Tensa 4 Hammock Stand

[BillyBob58]

Set the dog shelter up under your foot end, and if his weight affects the stand, it will only reinforce the anchor.

I think you are on to something there. I have been using dumbbells right under the foot end apex, at 37 to 74 lbs, to "reinforce" my foot end anchor. (they are solidly on the ground, with a hammock strap attached tightly- but not enough to lift or pull down the apex with an empty hammock)- from apex to dumbbells.

These can go anywhere from simply(with 37 lb) greatly reducing the load placed on the boom stake, orange stake or in house anchor(shoe or 2X4 other side of a closet door hinge) to actually taking the full load(using 74 lb). At max weight, they(dumbbells) essentially don't(or barely and very rarely) move as I move around in the hammock, taking almost all the load off of the ground stake, as evidenced by some slack in that line with hammock occupied.

It seems to me that if the dog added a lot of his weight, thru the tent wall fabric, to the foot end apex, it would not be much different than me adding 74 lb of dumbbells on the ground under the apex. I have a feeling that worse case is it shifts the balance slightly towards a mouse trap situation, but I doubt it would be enough change for a collapse(which could be prevented anyway by a some what loose head end tether). It would more just shift the anchor from the ground stake to the dog. Seems to me like this would work. But I have no way to put it to the test.

[Misterk]

Does it pack down/collapse enough for adequate transport on the bike? I loathe sleeping on the ground anymore and have been (forgive me) thinking about buying a bivy for the ground when on the bike. This gives me and my shoulders and back, some hope.


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I carry 4 poles in each pannier, piece of cake

[Dublinlin]

I carry 4 poles in each pannier, piece of cake

Yes! I'm continually amazed at how small and light this stand breaks down to! It's not back-packing material, but it sure doesn't take up much space at all when packed in a vehicle. And it is totally great to carry into a Walk-in-Campsite like I'll be doing this weekend!

[Dublinlin]

Ok. Murphy's Law...since I had decided just to go with my normal pup tent and hang it from the continuous loop of my hammock via an elastic cord...quick, simple, and really close to my usual windbreak solution when not using my Tensa...since I had decided this would be just fine, I could not for the life of me FIND Rem's tent anywhere yesterday when I was ready to do a trial run of the set up before packing for this weekend. The gear gremlins have hidden it. I turned the house upside down without luck. SO ANNOYING!!! Not feeling confident at this point that I will LOCATE where on earth I stashed it after it's last use (and it packs down so stinking small that it could be anywhere), I decided I'd better figure out something quick and dirty just in case Friday morning rolls around finding me still scratching my head with no clue where I put it. So, I fell back on the idea that had been rolling around in my head earlier. My dog really is NOT big on SHELTER and truly ONLY needs a one sided wind block and that only on particularly windy/cold nights...and maybe a tarp over him if it is POURING rain. If it's a cold night with a light drizzle but not much wind, he, likely as not, will choose to sleep with his head and shoulders out from under the tarp with nothing to obstruct his view from any direction, anyway. So, I really don't need anything too elaborate. He's hot-natured and doesn't favor enclosed spaces. He just needs a simple windbreak.

Just using what I had on hand yesterday, I grabbed some paracord and a raggedy old CCF pad. I did one loop of paracord all the way around with middle of the pad and did a "sort of prussik knot" (easy to do and undo) to hold it place on the base cord of the TENSA far enough in from where the "feet" of the TENSA meet that even if he should lean some onto the wall as he plops down, the wall will just collapse down partway without contacting the feet of the TENSA (so no lateral force on the legs). The paracord around the middle of the wall, connected to the TENSA ground cord will keep the edge of the wall in contact with the ground rather than being lifted up by the wind. There is a paracord loop loosely connecting each upper end of the pad with a TENSA leg...but the cord will just slide down lower on the TENSA lets if the dog presses outward against the wall as he lies. I don't think there's much risk of the legs being leaned on with the pad wall positioned as far in as I have it...yet the wall should hold against the wind. Also, I think it is far enough in that if it rains (which it is forecasted to do), even with the tarp being blown, I don't think it will be dumping the rain water on the inside of the wall.

I will bring a smaller CCF pad for the dog to lay on. And I'll bring two small stakes and two more pieces of cord to secure each of the lower corners snug against the ground.

Anyway, it's kind of ugly and tacky, but I think it will work. Worst case scenario is that I'll walk Rem back out to the parking lot and lock him in the truck if his shelter fails. He's a "cowboy camping" kind of dog, though...so it'll probably be okay for this weekend. Then I'll figure out what the gear gremlins have done with his pup tent before I head out on the next trip!

[Dublinlin]

Hey, WolfPackOne, I am by NO MEANS a tarp extender expert... in fact, just this weekend I went Tensa camping with my buddy and it was her very first time camping in her Tensa, but, to my utter chagrin, I struggled with my tarp extenders--having used them once before successfully, but for some reason this weekend my brain fogged over and for the life of me I couldn't get them to work! Probably because I was demonstrating to my friend! Anyway, I just gave up and said, "It's not going to rain, anyway. Who needs a tarp?" I thought that was the end of it. Wrong. Five minutes later I looked over to where my friend was setting up her gear and there she had HER tarp up! She sauntered over and offered to assist me with mine! Turns out I just needed to tighten up the "saddle" where the extender pole's peg is seated. Looking at your photos, in that third photo, you've got the same thing going on that I originally had, before my first-time-user friend tutored me! ...I think if you tightened up those two bottom straps so that the hole where the peg seats is pulled in taut between the two Tensa legs, then that would push the upper end of your extender pole further OUTWARD, continuing the same line as your Tensa legs rather than going straight up at an angle from the legs. That would lengthen the distance for your tarp ends but still increase your head room. Also, using a loop of heavy duty elastic cord to connect one end of your tarp to it's extender pole allows the tarp ridgeline to have a little give, yet still hang taut.

