inch or so long and has a hole running down the length about 3/32" or so in dia---big enough for the cord). I tie the cord with a couple of knots. Then for insurance I superglue the knot. (I just melted the knot a bit with a bic lighter.) The knot has to keep the cord from being able to be pulled back out the spacer but not much larger than the diameter of the spacer or you can't get the spacer in the tubing.

Next step is to put a little dish soap (I used spit) on the spacer and push it into the open end of the tubing until the spacer is all the way into the tubing and the rubber closes in around the cord that extends out the spacer (about 1/8"). The soap (spit) makes it easier. Or if it gets difficult I'll use the needlenose pliers to grab the leading edge of the tubing and pull it over the spacer. (Picture #2)

Repeat procedure on the other fly tie-out.

All done, there's a 5 inch rubber tube with the fly ring captured in something like a larkshead running to the cord which is held captive in the nylon spacer.

When setting up the fly I tie it out so the rubber tubing is pretty extended (stretched). Then as the fabric loosens up or rain stretches the fabric, the rubber tubing contracts on itself and tightens the fly...it becomes self-tensioning.

This works regardless of the type of hammock you're using. It just happens I have a Hennessey.

[highway]

Sounds very interesting but a picture here would sure be worth a thousand words!

[tlbj6142]

See my gallery for photos.

[2XL]

I just ordered my HH a-sym last week.
I haven't even recieved it yet and I am all ready to customize it. Got my tubing and spacers at the hardware store.

Do you put the tensioners on both the the rain fly and body tie outs?

By the way, great pics they really helped me understand. The first time I read the post I was a little confused. But it is very easy to understand with the pics.

[tlbj6142]

Do you put the tensioners on both the the rain fly and body tie outs?

Yes. I'll edit the above message to include that detail.

[Rambler]

Great tip. It's more high-tech than a piece of shockcord. Medical supply places carry the tubing or Wrist Rocket Bands

[tlbj6142]

Medical supply places carry the tubing or Wrist Rocket Bands

My bad. I forgot to mention that you can buy the exact same tubes I used (along with the creator) from Wal-Mart for $4-5. You don't need to buy an entire sling shot, just the "replacement" pouch/tube set.

[sedohr]

Go to Wal-Mart and buy a set of replacement tubes and pouch for a sling-shot. It costs all of $4.

I'm wondering how far these tubes will stretch.

I was able to find a set of Crossman replacement tubes and pouch but when examining them, I found they only stretched about 2" before having quite a bit of tension on them - enough that I feel they would pull my anchor's out of the ground when using.

These tubes are Blue and may not be the same surgical tubes discussed in the post. Just wondering how far I should expect the tubes to stretch before deciding whether what I have will work or not.

Thanks,
Randy

[tlbj6142]

I'm wondering how far these tubes will stretch.

I don't have the hammock in front of me now, but I think the tubes are normally about a 12"-14" long. I typically stretch them until they are 2'-3' long. If I had to guess they would break around the 3.5'-4' mark.

I haven't had one pull out my stake. If you think about it they don't increase the tension on the pull out anymore than if you were just usin the normal line.

[Hammock Hanger]

Sounds like a good concept.

Or you can take a bandana, scape of cloth, dirty socks put in a few rocks or gravel or something from your pack (water bottles if you carry them about 1/4 full) and hang it to each pull out point of the fly. As the material stretches the weight pulls the fabric down tight again. This was a hint I got from Tom Hennessy. I have added two 8 inch squares of sil and two elastics to my pack contents for this purpose.

Just some added thoughts.... Sue/HH

[Youngblood]

I have been using a little different approach for a self tensioner. I described it and posted a photo on the yahoo hammock camping group. The photo link is http://tinyurl.com/2wafe . It might be a little easier to implement, especially if you already have a few feet of shock cord lying around. I took 14" pieces of shock cord and used prusik type knots to tie them in parallel with the guy-line. This arangement limits how far the shock cord can stretch (which is something I prefer) and if it fails you are in no worse condition than if you were not using it at all.

