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Camping is one of the most adventurous and fun activities to do in our life. Spending a night or a whole day in a natural environment gives us a special type of feeling that can't be found anywhere else. Aside from the city's polluted air, natural and absolutely clean air gives us a relaxed and calm feeling. Nowadays camping is in great demand. Even some artificial camping parks have been opened which are specifically designed for campers to do camping easily.

Due to the increased demand for camping, camping instruments are also directly proportional to the camping demand. They help us to resolve most of the issues while camping. Hammocks and hammock straps are one of them. They help to resolve the sleeping issue while camping. Because if we sleep on the ground in the forest, small wild insects can bite and may cause serious damage. Insects like wild beetle, grasshopper, racket, and stink bugs can bite us and can cause infections.

What is a Hammock?

A hammock is a piece of cloth or netting with a cord, rope, or any other form of tight tolerances that has been hung between two or more points. Hammocks are usually used in camping in which a camper can sleep at night. But they've also been used for resting in other natural places where there's no place to sleep comfortably.

Hammock straps play an important role while hanging a hammock with tree bark. The whole hammock is dependent on the hammock strap. We'll explain to you everything about the hammock straps and especially how you can hang a hammock strap properly in this article. So below we've mentioned everything you need to know about hammock straps and how you can hang a hammock straps. So let's get into it!

What are Hammock Straps?

Hammock straps are a type of rope which are particularly made and designed to hold hammocks in the air. They are usually made from incredibly durable and strengthen materials (usually strong nylon). They are more reliable and stronger than typical ropes. Ropes can cause friction, which can sometimes lead to a “rope scar” or weaken the bark. Either of these can make the tree more susceptible to disease.

That's why hammock straps are designed in a way that they don't hurt tree's bark. The hammock straps come with a tighter so that a camper can easily tie and tighten the strap with a tree. Hammock straps come in various sizes and holding capacity. If your strap has a maximum holding strength of about 80 kg and you're using 4 straps in your hammock. Then you can put a maximum weight of 320 kg (80×4) in your hammock.

The Material used in Hammock Straps

Modern hammock straps are usually made from Nylon. Because nylon is known for its great stretchy property. It is extremely strong and waterproof. Leather was used as a hammock strap, but in the late '90s manufacturers shifted towards nylon. As leather is stronger and can easily hold up to 9x more than its actual capacity, but the leather isn't waterproof and not a good choice to use in wild. Bad weather can easily damage the leather straps and weaken its strength. Therefore, nylon is used due to its weatherproof property and extremely stretchy material, it is ideal to be used in hammock straps.

Types of Hammock Straps

In the market, you'll find tons of different hammock straps. All are used for different purposes. Below we've mentioned some of the most common types of hammock straps and their uses as well.

Short Straps: These straps are used as an anchor point for your hammock. They can’t be used to increase the length of your hammock. If your hammock comes with a short strap it means it is for an anchor point and you need to purchase an external strap to increase the length of your hammock.

Long Straps: Long Straps are ideal for hanging your hammock. If a strap is longer than five feet, it is usually considered a long strap. You can easily hang your hammock with it, just remember that the strap you're using doesn't harm the tree bark and should be strong enough to hold the weight of your hammock. If your hammock comes with a long strap, it means that the company has saved your money on buying external straps.

Eco-friendly strap: It is extremely simple to know whether your strap is an environmentally safe product or not. Those straps are usually 2 inches wide, including two “S” hooks, and provide metallic bands. Also, manufactures advertise such belts as green and eco-friendly and commonly stronger than most other straps due to their wideness.

Easily Adjustable Straps: These straps usually come with loops all over the strap. If you don't have an exact measurement about the length required for a hammock to the nearest tree, then you can go with adjustable loop straps. They consist of loops all over the strap so that you don't need to worry about the exact measurement and tie the strap on any end.

Does a Hammock Come with Straps?

