Frankenstand

[bearito]

I'm mulling over whether I actually want to get in it, but I was able to piece a stand for my camping hammock together with two LL Bean hammock stands that I got for $15 (normally $400 for both!). I don't work there anymore but LL Bean sells very sturdy and durable hammock stands for backyard hammocks, the kind made of heavy canvas, rope and wooden spreader bars. Wouldn't normally work on a gathered end hammock but if I fit two together...

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I can make a ~10'-12' tall goal-post-looking monstrosity. If I tie a rope at the top I can tension the bars, which would normally happen only when sitting in the hammock (messing up the pitch a bit). With the rope at the top holding it tight, the idea is to not only get an accurate pitch but prevent those vertical bars swinging outwards.

These bars/pipes are heavy and strong, but the inserts fitting them together only go in about 3" so there might be a small risk of them deforming and it all falling apart catastrophically. Also, I'd probably need a ladder to set this up. That said I think it -should- work.

[cougarmeat]

Height and the pulling forces that go along with it will be your challenge. When I’ve done the math, most those hammock stands are for something in the 9 ft variety - not the usual 11 ft’er we use for camping/sleeping. Once you find one that is wide enough for an 11 ft hammock, you need to calculate (Hammock Calculator) how high above ground you’ll be. Usually it is MUCH lower than you’d setup with trees. But off the ground is off the ground.

There are some pretty inexpensive Turtle Dog type stands described in this forum.

But building stuff can be fun for some people. Just ask yourself, when assembling the various pieces, “Where will this piece end up if there is a failure right here?"

[WhollyHamaca]

Big trampoline under you, maybe wear a crash helmet & neck brace, spotters standing by ...
But seriously, if the pipe inserts are only 3" deep and you don't lock them together (e.g., bolts through the joints), that doesn't allow much for deflection.
I'd also be concerned that pulling your 10-12 ft tall "goal posts" tightly together at the top would cause the heavy pipes to fall inward ON YOU if any part of your Frankenstand comes apart while you're in your hammock. That would be a double-big ouch, aside from you hitting the ground.
Never hang higher than you're willing to fall! Maybe you could cut & weld the parts from your two stands to make something a bit safer?

[WhollyHamaca]

How long & high is just ONE of your two stands? Maybe you can use parts of the second one to make the first longer (add a 2-3 ft section to the base) and higher (add an extender to each of the upright poles). Or look for some other pipe that will fit into or over your stand pipes to extend them, and then you could make BOTH of your original hammock stands bigger.
I've seen it done before, to adapt a too-short, too-low spreader-bar hammock stand to be long & high enough for an 11" gathered-end hammock. Good luck with your experiments!

[tangara]

I've got that type of stand, 2 in fact. Not an LLBean, but similar quality. One of them was shorter on the end poles, and I was able to find pipe that fit into it, so I just bought enough pipe length to raise the ends to about 5 feet tall when done. I also did the ridgeline between to keep the bars at their inward flex, the same as when it's loaded with the hammock. I just did a really long whoopie sling between the two ends.

If you have a bent joint on the end bars, the stress on that joint is going to be pretty big and liable to fail.

The second stand I have already came with end bars that were long enough to keep my 11 footers off the ground, so I didn't need to mod that one. That's a great stand. It was originally spec'd for 15 foot spreader bar hammocks, made of 1 1/2" pipe.

The only thing I don't like about these types of stands is that bar that runs underneath you. I fell on it once when getting into the hammock and not paying attention to what I was doing (one hand occupied with something else), and boy did that hurt! It's like having a poorly place tree root under your setup.

[WhollyHamaca]

The only thing I don't like about these types of stands is that bar that runs underneath you. I fell on it once when getting into the hammock and not paying attention to what I was doing (one hand occupied with something else), and boy did that hurt! It's like having a poorly place tree root under your setup.

I fell on the bar of one like that, too. Once was enough to convince me that that style of stand is dangerous. The next day I covered the bar with an exterior-grade plywood platform 4 ft wide x 8 ft long on a base of 2x4's to raise it over the bar. Painted it, so no splinters in bare feet.

[tangara]

I fell on the bar of one like that, too. Once was enough to convince me that that style of stand is dangerous. The next day I covered the bar with an exterior-grade plywood platform 4 ft wide x 8 ft long on a base of 2x4's to raise it over the bar. Painted it, so no splinters in bare feet.

I like that idea. I use mine on my deck, so I've just been putting a chair cushion down on the bar, but framing it out would be more elegant.