I always try to caution people that use any stretching material (surgical tubing, shock cord, etc.) to be very aware that the stake can be launched with a sling-shot effect and be extremely dangerous. Extra care must be taken when removing the stakes from the ground so that they don't cause any damage... i.e. don't just yank the stakes from the ground with the free end of the guy line, use two hands if necessary so that the stake is under control. It is also not a bad idea to use a clove hitch on the stakes so that the line will stay attached to the stake until you are ready to slip them out.

Youngblood

[sedohr]

I don't have the hammock in front of me now, but I think the tubes are normally about a 12"-14" long. I typically stretch them until they are 2'-3' long. If I had to guess they would break around the 3.5'-4' mark.

I haven't had one pull out my stake. If you think about it they don't increase the tension on the pull out anymore than if you were just usin the normal line.

Thanks for the info on the stretch....the ones I have can't even be physically pulled close to 12", at least not by this guy. I'll return these and search locally for the pocket rocket ones or get actual surgical tubing.

And I'm not sure I agree with the last statement. I would think the the tubing does put constant tension on the stake and fly, that's how it's able to take up the slack in the line when the fly slackens.

[squirrel bait]

We used the surgical tubing for water ballon launchers and I can say that they will stretch quite a bit. The 4-5 foot pieces we used would stretch in the neighborhood of 8-9 feet. FYI it would heave a normal water ballon about 50-60 yards. Best trajectory is to have the two people holding the ends stand on a picnic table. The shooter pulls down and away at about 30 degrees.

[Alligator]

We used the surgical tubing for water ballon launchers and I can say that they will stretch quite a bit. The 4-5 foot pieces we used would stretch in the neighborhood of 8-9 feet. FYI it would heave a normal water ballon about 50-60 yards. Best trajectory is to have the two people holding the ends stand on a picnic table. The shooter pulls down and away at about 30 degrees.

I'm not a rocket scientist, but you would get the best distance with a 45 degree launch angle.

[squirrel bait]

A.. ah.. we umm ya know were drinking beer...45 sounds good. If you use a funnel to hold water balloon make sure ya plug the drain of the funnel with a wad of napkins or cloth, otherwise it pops the balloon everytime. They are a lot of fun in the summer.

[Curt]

Youngblood, can you elaborate a little more about the shock cord concept? I understand how the surgical tubing concept works. Although your idea seems to be more simple I have a hard time understanding it.

Curt ([email protected])

[Youngblood]

Youngblood, can you elaborate a little more about the shock cord concept? I understand how the surgical tubing concept works. Although your idea seems to be more simple I have a hard time understanding it.

Curt ([email protected])

I guess my photo link doesn't work unless you are a member of Yahoo's hammock camping group. Sorry about that. Basically you attach shockcord to your guyline, preferably when your guyline is taut. I use a 14" piece of 3/16" shockcord. I attach both ends of the shockcord in parallel to a short section of the guyline using sliding Prusik knots. I uploaded the photo to this site at: http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...php/photo/3997 . If the shockcord fails, you still have the guyline in place. You get a visual indication of how much slack the shockcord is taking up and the maximum stretch of the shockcord is limited/protected by the guyline.

[Curt]

Youngblood,

Thank you for the reply. After I posted my question I realized your post was from 2002, so I was not expecting a reply from you. Well, you surprised me! Now all I need to do is to learn how to tie a prusik knot.

Take care and God bless,

Curt

[tlbj6142]

Now all I need to do is to learn how to tie a prusik knot.

http://www.chockstone.org/TechTips/Prusik.htm (look at the links at the bottom as well)

[Youngblood]

Well, maybe what I use is not exactly a prusik knot. I wrap shockcord with about 4 turns on the guyline, back towards the other end of the shockcord and tie it off with 2 half hitches to the shockcord. You want the 'turns of shockcord' to apply a twisting motion on the guyline so that it doesn't slide under tension, but will slide when you push with your hands on the 'turns of shockcord'. This is one of those things that is real easy IF you know how to do it.

Youngblood