Some peeps out there spoutin and frontin…. Water Monkey Represents… but in a nice way:
Dont Funk with the Monk.
Stay Gangsta,
Water Monkey
Tree Straps & Under Quilts…. Noob Busters.
Posted: October 15, 2011 in Gear Reviews, Hammock CampingComments
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Trail Name - Water Monkey 
All you said is dead on right as far as I am concerned.
I think I would also like to say this:
Yes, rangers these days are giving hammock campers a hard time for hanging a hammock from a tree, but why in the hell are they not out there giving people a hard time for using bear bag cordage that is very abusive to the tree? I have seen more people out using cordage that damages trees than I have people out hanging hammocks without tree straps. Now, I am not advocating not using tree straps, but water monkey, we gotta keep it real. If we are going to make issues of hammock campers not using tree straps, and those same guys are out there using the same cordage for their 10-20 pound bear bags, which end up burning groves on the top-side of limbs, where is the keeping it real in that? Why are the rangers not giving people hell over this?
My problem with underquilts is that they just keeping getting more and more expensive. Out of control expensive. (oh, you just mentioned that LOL)
Nice video WM. I know how much works goes into these longer videos!!
IDK man I think if they can’t see it, must not be an issue with the bear bag rope. But you do make a valid point.
Great video WM! You always keep it real. Thanks for putting out a great, informative video.
Regarding one poster’s comments:
I think comparing a person moving around in a hammock and a few pounds hung in a bear bag are is like comparing apples to oranges. Also, hanging a bag from a single limb and cutting a ring around the trunk of the entire tree are as different as night and day… My opinion of course.
Regarding underquilt prices….I disagree with the notion that they are getting more expensive. They have historically not been cheap but they are actually getting cheaper (some of them). As more vendors begin to offer them for sale, the competition is increasing, and this means that there are more options than ever ranging from goose down to a variety of synthetics…
@Stormcrow, I remember when your quilts went up nearly 75 dollars in the course of a few months. I remember this because I was planning to buy from you and than ended up not doing so because of this very fact. My money went elsewhere. You might have called it “needing to support the family” (as you termed it over at HF at the time) but still fact. As for “more vendors”… gosh, some of us remember when you were not even a vendor. How much of the market share do you suppose you have taken from the other guys out there? Yet where are we seeing the prices decrease because you have entered the market. It is what it is and that is all I will say about that matter.
As for cordage burning into tree limbs, it does not take anybody all that experienced in the outdoor world to realize that nearly every website that sales cordage for hikers to see and realize that such websites say “this material should not be used for bear bags”. Further, it is not hard at all (or is it for some people) to understand how many different types of cordage can rather easily cause damage to trees. As for the weight: If you figure that many thru-hikers carry 3 pounds of food per day, have five days of food with them, that is 15 pounds of food inside of a bear bag. Try wrapping 15 pounds inside of a bag, attaching some cordage to it, than wrap that cordage around your arm, and start pulling it… than you tell us that it is not a significant amount of weight being put onto a single area of a tree limb.
Seriously cannot believe that you, Stormcrow, wrote everything you did above. All of it is pure hogwash.
@watermonkey
First, my apologies to WM for straying from the spirit of your VERY well done video. The more videos of this nature that you make, the clearer the idea of hammock camping becomes. ..and I think we can alll agree , that is a good thing!
@johnabela (redwoodguy)
YOU WROTE:
“As for cordage burning into tree limbs, it does not take anybody all that experienced in the outdoor world to realize that nearly every website that sales cordage for hikers to see and realize that such websites say “this material should not be used for bear bags”. Further, it is not hard at all (or is it for some people) to understand how many different types of cordage can rather easily cause damage to trees. As for the weight: If you figure that many thru-hikers carry 3 pounds of food per day, have five days of food with them, that is 15 pounds of food inside of a bear bag. Try wrapping 15 pounds inside of a bag, attaching some cordage to it, than wrap that cordage around your arm, and start pulling it… than you tell us that it is not a significant amount of weight being put onto a single area of a tree limb.
Seriously cannot believe that you, Stormcrow, wrote everything you did above. All of it is pure hogwash.”
RESPONSE:
“Hogwash”….nice. Such hostility and emotion in your posts….relax a little. Maybe go lay in a hammock or something. You DO make very valid points about cordage and bear bags and comparing a person’s fleshy arms with the bark of a tree in your eloquently worded post. All I am saying, and maybe wrongly so, is that damaging a single limb vs killing the entire tree might be something to consider. That’s all.
The following is out of the scope of my comments about the video and I am a little ashamed of stooping to this level…however, since I feel somewhat cornered, I will. 😦 WaterMonkey, It will not hurt my feelings if you remove the following portion of my post…
@johnabela (redwood guy)
I would rather respond to you via email or telephone call but you ignore me when I attempt this…as I have done so in the past. And, since you are bringing up past inaccuracies in a public forum, I feel cornered and that I must respond.
YOU WROTE:
@Stormcrow, I remember when your quilts went up nearly 75 dollars in the course of a few months. I remember this because I was planning to buy from you and than ended up not doing so because of this very fact.
RESPONSE:
Um, no, the prices did NOT go up. Right now you say $75, before, you said $100 and then you even said $150….which is it? I asked you to show me where you found that (so I could fix it) and you ignored me. Why WOULD I raise them that much……it would be kind of silly and frankly, bad business. To be accurate, we have lowered all of our prices since we started Hammock Gear.
YOUR WROTE:
You might have called it “needing to support the family” (as you termed it over at HF at the time) but still fact.
