Captain Hook Setup Questions

Got use this today for a bit. Man, the hitch setup works sooooo good. I am blown away. Thanks for the help gents. @Brocky you're like the rain man of rope dude. My only issue was that I can't throw worth a darn.
 
Birdyman88 said:
Got use this today for a bit. Man, the hitch setup works sooooo good. I am blown away. Thanks for the help gents. @Brocky you're like the rain man of rope dude. My only issue was that I can't throw worth a darn.
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Your 11mm HTP may be hurting your throwing, I'd go with a lighter 10mm line. Make a coil of slack, hold it in one hand, give yourself enough length so you can swing the Hook freely with enough leverage to make it go somewhere. When you throw the Hook, give the coil in the other hand a light throw at the same time. If there's not enough free line right behind it the Hook's not going anywhere, let it rip!
-AJ
 
Or put another way, if you can lob a softball you can throw a Hook where you want it to go. It's a matter of getting good body position and the rope handling right so you can throw effectively.

Since I've picked up a second used Rope Runner I no longer feel guilty about using the Runner as my Hook multicender ;-) It is great for the use. Hook and line ditty bag only goes up with me when I have a reason to use it.

I'm in the keep it clean and simple school of Hook attachment to a line. If Bob Bob says a small screwlink is fine it is true ;-) I've had enough situations where the most subtle adjustments like twisting my line or getting the Hook to drop an inch or two made the difference in getting a good set, keeping a clean eye attachment to the shackle seems like it made a difference.

As far as line length goes, I like to over throw enough to give me the most options to manipulate the Hook for the set. I don't want to be just barely making the throw, lower percentage change of getting a good hook with those throws if I don't have the Hook hanging down 3'feet or more past the target. But sure, every once in a while it just barely gets there and hooks.
-AJ
 
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moss said:
Your 11mm HTP may be hurting your throwing
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I agree on that. I can feel the heaviness and stiffness when I throw. I have some 3/8 KM3 I may try.

moss said:
if you can lob a softball you can throw a Hook
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I was being sort of sloppy at first, not really thinking about technique. I finally figured out I was doing too much of a "hook" shot, no pun intended, and needed to start underhanding more. I have not tried coiling the rope and releasing with a separate hand than the hook. I just know when I throw the hook by itself, it only has about 10ft of usable range before the the rope stops it. When I throw the coils and hook together with same hand, I can get 15-18ft. Technique, technique, technique, DOH!
 
Birdyman88 said:
I agree on that. I can feel the heaviness and stiffness when I throw. I have some 3/8 KM3 I may try.


I was being sort of sloppy at first, not really thinking about technique. I finally figured out I was doing too much of a "hook" shot, no pun intended, and needed to start underhanding more. I have not tried coiling the rope and releasing with a separate hand than the hook. I just know when I throw the hook by itself, it only has about 10ft of usable range before the the rope stops it. When I throw the coils and hook together with same hand, I can get 15-18ft. Technique, technique, technique, DOH!
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Try making a coil in your right hand, about 8-10. Little loops of about 12-14”. Give the hook end a little extra length 16-18” so it hangs below the coils.
Next take a decent bight on your left hand and divide the coils up between left and right hands.
Make your toss with both hands but leading with your right on release. This gets the most of the weight of the rope in the air moving towards the target.
 
moss said:
Since I've picked up a second used Rope Runner I no longer feel guilty about using the Runner as my Hook multicender
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I'm just running mine with a snap, tending pulley, hitch cord, and biner...what is the use case that necessitates an SRT device on there? I'm always splitting my load between the main climb line and the hook line (so I don't need extra friction). Just wondering.
 
LordFarkwad said:
I'm just running mine with a snap, tending pulley, hitch cord, and biner...what is the use case that necessitates an SRT device on there? I'm always splitting my load between the main climb line and the hook line (so I don't need extra friction). Just wondering.
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Think of it as an SRT long lanyard which is
what it is. If you load up a hitch hard SRT/SRS it will fight you when you want to let line out. With a multicender it’s butter to release it one-handed.
-AJ
 
moss said:
Think of it as an SRT long lanyard which is
what it is. If you load up a hitch hard SRT/SRS it will fight you when you want to let line out. With a multicender it’s butter to release it one-handed.
-AJ
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Understand that, but when is it seeing your full weight? When I'm returning from hooking, I'm either using the tail of my climb line DdRT, or using the hook's like DdRT, or - by the time I'm having to let out slack on the hook line, my weight is distributed between it and the climb line, so the hitch is never seeing my full weight in a scenario where I need to slacken it under load.

Maybe I'm underutilizing the hook...?
 
