Any wise and smart outdoor traveler or adventure seeker would know better than using substandard gears. Aside from new and exciting activities, high-quality and cost-efficient camping or hiking or trekking or fishing or any outdoor-essential accessories are always on top of their list. After all, these gears ensure their comfort and safety while pursuing their passions outdoors.
Straps serve like the backbone of hammocks, holding everything together. These thin and durable ties enable users to securely hang their hammocks into tree trunks, customized posts, or portable poles. Like hammocks or any other gears, straps come in different sizes, types, designs, and colors. OneWind Outdoors stands out from the crowd of hundreds and thousands of hammock strap manufacturers and/or sellers. Sit back, relax, and read on to learn why you should trust and rely on these tree-friendly and durable straps.
Tree Straps: Importance and Benefits
Tree straps are key components of hammock suspension systems. These basically allow you to hang your portable hammocks on any stable and sturdy two points - from grand trunks to wall mounts. While hammock camping straps vary in size, colors, and even materials, these gears are generally designed for support.
Hence, hammock tree straps, in general, work like keys that unlock a cozy and comfortable home. This is because, without such ties, your hammock becomes useless regardless of how nicely designed or smartly manufactured the hammock fabric is.
Straps allow you to conveniently set up your portable home so you can comfortably and safely enjoy whatever outdoor adventure you’re passionate about. Unlike tent sticks, for instance, tree straps allow you to quickly and easily put up your temporary shelter, enabling you to reserve and use your time and energy for other more important stuff.
Although hammock tree straps are created with safety in mind, the overall efficacy greatly depends on how it’s installed and used. The good thing is, aside from the universal methods and standard knots, straps have been made easier to set up thanks to the low-tech and ultimately reliable accessories such as loops, hooks, carabiners, or links.
The comfort and coziness, as well as the safety and security of your hammock greatly depend on the quality of your straps and the stability of the overall connection or setup. To ensure your camping hammock is suspended evenly to maximize its weight capacity, be sure to take into consideration these important factors.
- The height of the two points where you’ll be attaching the straps.
- The distance of these two points (trees, poles, posts, stands, or mounts).
- The actual length and size of the hammock to be hung.
- The desired height of the hammock from the ground (taking into consideration the height and weight of whoever will use the hammock).
Once you’ve fastened the straps, be sure to conduct initial weight-bearing tests. Also, it’s highly recommended to periodically check your straps and all other accessories, especially if you’ve been using them quite too often or for quite some time now.
Hammock Straps: Materials and Structures
Hammock suspension systems could vary, depending on a wide array of factors. So, even if the advertisement says “the best hammock tree straps ever” or “the most tree-friendly hammock straps”, be sure to be keen on the details. To ensure you only get the set that’s capable of providing great value for your money, thoroughly check at least the key factors.
The materials used would greatly define the durability and life of the tree straps. There are various options you can choose from and as much as possible, avoid using ropes especially if you’ll have to often hang your hammock to a tree as ropes tend to cut through barks/trunks.
- Nylon. You could go for Nylon which may be bulkier and heavier but is usually cheaper, stretchier, and easier to untie.
- Polyester. Should you want more durable straps that are capable of supporting quite heavy loads and are still reasonably priced, you may opt for Polyester.
- UHMWPE or Dyneema. Though quite pricey, UHMWPE or Dyneema is a great option as it showcases better resistance to UV rays, easier racking or extension, lesser water absorption, more abrasion resistance, higher strength/durability, and more pliability.
- Structure
The craftsmanship and overall structure should also matter when selecting your tree straps. When inspecting the manufacturing quality, pay attention to the small details such as the stitches. Here are some common structure choices you have.
- Single-Layer. This type of strap consists of only one or two loops, making it lighter and more compact. Using a cinch buckle, single layer tree straps are easy to set up.
- Double-Layer. This type of strap consists of several loops - around 16 to 20 on each piece, making it a bit bigger and heavier. Nevertheless, using carabiners, double-layer straps are still easy to install.
- Tree Strap with Whoopie Sling. This type of strap is designed to wrap around tree trunks and whoopie slings to connect to the hammock with the help of aluminum carabiners or soft shackles. It’s lightweight and compact and can be used as an extension for single-layer straps.
- Length
Unless, of course, you’re strict with the weight of your baggage, you would never go wrong with long straps - the longer, the better. This is because you would never really know if there are always two trees standing close enough to one another where you can conveniently hang your hammock. Hence, it would be safer if you have long enough straps of around 12 to 15 feet on each side.
- Weight
Another factor you could consider is the overall weight of the straps, especially if you’re backpacking. Of course, you won't need unnecessary weight add-ups and in such outdoor travels, being able to pack light is actually an edge. Yes, we’ve mentioned opting for longer straps, but longer doesn’t necessarily mean heavier. And the key here is the material used. For instance, a 20-foot long rope would still be heavier than a 20-foot long UHMWPE tree straps.
- Durability
More than the aesthetics and brand, you must focus on the functionality - the strength and durability of the straps. Sure, high-quality and long-lasting gears come with a price but for more optimum results, a few bucks won’t matter for straps that are harder or longer to break, rip, or tear.
OneWind Outdoors: Hammock Tree Straps and Strap Kits
If you’re looking for smartly designed and exquisitely manufactured hammock tree straps, then OneWind Outdoors is the perfect place to shop. OneWind has been providing high-quality and cost-efficient gears that are perfectly suitable for camping, hiking, trekking, climbing, or any other outdoor activity. Like how you can trust and rely on the OneWind hammocks, you can rest assured that the tree trunk straps would also provide great value for your money.
OneWind offers an all-in-one suspension kit, consisting of two 10ft/12ft one-layer durable UHMWPE straps and loops, two adjustable cinch buckles with a tightening safety feature, and a lightweight stuff sack. Its continuous loop allows quick and easy setup. All these you can get for as low as $14.90.
This complete hammock suspension package comes with ultra-light UHMWPE continuous loops. The inclusive adjustable safety buckles and the sturdy straps make up for a durable suspension. Without the need to worry about additional weight on your baggage or luggage, you can acquire these lightweight tree straps for only $23.90.
For only $25.90, you can have the OneWind high-strength and ultra-light straps kit which includes two 1.9m whoopie slings, two 1.5m tree straps, and two carabiners. This works will all types of hammocks, it’s easy and convenient to set up, and it weighs around 150g/5.3oz only
If you solely need continuous loops, OneWind offers these for only $5.90 each. Each 3mm strap showcases high durability and super strength, allowing quick and easy set-up.
If you’re specifically looking for whoopie slings, OneWind also offers these for only $12.90 each. Each 40cm-190cm/15.7“-75” single-layer sling is made of UHMWPE materials and weighs around 22.2g only.
Frequently Asked Questions
For your quick reference, here are some of the frequently asked hammock strap-related questions.
Not all hammock straps are bad for trees. Thanks to various innovations, manufacturers such as OneWind have managed to design durable tree straps that are capable of supporting heavy loads without cutting into tree barks.
People used to hang their hammocks using ropes but die the adverse effects of such ties, the use of ropes is highly discouraged. As an alternative, you may opt for commercially manufactured straps that are specifically designed to be tree-friendly. Should you wish to still create straps from scratch, you could use Nylon, Polyester, or
UHMWPE or Dyneema.
Aside from using at least one-inch wide tree saver straps, you can hang a hammock without hurting the tree through the use of carabiners, hooks, or buckles. And, of course, how you wrap the strap around the tree also counts.
With tree straps, you may opt to use the standard overhand knots if you’re using traditional knots or you may opt to use the Double Loop Method, Daisy Chain Method, or Loop-Free Method.