RESPONSE:
Um, no I didn’t and no it isn’t… I never made that comment and no it isn’t fact. I hate to bring up an asanine thread but here it is if you would like to point me to the post where I said that.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=24816
YOUR WROTE:
As for “more vendors”… gosh, some of us remember when you were not even a vendor.
RESPONSE:
Do you have a point with that comment? “gosh” Some of us remember when MANY vendors on Hammock Forums, as well as other hiking/camping forums out there, were not vendors as well….
YOU WROTE:
How much of the market share do you suppose you have taken from the other guys out there?
RESPONSE:
I do not have a clue in this world. Do you? I don’t have time or energy to concern
myself with things like market shares, John. I just make gear.
YOU WROTE:
…where are we seeing the prices decrease because you have entered the market.
RESPONSE:
Again you seem to be making it personal. When “I” entered the market is not the point here. The point is that more and more cottage vendors are here and I am saying that it is a POSITIVE thing. As I mentioned before, if you want lower priced alternatives, there are more options to choose from now as opposed to even last year. There are a variety of prices offered on both synthetic and goose down quilts of all shapes and sizes. That guys like JRB and Ed Speer are the pioneers, but hammock camping is exploding and here to stay. This niche, and the vendors that support it, is just taking a natural progresssion…and I love it!
YOU WROTE:
It is what it is and that is all I will say about that matter.
RESPONSE:
🙂
I WRITE:
Now, redwood guy, you certainly have a way with words. You seem to have a habit of swooping in with false statements and then leaving with the ol’ “that’s all I have to say about that” routine. I think it speaks to the accuracy of the things that you write when you continually write with emotion and generally mix up your “facts”. Apparently you were the only one in this world that ever saw the price “increases” on my site that you claim. The ONLY one. I have always treated you with nothing but respect and courtesy during our correspondence so I could never understand why I was not treated in kind. The “needing to support my family” comment was never made by me either…please check your facts, again.
Once again, I know it is bad form for me to post this on this fine site and again, I apologize. I invite Mr. Abela to chat about this in a different forum out of respect to WaterMonkey. Of course if you have a comment that is based on actual fact and relates to the subject matter…post away.
~Stormcrow
“You DO make very valid points about cordage and bear bags and comparing a person’s fleshy arms with the bark of a tree in your eloquently worded post. All I am saying, and maybe wrongly so, is that damaging a single limb vs killing the entire tree might be something to consider. That’s all.”
Fair enough. Acknowledgement of the facts of what I originally said is all I am after. That being too many hikers (specifically hammock hikers) seem to care more about tree straps than the damage they are doing with bear bag cordage. Seems rather inconsistent, does it not.
“I would rather respond to you via email or telephone call”
As I have previously indicated, I choose not to purchase your products. It not personal towards you, I just choose to support other companies that I felt, at the time, were more stable.
“Apparently you were the only one in this world that ever saw the price “increases” on my site that you claim. The ONLY one.”
Might be because nobody else out there choose to be vocal about it. I know of at least five other people who did the same thing I did, take their business elsewhere, when you were adjusting your pricing every few weeks. But that is old news, and I really do not feel like breaking apart peoples comments line by line.
I will just say this again: I have no intentions of supporting your business. It is not personal. All comments I posted above I posted to defend myself (you are the one that challenged me within this blog after all) and I stand by them. As always, continued best of luck with your business. No doubt you have taken a fair share of the market from the other cottage companies out there and that clearly speaks for the quality of your products.
@ stormcrow & @ RedwoodGuy,
If you guys need to figure it out… then figure it out here. I have no problem with that. Based on recent events and the amount of new eyes on my youtube and blog I am forced to make a public statement to “keep it real” on a seperate issue.
Water Monkey
for me, a good UQ is the most important part of a hammock kit. and research! location, climate, the persons size all play a factor – without research & testing, if you go out on the trail with the wrong information – one may put themselves at risk.
good information WM!
Tryin to keep is understandable and easy to understand for my peeps! Thanks for watchin.
Schizzlin’ WM!
Well said all around!
Holla at your boy!!!!
you’ve highlighted some very good points about all the gear. keep it coming!
Cant let the noobs with some significant influence cause a break in the true reality in certain areas. Gotta man up if no one else is willing to! Water Monkeys step up and never step down!
Feelin me? LOL
Well done, WM. Hammock evangelism at its finest.
A beautiful video response. I cannot say enough about how dead on you are in this vid. By far, the best one produced,IMHO, so far WM. The tree strap issue I see this way, for 2oz, why even take a chance. Shorten the dang things if you don’t want to carry full 8′ or 6′ straps. Its easy, scissors, yup, just snip, melt the ends with fire and what do you know, 2oz went to 1.5oz. or 1oz. Straps come in handy for so many other things also, try using them for lashing things on your pack, use them as a belt, shoot, wrap them around your head and go Rambo in the piney woods. Now that’s dual purpose, and, as you said WM, loose the weight somewhere else if your worried about 2oz. I see so many people carrying things really not needed they could get rid of. I could more that justify 2oz. by getting rid of my 7.1oz. phone and case. I carry my phone on occasion in my pocket, take it out and put a strap in each pocket, now I no longer have strap weight in my pack.
As far as under quilts go, so easy a Water Monkey can do it.
Bravo Sir Water Monkey, Bravo.
What is your name … what is your quest … what is your favorite UQ. I have a small pool of movies that I keep on my phone’s rotation list, but this one is ALWAYS available. If fact, I had my two oldest watching clips from it today (their first time).
As mentioned above, great video. Keep ’em coming.
STinGa