LordFarkwad said:
.what is the use case that necessitates an SRT device on there
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Probably depends on your cord/hitch combo and how you're loading it up. I have to give a thumbs up to @Brocky and his Sticht hitch. I have played with mine for about 2 hours so far on my setup, really loading it up at times, and it works really well (specs in prior posts). The length is no worse than a typical VT, just not as compact as a michoacan. After some more testing, I did decide that the hitchclimber pulley works better than a pinto - the sheaves contact the rings sooner and the release is just better. Right now, I see no sense in buying anything else. But technically, it does qualify as an SRT device I guess ;)
 
Birdyman88 said:
Probably depends on your cord/hitch combo and how you're loading it up. I have to give a thumbs up to @Brocky and his Sticht hitch. I have played with mine for about 2 hours so far on my setup, really loading it up at times, and it works really well (specs in prior posts). The length is no worse than a typical VT, just not as compact as a michoacan. After some more testing, I did decide that the hitchclimber pulley works better than a pinto - the sheaves contact the rings sooner and the release is just better. Right now, I see no sense in buying anything else. But technically, it does qualify as an SRT device I guess ;)
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Dog snap, CMI micro, 9mm RIT, Michoacan. Never had a problem with it locking up at all (but I'm also never letting out slack with my full weight on it either). Maybe I just got lucky.
 
LordFarkwad said:
Dog snap, CMI micro, 9mm RIT, Michoacan. Never had a problem with it locking up at all (but I'm also never letting out slack with my full weight on it either). Maybe I just got lucky.
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I should do a drawing but essentially, after doing a Hook traverse I could be on a trunk 15’ below the Hook, still on the other system but the Hook has most of my weight at that point. When I’m using the Hook for positionIng it can get loaded up well enough to seize a hitch.
-AJ
 
With a sizable piece of line on the hook, it is easily a complete second climbing system if needed, even though they don't rate it for life support. I wonder if that is mostly because it is a hook and not an absolutely secure tie in? There is certainly no problem with the thing holding weight. I lifted the front of my pickup with mine as a rest.
 
moss said:
I should do a drawing but essentially, after doing a Hook traverse I could be on a trunk 15’ below the Hook, still on the other system but the Hook has most of my weight at that point. When I’m using the Hook for positionIng it can get loaded up well enough to seize a hitch.
-AJ
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I gotcha. Yeah I usually end up that way as well, immediately upon reaching destination tree - hook line is straight vertical and climb line bears almost no weight. I guess I've never had trouble breaking the hitch loose in that scenario to take up slack, and if I need to let out slack (to come back across from traverse), I've changed the hook line config to DdRT.

I suppose it could be more efficient to leave the hook in place as-is for re-traversing instead of doubling on the way back (or dragging climb line tail), eh?
 
LordFarkwad said:
... I suppose it could be more efficient to leave the hook in place as-is for re-traversing instead of doubling on the way back (or dragging climb line tail), eh?
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One of the attributes of the Captain Hook is the ease at which it can be retrieved. So generally yes, it will be more efficient to utilize that feature.
 
LordFarkwad said:
I gotcha. Yeah I usually end up that way as well, immediately upon reaching destination tree - hook line is straight vertical and climb line bears almost no weight. I guess I've never had trouble breaking the hitch loose in that scenario to take up slack, and if I need to let out slack (to come back across from traverse), I've changed the hook line config to DdRT.

I suppose it could be more efficient to leave the hook in place as-is for re-traversing instead of doubling on the way back (or dragging climb line tail), eh?
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As DSMc mentioned, yep. On the other hand you might be traveling on a one-way route, then you just keep going, your main line is the one that you retrieve and reset as you continue.
-AJ
 
Brocky posted his hook having a rock climbing quickdraw on it...I use one too (mine's a little longer than what he pictured). I find this REALLY useful, because the hook has to run in line with the crotch it's in, and so the rope can cause it to look a little side-loaded in some positions...the quickdraw bends smoothly around branches and helps avoid this. That extra space also helps knots clear crotches when you're pulling slowly to set the hook.
 
DSMc said:
One of the attributes of the Captain Hook is the ease at which it can be retrieved. So generally yes, it will be more efficient to utilize that feature.
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I usually opt to double on the way back because what I can just about guarantee will happen is that on trying to retrieve the hook, it'll get itself stuck in a place that, while impossible to unwedge it, also would give me the willies having to cross back over using xD
 
LordFarkwad said:
I usually opt to double on the way back because what I can just about guarantee will happen is that on trying to retrieve the hook, it'll get itself stuck in a place that, while impossible to unwedge it, also would give me the willies having to cross back over using xD
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Yes, that can happen, but it can also often be mitigated by simply resetting the Hook in a more advantageous location prior to leaving it behind.
 
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