OKAY! It occurred. Despite your best intentions, you used buttons or belt loops on your hammock and broke one or more of the ropes. What are you doing now? In this article we will cover repairs for three of the most common mishaps that can happen to the Mayan hammock.

  • The number one mishap, and the most common, is one or two strings breaking because they got caught on something on your clothes. The solution is quite simple. Take both ends of the rope and tie a single weaver’s knot. What’s that? Make a U shape on one of the strings. Then bring the end of the other string up through the back of the U, around the back, and then under itself. Fitted sweater. Trim the edge; and reattach the string to the weave. Repeat for any other broken strings.
  • Mishap number two starts like mishap number one, except it has nylon or mercerized cotton strings that don’t break easily. In this case, you end up with a long loop sticking out of the weave. In this case, you will be carefully pulling the string on each side of the loop so that the loop almost disappears and you have two smaller loops, one on each side. Then pull the string from the opposite side of each loop to make more smaller loops. Keep doing this, tracing the rope across the length of the hammock until you only have a series of small loops across the length of the hammock. Then take the end of the hammock and shake it vigorously. If necessary, you can gently pull and stretch the fabric around the string in question until it looks good.
  • Mishap number three is the bad one. It can happen when your teens invite their friends over; And no one quite knows how almost a third of the hammock was cut off! Trying to re-tie and weave this mess would make a grown man cry. So don’t try it. Get a fishing line or other thin but strong string. Pass one end of the wound and tie the tissue well with a strong knot. Then, spiral stitch evenly and carefully across the entire length of the wound, making sure to get at least a couple of strands of good hammock rope on either side of the tear. Continue past the end of the rip and tie another tight knot. You can trim off all the dangling barbs of yarn and you’re good to go. This is not a beautiful repair, but it will last for years.

The beauty of these repairs is that even when they don’t look so good, the comfort of the hammock usually isn’t affected at all.