I’ve got a lot of trees here in the northern germany refuge and now I also finally got a hammock (Amazon) again! I’ve set up hammocks many times before – as a boy scout – but it’s about 25 years since then… so here’s how I used to set up a hammock:
How To: Using a Lashing Belt with Ratchet
I used a lashing belt for setting up my hammock and someone I know who didn’t do this ever before asked me how a lashing belt works. Although it’s fairly easy I want to explain the general use step by step here:
Tying a Bowline Knot
I’ll need this one in the next days, so I tried to dig up some long forgotten boyscout knowledge from 30 years ago. Didn’t work… 🙂
Thus, here’s a very good video on how to tie a bowline knot the easy way and if I remember it right, this is the method that I learned as a boy. It is used for mooring ships as well as securing climbing harnesses, aaaand – in boyscout camps all over the world in every imaginable way.
The most common german word for it is “Palstek” in the north (and resembles the vast use in shipping). But I grew up in southern germany and I know it better as “Rettungsschlinge” (used e.g. by rescue personnel) or as “Ankerstich” (which is the term that I learned). Here’s more on it on Bowline – Wikipedia.
It’s very useful, fairly simple and absolutely worth the effort to learn.
Heating Unit for the Food Drying Box
I wanted to add a means of heating to my meat drying box (e.g. here or here) so I can also make some beef jerky or biltong directly in it. What I eventually came up with is a 100W heating bulb for… terrariums! Just added a drip plate and mounted it to the already provided (and sealable) hole in the back wall. Looks nice by now.