Some hammocks provide straps, others you may have to buy externally from the market. It's a smart idea, though to buy a pair of additional ones, even when the built-in strap comes. Extra hammock belts may be useful when used around the hammock for holding equipment.

It's better to purchase a hammock that comes with not just three robust nylon hammock braces, but 3 tree shielding braces. In addition, you will want a buckle with a strong ratchet which makes a tight seating bay for two persons. You'll likely have to pay some extra money to purchase hammocks that come with straps.

In our opinion, if a hammock doesn't come with a built-in strap and they ask you to get it after paying some extra money, it's better not to buy it. It is better to buy a separate strap from other brands. Because then you will have the freedom to choose according to your choice and needs and you may get the same strap at a cheaper price.

So, let's go into more of the specifics when it comes to how to set up hammock straps.

Things to Consider While Purchasing Hammock Straps

When Purchasing hammock straps, there are a few things that you should consider before purchasing any straps. How to set up hammock straps? First, consider the fundamentals and types. There are tons of different types of straps available in the market and you should purchase the strap which suits your needs.

Length: The length of the strap plays an important role in the purchase decision. The more the length, the better will be for your camping. However, the price may increase as the length of the strap increases and we know you've limited capacity in your bag so you should buy a strap that has enough length to reach the nearest tree. 

Width of the Strap: A width of the strap is really important while purchasing any strap. It's a general rule that the wider the strap is, the more weight it can carry. Although, it's not always true, because most of the holding capacity of the strap depends on the material. But usually wider straps have a large holding capacity and are stronger than narrow ones. Wider straps also don't damage the tree bark, because they spread the weight in a large area of bark which doesn't damage the tree bark, the narrow strap does the opposite of this.

Cost: At last, the cost is the biggest factor that plays the most important role when purchasing any strap. We recommend you to don't go over your budget when buying a hammock strap. Because it's simply a strap that just holds your hammock. Going over your budget for buying a hammock strap isn't a great idea. Because most of the hammock straps are typically similar to each other. Manufacturers just make small tweaks in their straps and increase the prices from others. That's why you shouldn't spend extra money to buy an over-budget strap with useless features.

How to Hang a hammock Strap?

How to set up hammock straps? Using hammock straps and hanging a hammock with it isn't difficult. You just need to learn the perfect location where you can suspend your hammock between 2-4 trees. We know if you're a newbie in hanging hammock and don't know how to hang a hammock? Below we've written a detailed guide on how you can hang a hammock straps and suspend your hammock perfectly like a pro.

Determine Trees for your Hammock

The first thing that you should do for hanging out a hammock is to find an ideal distance between two trees so that you can easily suspend your hammock through hammock straps. We know finding an ideal location for the trees for your hammock requires pro skills. But practice makes everything perfect. Usually, a 13-18 feet distance between two trees is ideal for suspending your hammock and it will give your hammock a perfect suspension.

Anchor Hammock Straps with a Tree

The next step is to tie a knot of your hammock with the tree. Some straps do come with a loop on all over the strap which will help you to easily anchor your hammock strap with a tree. But if your strap doesn't have any loop, you can create a loop on your own easily and we don't think that we need to mention this easy step to. Just remember to tie a knot firmly and tightly.

Attach S hook with your strap

Now after you've anchor up the strap, attach the S hook with the starting point of the strap. How to set up hammock straps? Make sure you have a legitimate S hook. It is an important thing to pick up with your camping items. You can purchase it additionally from almost any hardware store for less than 3$. This hook will help you to attach the strap with the hammock.

Attach your Hammock with the S hook

Now you've attached the one end of the hook with the strap. Attach the second end of the hook with the hammock and you're ready to go. This will suspend your hammock with the trees through hammock straps. Depending on the type of hammock, it can require 2-5 trees. A normal one-person hammock only requires two trees but a large tent size hammock may require 4 to 5 trees. That's all it was. We hope now you've learned how to hang a hammock straps and how you can hook up a hammock easily.

We hope this post on how to set up hammock straps has been helpful and wish you the very best in your outdoor adventures.

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