Whoopie Sling Conversion
First we carefully cut the cable ties holding the sleeve that covers the knot on the original hammock suspension. The original rope suspension has not been totally removed as we didn't want to risk damaging the hammock, plus we needed it for our idea for the whoopie sling attachment. The knot was carefully loosened slightly and the end of the rope was fed back through following the original knot to make a loop. The loop was made big enough to come out the end of the sleeve by a couple of inches when it was put back on, but short enough so that it was well under the tarp when that was attached. Any excess rope was cut off and the ends heated to stop them fraying. A climbing grade wire gate karabiner was then clipped to the loop and the whoopie slings then attach to the karabiner. The tarp is still attached to the suspension in the same way as with the original Hennessy suspension. There is no need for a separate ridge line.
The whoopie slings were purchased as a set from DD Hammocks. The set comprises of two 6ft whoopie slings, two karabiners and two 2 metre tree huggers. Total weight for this set is 240grams. We decided to use the karabiners in this way for three reasons:
1. To stop any rain water running down the suspension and soaking the hammock. Any water running down the whoopie sling will now drip off the karabiner.
2. As two of us will be hammocking together and the hennessy hammocks bug net only has a zip one side. It is now extremely easy to turn the hammock around if hung the wrong way, without having to worry about different coloured slings.
3. Items like the rucksack can now be easily clipped to the karabiner and hung effectively from the hammock suspension.
We use the marlin spike hitch to attach the whoopie slings to the tree huggers.
Originally the hammocks were purchased with snakes skins as after watching loads of youtube videos they looked a really quick and easy method of packing the hammock and tarp away together. But alas the reality for us was that they were more trouble that they are worth and we are thinking of making a 'Black Bishop Bag'.