Tensa solo, suspension?

[cougarmeat]

I had good luck using a campsite picnic table on the Orcas trip, but I had to go to trees during a Sucia Island adventure.

First, I tried to anchor in the camp area - after giving the tent folks prime real estate because they needed it. That put me at the edge of the cleared site. Near/beyond the cleared perimeter, the ground wasn't very compacted. The Boom held (twice) just long enough for me to relax - then laughter from the tent crowd as one stake pulled out. I was near brambles so didn't have a lot of "try over here a bit", room and I forgot LowTech's technique of favoring the stronger anchor.

So I move out to the picnic table above the beach - still close enough to be "with the group". But unlike the "sitting on dirt" tables on the Orcas trip, this table was on beach pebbles (A.K.A. marbles). It slid about 5 inches when I got in the hammock. I'm pretty sure, given the inertia of the table, that two stakes, anchoring the far end of the table, would have been plenty.

But I was done fussing around. I noticed a fine grove of trees (you start doing that when you become a hammock camper), down the trail from the tent site. Though I would no longer be "with the group", at "Hammock Time" everyone is going to sleep anyway. So I set up in those trees and was fine.

Ravenin - I'm going on about that because, sigh, that's what I do, AND so you'll see that just putting a boomstake or Orange Screws or other pegs in the ground, or tying to other objects, might not get the job done. I don't want you to be surprised if you get in your hammock, just start to relax, and all of a sudden ... your world changes a bit. Just get out of the hammock, laugh at your fate, and figure out what you need to do to make a more solid anchor.

[LowTech]

At least when a stake pulls out on a pole stand you tend to tip over sideways instead of just dropping.

"Sent w/o me knowing"

[mattnin]

At this point I have a bigger collection of ground stakes than Shug has of hammocks and quilts .
So far the style that has worked the best for me in variety of situations is a simple "V" of aluminum. In the hard stuff I've been able to use ones that are about 9" long but I'm going to make some 12" ones as well.

Do you have a picture of the V style ground stake? I'm interested. Most of my hammock opportunities are either a one tree setup, or one boulder setup I'm seriously starting to consider the trekking treez

[LowTech]

Do you have a picture of the V style ground stake? I'm interested. Most of my hammock opportunities are either a one tree setup, or one boulder setup I'm seriously starting to consider the trekking treez

Here's a couple showing the military V style stakes and one that shows my stake collection.
I did find some 12" military ones that I didn't know existed until I stumbled on them looking for something else.IMG_20230909_190037325.jpgIMG_20230909_190104352.jpgIMG_20240214_103748835.jpg

"Sent w/o me knowing"

[cougarmeat]

LowTech - this is unnecessarily fussy (because if it holds, it holds), but what the heck - wouldn't those orange stakes go in with the "spoon side" facing away from the direction of pull?

[mattnin]

They're completely different than what I was thinking they would look like. Thank you for sharing!

[LowTech]

CougarMeat, That's the conventional way of using similar shaped stakes, true. These are more in what I would call the "Sand Stake" family.
Because of the type of soils I'm around, hard enough to bend standard aluminum tent stake getting hammered in . . . until broken . . . and then soft and sandy until soaked and compressed again, I tend towards sand stake shapes but ones strong enough that I can still hammer them into the hard stuff.
If they V towards the direction of pull then it will try to crack the ground apart. In some soil types that compresses the soil on either side of the stake and made the ground firmer, but not in soil w/ too high a sand content. It that situation just keeps fracturing outward.
Also if you actually had that stake in hand you'd see that if you tried to use it the other way around that whatever you looped around it would soon wear through on the edges that are not rounded off.

Here's some other sand stakes that I have, but not my photo.Screenshot_20240415-085118.jpgScreenshot_20240415-085156.jpg

"Sent w/o me knowing"

[FartBarf]

Here's a couple showing the military V style stakes and one that shows my stake collection.
I did find some 12" military ones that I didn't know existed until I stumbled on them looking for something else.IMG_20230909_190037325.jpgIMG_20230909_190104352.jpgIMG_20240214_103748835.jpg

"Sent w/o me knowing"

Welp, just ordered a set of 12 of the 12" military ones I didn't know existed until now. I keep half of my tensa4 set up in a semi collapsed inverted V, anchored by self equalizing orange screws with a boomstake backup. The other side is hung from a tree. While the three anchor triangle has been solid, the appeal of using all metal anchors and not relying on the orange screws longterm has been nagging in my head and I think these will work, thanks!

[cougarmeat]

LowTech, at first I was blind (-ed by shape-force vectors), but now I see. Soil type is king - ruling everything else. Around here, you need a drill bit and fast-setting epoxy so you can anchor into lava rock.

I have some bags that are supposed to be for sandy beaches (on Washington "beaches" you'd fill them with rocks), where you'd fill them with loose sand and probably bury them. I'm sure they would work for a Tensa4 but I have my doubts about a Tensa pole.

Sounds like your ground is a real challenge.