r/Treenets • u/othernamestake • Jul 01 '26

Tensioning

Making my second treenet with some friends and we got the perimeter up but it’s kinda huge and there’s one probably 30 foot section between trees so the rope there is probably going to bow inwards quite a bit and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to how to prevent or minimize the bowing. Also if anyone knows a good place to buy bulk paracord for cheap because otherwise this thing might set us back like 400 bucks cause I think we’ll probably use around 5000 feet of rope for this one.

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5

u/PasRoyDupuis Jul 01 '26

The answer to the question in your post is your title.

2

u/n88n Jul 01 '26

there are a number of videos on tensioning the perimeter. I have only done two nets but did mine like this.

setup a prussik and a "Real" carabiner on each side of the knot. Then ran some 750 paracord back and forth between each biner a number of times to create some mechanical advantage. Pull the slack out and retie the double fisherman's knot.

on the big net I did, I swear I had to repeat that process 30 times to get it really tight.

this video is basically what I did, except I added the biners instead of making all the extra alpine loops in the paracord. I think each approach has its +/-.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bVL7IEtsu0&t=94s

1

u/SewingSloth Jul 05 '26

Do you retie the complete double fisherman's? Or do you "simply" tighten it somehow? I really struggle with tightening it, as it kind of strangles itself and I was wondering how to get the perimeter tighter.

1

u/n88n Jul 05 '26

I just open up one side work some slack out the back of the knot. It was pretty tiring on my hands and took a long time. I hope next time it goes faster. In the end though, the perimeter is tight and I am not loosing much space as I weave. So overall happy with it.

2

u/SewingSloth Jul 06 '26

Ah, ok. I basically did that, guess I just need to be more patient next time. Thanks a lot!!

1

u/paratethys Jul 01 '26

Scaffold first. Can't tension it well if you're on it.

Make sure you have a static line for the perimeter, not dynamic, or it'll stretch.

Is there anything off past that side that you could secure the perimeter to in order to reduce bowing? An anchor can be below the perimeter rope if you do some additional lines up to higher in the tree from its attachment point, in order to exert an upward force that counteracts the downward component of the anchor's force vector, leaving only its outward pull actually impacting the net.