Has anyone ever made their own
suspension?

Looks like a good site - I will have to follow-up on this. Thanks

I will be making my own suspension within a week. Still working on the hammock. I got everything from that website btw. He's a bit slow on shipping because he does this part time but his stuff good quality. I think it was just about a week from ordering to my door.

I'll check back in with pictures when I'm done with the project for you.

I've made my own whoopie slings and UCR ridge lines. Cheaper than buying them. Never made any tree straps. But if I had a sewing machine I'd give it a shot.

quote okinaw55: "I will be making my own suspension within a week. Still working on the hammock. I got everything from that website btw. He's a bit slow on shipping because he does this part time but his stuff good quality. I think it was just about a week from ordering to my door.


I'll check back in with pictures when I'm done with the project for you."

Pictures would be great!

quote AlfalfaMale: "I've made my own whoopie slings and UCR ridge lines. Cheaper than buying them. Never made any tree straps. But if I had a sewing machine I'd give it a shot."

Yes, they seem pretty simple, but first I should try sleeping in and then maybe purchasing a hammock! I have 3 sewing machines now....

The first hammock I bought came with a suspension system. This is how I rig it.



Here is a close-up of the strap and hardware:



As you can see, the strap is 2 inches wide with a large steel ring on the end through which the free end passes. The large steel “S” hook is tied in with a marlinspike hitch, and the hammock attaches to the hook. It is not necessary to change the position of the hooks when used on my deck, so setup takes less than a minute. It is a little bulky and heavy and can be improved for a camping hammock.
My second hammock did not include a suspension system, and I knew I wanted something a little more compact and lighter than the existing system. I went to the local hardware store with the intent of buying some 1 inch strap from a bulk spool, but I saw this instead:



A quick calculation told me that 2 of these straps were less expensive than an equivalent length of bulk strap, so 2 of these came home with me. The plastic buckles were cut from the ends, leaving a small sewn loop on the end. Unfortunately, the loop was not large enough to pass the free end of the strap through it. I could have made a larger loop, as is shown in the link above, but instead I chose to use a carabineer. Here is a photo of the strap and carabineer wrapped around a post:



I have so far tried 2 different methods of attaching the hammock to the strap. Initially, I used a marlinspike hitch with an aluminum toggle, as can be seen in the photo above. I cut a section of aluminum tube from a solar yard light support:



The toggle can be just about anything – wooden dowel, pencil, steel rod, or even a short wooden stick. The hammock hangs from the knot not the toggle, so a stout toggle is not required. This system satisfies the requirement for light weight and simple. It does sometimes take a little bit of fiddling, untying and moving the knot & toggle to get the proper hang. That led to my second attachment with rappelling rings:



This method allows much quicker adjustment of the hammock for a proper hang angle. When the proper hang angle is achieved, the strap can be secured with a slippery hitch to ensure that nothing moves.



However, it does slightly increase the weight and expense. The rings cost $4-$5 each, so a set of 4 will add $16-$20 to the cost of the entire rig.

Thanks plant man! Pictures are informative as well as your narrative.
I've got a lot to learn!


I like your quote. I've heard it before at Big Top Chautauqua at one of their house shows.

For suspension I have learned a lot from just watching youtube videos.

Brandon of Warbonnet here explains a few different types but really all you need to do is search hammock suspensions in youtube and you'll be an expert in no time.

ProfessorHammock has a lot of helpful videos for lightweight solutions.

Yes, I have made my own suspension for my hammock. It seemed that the suspensions that come on most off the shelf hammocks are sub-par at best, heavy, and usually need a lot of modifications so I decided to rebuild mine from scratch.

First I made whoopie slings out of 7/64 amsteel blue and used them to replace the heavy braided rope that came on my ENO double nest. I had previously purchased a pair of ENO Atlas tree straps, but those are also very heavy so I replaced them with 1" polyester webbing and use a marlin spike hitch with 3" toggles made from scrap carbon fiber arrow shafts to hang the whoopie slings on. Polyester webbing doesn't stretch, and neither does the 7/64 amsteel blue that is made from dyneema fiber. Very strong stuff. Then I made an adjustable structural ridge line form a length of dynaglide to get the amount of sag that I like.

The whole set-up cost about $20 and a couple of hours of my time. And it made a world of difference in weight, bulk and ease of use.

Just curious if anybody has ever tried using a Rachet strap as thier suspension system? A little heavy and bulky but very adjustable. I think its worth a trial tomorrow.

Keep us posted.

I've taken bulk poly webbing and made tree straps before. For loops, just sew a few inches of x-boxes like the link showed, or a couple bar tacks with good poly thread and it will be plenty strong.
I like long tree straps with cinch buckles on the hammock ends. Dutchwaregear sells titanium ones that are super. However, if you pull them too tight it can be tough to loosen them. I made a hack by sewing on some quick-release tabs of webbing to make it easier: pull the strap to tighten, pull the quick-release tab to loosen. Simple and works well.