Single tree hammock hang

[fugalster]

Last night I did a trial run of a new backpacking friendly spreader pole for my hammock. The intent is to be able to camp in the canopy, but this was a dry run at ground level.

Pictures found here.

It was a unique night, which I loved. The one end of the hammock haning from the rope was able to sway back and forth and would last several minutes once disturbed. Since the other end of the rope was so high in the tree, when a breeze came along and swayed the tree that would kick off the hammock swing. I was rocked all night long.

There's no rain protection (yet), but I try to get away without a tarp as often as possible anyway. Same with bug net.

[KBr00ks]

Huh, that looks cool. Can you share any more details -- what kind of strap did you use? How did you get it up in the tree? How high of a branch did you need to use?

[Carrico]

That's pretty cool. I wonder, is it possible to tie both ends to the trunk, if the rope that held the end of the spreader bar up ran at like a 45 degree angle?

[fugalster]

what kind of strap did you use?

On the trunk I used 1" tubular climbing webbing tied into a ~6' sling with a beer knot, girth hitched around the trunk. On the high side was 11mm climbing rope. I used a friction hitch between the climbing rope and pole to easily adjust for levelness. All of these could be significantly lighter, but I'm planning on climbing anyway with this setup so I'll have the gear on hand.

how did you get it up the tree?

I used a small rope with a weight tied to the end and threw it over, then pulled the big rope over the branch. I then tied a figure-8 on a bight on one end, clipped a locking carabiner through the bight and around the other end of the rope and pulled it up to sinch around the branch. I also clipped my throw line onto the carabiner to be able to pull it back down again.

how high of a branch did you need to use?

In my case I wanted a lightweight and collapsible pole, so I designed the strength to be bare minimum. The more vertical I can get the rope the less load is in the pole, and pointing away from the trunk will continue to reduce the load. In this case the rope is about 35 ft up giving a 15° angle from vertical, which is as angled as I'd ever want this pole to handle. under typical use the rope will be nearly vertical and only a few feet long since I will be climbing up to the branch I'll be hanging from.

The buckling strength of the pole is critical for this kind of compressive ridgeline. If you're doing a home setup you can use 3/4" steel conduit pipe from the hardware store, which only costs a few dollars for 10 ft, and hang your ropes down to about 45°. But carrying a 6lb 10 ft pole into the woods doesn't sound like much fun to me...

[fugalster]

I wonder, is it possible to tie both ends to the trunk

The short answer is yes. But please read the last paragraph of my reply above.

I essentially did tie off to the trunk on both ends, I just had a crotch to work with up high. If you had a way to girth hitch or something similar as high as you needed to there's no reason it shouldn't work as long as you pole is strong enough to handle the angle you're using.

[CharlieS]

Interesting.
Have you looked at carbon fiber tubes?

[GadgetUK437]

What guage/weight tube are you using?

--
Gadget

[fugalster]

Have you looked at carbon fiber tubes?

Carbon fiber is very strong, but also very flexible. A beam in compression like this needs to be rigid, so carbon fiber performs very poorly here.

What guage/weight tube are you using?

I'm using 1.25" diameter aluminum tube with 0.035" wall thickness. It's 106" overall and 102" between the toggles. it weighs about 1.5 lbs.

I used 5" pieces of thicker walled tube that I cut down on a lathe to get a good slip fit into the long poles to use as couplings. You could use stock tube that has an appropriate diameter to use as either internal or external couplings, but it might have just a little slop.

Steel is about 3 times more rigid than aluminum, so you can get away with a smaller diameter. But it's also about 3 times heavier. The bending strength is related to the diameter squared, so you get more bang for going larger diameter with a lighter material if weight is your primary objective. If bulk and/or cost is more important to you than it's hard to beat steel.

[TominMN]

Carbon fiber is very strong, but also very flexible. A beam in compression like this needs to be rigid, so carbon fiber performs very poorly here.


...

A carbon tube can be constructed to be either flexible or rigid and be equally light respectively. Just not sure the small savings in weight would justify the added cost.