I've used my $5 hammock stand from a local materials recycling store for a number of years to hang my GE hammocks for watching online video 'couch', naps, and overnights. It is great hammock stand because of the price, how portable it is to slide into position or out of the way stowage. One short coming has been that it has some flex when loading the hammock. Not really a big deal especially for use with my DH Sparrow or Superior hammock. But for droopy hammocks like the Chameleon or a 12 foot Lair I wanted a way deal with the flex. I had a 2x4 notched on each end that keep the frame rigid. Not elegant, but functional.

Enter a reply from joe_guilbeau in a Tensa thread about some aluminum swivels that he was using to put together military camo netting poles for a DIY hammock stand (thanks Joe!). Since I had a wealth of camo netting I thought about some possibilities including a complete DIY stand and as a possible solution to my current stand flex. Since the hammock stand was 1.25 inches and the camo poles were 1.50 inches I purchase a number of each to mate up for the various projects I envisioned. Hint: if you shop around on Amazon the prices and discount prices vary tremendously.

I will also add that I typically replace my GE hammock ridgelines with whoopie ridgelines because the sweet spot for me is having a longer ridgeline with a shallower lay angle off the long axis. This means that the standard bugnet/top cover will not fit. But that is easily remedied by the whoopie ridgeline or, even easier, by taking ridgeline wraps around a carabiner to shorten the ridgeline back to OEM if I want to deploy the bugnet or topcover.
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