cool thing you made for you and the kid (good opportunity to teach him a bit of the physics of how/why it works too). it looks really good, just to make it great:
- i'd maybe use lashing to connect the poles, perhaps some figure 8 lashing or such (you got a scout, put him to work
), i'd round the corners of the poles in the area where the lashing will be (and only that area, which will also act as a sort of notch, preventing it from sliding up or down the poles), probably octagon with rounded corners will do just fine (doesn't have to be perfectly round). i think it will be more reliable, and look much neater too.
- the above aside, i am in doubt about the washer thing (in a pinch, cool idea, but as a more permanent solution, it introduces sharp edges on rope, another component to break/bend/rust, etc). i'd maybe find a solution to do without it. for storing/transport, separating the beams is not really necessary i reckon (just folding them together should do?), so might not even be necessary to have a releasable connection (hence the lashing suggestion above), but if quick release would be desired for some reason, maybe other ways can be considered (individual lashing on chamfered notch on each pole, and a very small softshackle to connect the lashings, for instance?). another possibility could be to use those holes to put in some sturdy bolts, perhaps aided by some epoxy, and use the eyes of the bolts to connect the poles, again perhaps with a softshackle.
- i'd definitely separate the connection between the poles and the connection of the hammock to the poles (but you're already planning to do that, if i understand correctly)
for sit height, keep in mind you can only adjust the floor strap within a certain range, otherwise, due to the geometry of this stand design, the frame of the stand will start interfering too much with the hammock payload, if you shorten that strap enough. if you're way too low off the ground, you might need to consider either a shorter hammock or longer poles (although, hmm, 8ft sounds like it should be plenty)
for hanging the tarp, it is quite common to have extensions at the ends of the stand, with this design (some sticks, more lashing, at least for prototyping; after you're happy with it, you can probably think of some way to connect the extensions in a removable way without much fuss, as they will not need to be really all that strong to support the tarp). you can also "tune" the tarp for the purpose, if it's way too big, by adding temporary tieouts where you need them, using some variation of the "pebble in the handkerchief" method -- it's likely a combination of the two approaches might make most sense at first (otherwise you'd need extensions that are too long to be practical, or a tarp that's too small compared to what you normally like to use)
ah: and seeing as you appear to be well tooled for woodworking, if it's not much trouble for your setup, octagons with rounded corners would be something i'd do without hesitation (even if you don't like my ideas regarding lashing etc, the octagons will not only be lighter, but they'll look nice, and be a lot more pleasant and safer to handle too, i'd imagine; they also stack just as well or better, so not much i can think of to not do it, if your tooling makes that operation easy
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