Last night after taking heed of someone’s suggestion at hammockforums.net I decided to try a new suspension method for the hammock. I used to bow hunt as a kid but haven’t touched it in years. Well, I pulled my rig out of the attic and one of the arrows had gotten bent which was perfect. Using my tubing cutter I trimmed off two 2.5″ pieces to use as toggles.

I have to say that it worked incredibly well. Typically the toggle would be secured with a marlinspike hitch so I was expecting to fall on the ground at any moment during the night. They both held firm, though, despite my shifting around trying various sleeping positions.

But wait! There’s more! I was so happy earlier in the year when I upgraded my caribiners to ones with a higher rating and lower weight. They weigh in at 1.1 oz each for a total of just 2.2 oz. Imagine my joy when I put the toggles on the scale and they weigh just .2 oz (5g) combined! Switching to toggles shaves off a full 2 oz off the total weight of my hammock (rigged). I have just 2 more to go and I’ll be down a full pound!

I am going to change out the zipper pulls for Kelty triptease line which should save me some weight (8 pulls total) but I can’t remember where I put it. Somehow it didn’t find its way back into the gear box. 🙁 Oh well.