That being all said, I still could be dead wrong! I mean, my own tarp wouldn't have been over me this weekend if a first time Tensa user hadn't been there to assist me! :P


Maybe some pictures will help... This is how my tarp extender looked in relation to my Tensa legs after my friend helpfully suggested I should tighten the saddle...

Attachment 186835
(11' Trail Lair hammock paired with an 11' Warbonnet Edge Tarp using Tensa tarp extender poles.)


Before my friend rescued me, my tarp extenders were going up almost perpendicular from the ground rather than extending the same line made by the Tensa legs. I'm sorry, I don't have a picture showing that, but I drew in red lines what my extenders had been doing prior to the saddle being tightened...

Attachment 186836



WolfPackOne, I notice in this photo your tarp extender is not following the same line as your Tensa legs...

Attachment 186837



If you tightened the two straps that connect to each Tensa leg so that the straps are in a straight line, rather than in a "V", it would pull the bottom end of your tarp extender pole into the same angle your Tensa legs are taking...and that would put each end further out, giving more space to spread your tarp tauter.

Attachment 186838



Hope that helps!

Well, too many days have passed for me to EDIT my post (quoted above). As I have looked deeper into proper use of the the tarp extenders, I think I misinformed in the post above!!! Here is an illustration that Shug copied in an earlier post on the subject:



Tarp-extension-1.2.pdf

I still in the learning phase with the tarp extenders!!!

[Dublinlin]

It rained all day yesterday and some during the night last night. The dog and I stayed perfectly dry and I saw once again why I LOVE this Tensa4, even when trees are plentiful. There’s no way I could’ve “married” my SuperFly and ThunderFly tarps, extending my porch out an extra five feet or so, if I hadn’t had my Tensa. As it was, I had a gorgeously generous porch area looking out over a babbling brook. It made camping in the rain fun!

I did find Rem’s pup tent right before leaving, so I had it along, but went with the CCF “wind wall” instead, attaching one end to a tree and the other to a heavy ice chest and used two stakes to anchor the bottom edge in the middle. It worked fine. I’ll try the pup tent with the Tensa on our next campout!





View from the “back” (before I snugged my underquilt up to the bottom of the hammock!)…

[BillyBob58]

Looks great!

[Mignonscottage]

I have been thinking about trying one of these. How tall are you girls, Is the XLC too long if you are short?

[BillyBob58]

I have been thinking about trying one of these. How tall are you girls, Is the XLC too long if you are short?

I am not a girl, but I think the answer is the same regardless of gender. I suppose it might be possible to be too tall for this stand, maybe. I am 6'1" and I am def not too tall for it. I don't see how a person could be too short. Being shorter just gives you more room between the bars, which sometimes there is not a whole lot of. So, seems to me if I was shorter it would work even better than it already does. Now, if I was 6" taller or more, I do wonder how well that would work..............

EDIT: excuse me, I see you are asking about the WB XLC hammock, and not the stand. Still, I don't think a hammock can be too long for you, but you for sure might be able to get by with a shorter hammock and do just fine.

[Dublinlin]

Looks great!

Thanks BillyBob58! I set up between rain showers in a heavy mist, so it was a “quick and dirty” deal…and it was the first time I’d attempted to use two tarps like one giant tarp. Racing against the weather, I didn’t get the tarp on the Tensa perfectly aligned with the tarp strung from the trees, but it still worked perfectly and provided me with a huge protected area. I didn’t have any drips or pooling and had a wide open vista that I’m not used to ever having in stormy conditions! Frankly, this is going to be my go-to set up from now on! I took a few more pictures. They don’t really convey how spacious my porch space was, though… (for reference, that’s a 9’x6’ mat beneath my hammock occupying some of the space under the smaller of the two tarps)…










The view out from beneath my tarp…

I have been thinking about trying one of these. How tall are you girls, Is the XLC too long if you are short?

EDIT: excuse me, I see you are asking about the WB XLC hammock, and not the stand. Still, I don't think a hammock can be too long for you, but you for sure might be able to get by with a shorter hammock and do just fine.

Hi Mignonscottage! Like BillyBob58 observed, you have the best of both worlds…you’d be quite comfy in the 11 foot Blackbird XLC as well as the shorter (10’) Blackbird. I’ve not ever used my daughter’s Blackbird with my Tensa, but I’ve used my XLC with it and the XLC works beautifully with a Tensa. I am 4’11” and I sleep comfortably in the 10’ Blackbird, but I PREFER the more spacious 11’ XLC. This most recent trip I used my 11’ Trail Lair with my Tensa. Years ago when Jared of Simply Light Designs made my Trail Lair, I had him put the longer sized (8”?) continuous loops on each end and now, with the Tensa, I’ve found it works perfectly to not use any straps, just loop each of my generously long continuous loops directly to the Tensa. When I use my XLC with the Tensa (which has standard size continuous loops, I have to use straps.

Directly to your question, though, shortness does not make you in the least bit less comfortable in an 11” hammock like the XLC. Personally, I’ve never found an extra wide hammock that I liked…the extra width just creates too much fabric and obstructs my view out…don’t know if this is because I’m short or if it’s just my personal preference…I might well feel that way even if I were tall, I don’t know, but there’s no such thing as an extra wide XLC, so you’re safe there!