Have you made or seen a portable multi-hammock stand?

[Latherdome]

In case you missed it, how about a 6-person stand weighing 45lbs, packing to 20” long, movable by one person, requiring minimal ground anchoring? 6 is max for this approach, but omitting "petals" makes it work for anywhere from 1 to 6.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...=1#post1925138

It’s 4.5 Tensa4 stands, but could readily be DIYed with heavier but inexpensive materials. Tarps... could be tricky. Or just set up under the nearest Tentsile XXL.

[OCDave]

In case you missed it, how about a 6-person stand weighing 45lbs, packing to 20” long, movable by one person, requiring minimal ground anchoring? 6 is max for this approach, but omitting "petals" makes it work for anywhere from 1 to 6.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...=1#post1925138

It’s 4.5 Tensa4 stands, but could readily be DIYed with heavier but inexpensive materials. Tarps... could be tricky. Or just set up under the nearest Tentsile XXL.

My efforts to make hammocking more accessible for the scouts somewhat backfired. It focused the scrutiny of the troop master on the issue who was already sort of annoyed that hammocks have split some patrols into have and have nots. No final decisions have been made but, I suspect that our scouts may be relegated back to ground camping. His imposed guidelines also guarantee I'll have a Tensa4 stand on my holiday gift list.

[CaptainGravity]

My efforts to make hammocking more accessible for the scouts somewhat backfired. It focused the scrutiny of the troop master on the issue who was already sort of annoyed that hammocks have split some patrols into have and have nots. No final decisions have been made but, I suspect that our scouts may be relegated back to ground camping. His imposed guidelines also guarantee I'll have a Tensa4 stand on my holiday gift list.

WOW, I don't agree with that scoutmaster. Any (safe) thing that gets boys loving camping is a good thing!

My sons' Virginia troop has embraced hammocking, with some rules in addition to the usual hammock safety rules:
1) Must always have a bail out option; for boys this means always also set up tent with your buddy.
2) No hammocks if too "cold" (generally defined as November through March, depends on forecast and elevation); adults can use their own judgement with insulation.
3) Tarp & bugnet always required. (Bugnet dependent on season & elevation)
We ALSO, at my insistence, carry some 8' pioneering poles in the trailer. Useful for many things INCLUDING a tensahedron stand.

At Raven Knob summer camp I set up my hammock & tarp for the youngest "Raven Scouts" working on their knots and demonstrated the following uses of the knots they were learning:
* Sheet bend (slippery = Beckett hitch) to connect the suspension to the hammock's continuous loop
* Bowline on one end of your tarp ridgline, with a stick, easy up
* Tautline hitch on the other end of your tarp ridgeline (BONUS KNOT could use trucker's hitch)
* Square knot to make two small loops
* BONUS KNOT prussik to attach small loops to tarp ridgeline (plus a couple of sticks)
* two half hitches (or tautline) to stake tarp to ground
Are they tying those knots when they set up a tent? I doubt it. And they were in the "would love to use a hammock" mindset, so hopefully that helped them retain their knot knowledge.

Back home, the troop also did a "lashing night" where they attempted (ran out of daylight & meeting time) to build tensahedron stands using 4 8' pioneering poles and:
* Two shear lashings (making two bipoles for the "higher" vertices of the stand)
* Diagonal lashing for one of the "lower" vertices
* Square lashing for the other "lower" vertices
All of the above started with a timber hitch and ended with a clove hitch.

Put that all together, it's a GREAT way to emphasize "why are we learning these knots and lashings"?

As for the "haves and have nots"... How about some patrol hammock kits?
* $5 harbor freight 12' straps (cut off metal bits) for suspension
* $10 walmart 9x12 (or whatever) tarp
* $15 amazon hammock (or make one from a tablecloth & whipping... hey another scout skill!),
* and either slightly modify a cot bugnet or sew some material together for a bug net
Hopefully a motivation for selling more popcorn (or doing a car wash or whatever)

In my opinion, the first solution to "the boys want to do X but it's causing problem Y" shouldn't be "OK we wont allow X" but rather "hmm how can the boys solve Y?"

End of rant. Good luck!

[Dynamystic]

In my opinion, the first solution to "the boys want to do X but it's causing problem Y" shouldn't be "OK we wont allow X" but rather "hmm how can the boys solve Y?"

Well said!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[kirin]

This is a 1/4 scale model of a standard 4 strut tensegrity prism. Its coolness is that you only need 4 poles for 4 people. If you do in the proportions shown here, it's totally freestanding. The only caveat is that the poles have to be pretty long and pretty strong.

PXL_20210404_054826859.jpg

This is like the tensegrity 3 person one that you can find various places on this forum, but it's superior because the feet stick out exactly in the middle under each hammock for maximum stability. You can force the 3 person version to do that, but it requires an extra set of tiedown lines to "twist" it a bit more than the ideal tensegrity version does naturally with just one diagonal line per pole. There is a mathematical property of tensegrity prisms where you get nice stabilizing behavior for versions with exactly 4, 8, 12 poles, etc. Next is a view directly down, showing the foot of a different pole sticking out. As long as the person in the hammock doesn't swing out by more than a foot and their center of gravity is within the central 2-3 feet along the length of the ridgeline, this is completely stable with even 1 person. With a second person on the other side, it's essentially impossible to tip over.

PXL_20210404_054843692.jpg

Here's a perspective view showing the single (beige) diagonal line which holds the tensegrity in position. You could add another ring of diagonal lines the other direction to stiffen the whole thing up a bit, but it's not necessary.

PXL_20210404_054856509.jpg

To get 10-10.5 foot ridgelines around the top perimeter, the poles need to be about 14 feet long. Each one needs to be able to handle a compressive force about 2.5 times the weight of the heaviest hanger. With a factor of safety of 2, that means really 5 times. So if you weigh 200 pounds, the pole really needs to be designed for at least 1000 pounds over that length.

Luckily, if your hangers are only 150 pounds, then nominal 2 x 2 (really 1.5 x 1.5 inch) pieces of douglas fir are strong enough if you can find straight ones in 14' lengths. A true 2" diameter round rod will hold 200 pound hangers.

If you had a 15 x 15' square tarp and a center pole a bit taller than the 4 main structural poles, you could completely cover the whole thing and have a decent sized central space for hanging out or cooking. You would need to stake out the 4 corners of the tarp and/or put them on trekking poles in partial "porch" mode.

The bottom square of tension lines can be a bit smaller than the top square, but not much smaller or the whole thing gets unstable. Hope this is fun for someone.