Hammock stand for when you only have one tree. Do they Work?

[TiredFeet]

What are you using for guy lines??

It looks like one ski pole per end works! Here's how:

On each pole, remove the handle ( bit of a grunt, then it slips off).

Slip a 5/16 eye bolt w/fender washer & neoprene washer into top of pole.

Rig three lines to stakes.

Run ridgeline, take up slack.

Hang hammock, lay in it, takeup additional slack in ridgeline.

Plastic 12" tent stakes break, Coleman 12" angle stakes band if the ground is too soft/wet, Home Depot construction plastic stakes hold well but are heavy/bulky. I am going to try MSR groundhog stakes.

The ground is very wet and soft right now, as we just had more rain last night, so I'm going to do an extended test hang this evening. I will keep y'all posted.

-Pedro

[warbonnetguy]

nice work, i put all my bodyweight on one in my hallway today, and it seemed like it might be strong enough, guess it is.

the msr groundhogs are good stakes, but for soft wet soil, i would go with the smc? alum snow stakes, i have the 9" ones from rei, they aren't worth a crap in snow (at least the snow i tested them in), but are good in soft soil, much more holding power than the msr's, never hung from them though, so can't say, but they seem sturdy enough for this application as long as they are in deep. they weigh about as much as 2 groundhog stakes.

TF, i used the zing it on the dead branch stand, i used 4 strands of it to support that end of the hammock/stand

[nickelanddime]

Two poles?!?!? That's Awesome!

[CajunHiker]

Hey Pedro, how about some close up pics of the pole mod?

[pedro]

Okay, I spent the night out in the two pole rig. It works just fine, with the following caviat: Unless you have/make poles that are taller than mine, the hammock has to be hung very taught, or you will probably touch the ground.

Tired Feet- This is a testbed (testhammock?) for several ideas and therefore I'm not using the same stuff for guylines, or anything else, that I will use as the ideas succeed or fail. That being said, I'm using 5/32" diamond braid poly (50 lbs. working load limit) from home depot for my guylines.

Cajunhiker- Here's a pic showing a closeup of the ski pole mod. The eyebolt is just dropped into the pole. The neoprene washer pads the end of the pole, and the fender washer distributes the load over a larger suface area. Care should be taken to use some sort of chafing gear on the edge of the fender washer.

I also suspect that a reinforced disc on the bottom of the pole might be in order.

I'm probably going to play around with several ideas as far as making this lighter, stronger, collapsable, and taller. I'll certainly let you all know of any progress that I make.

-Pedro

[warbonnetguy]

pedro, check out www.texastowers.com, they sell tubular aluminum in sizes that fit inside one another, like a tent pole, i used 2 1/8" tubes for my colapsable poles, i think they they had smaller diameters as well. the pieces fit together real tight, i had to sand them down with emery cloth to get them to come apart and go together easier, then i just used epoxy to set the insert piece in the end.

[CajunHiker]

Pedro, what's the length of your poles? Are the baskets on? Why the eye-bolt rig instead of tying directly to the handle? Did you try different pole angles? I can envision trying something similar with my HH, but instead I'd use the main rope attached to the handle (maybe a clove hitch) and then securing to a screw stake. Then I'd add a couple more side lines like you did.

[pedro]

"Pedro, what's the length of your poles?"

44"

"Are the baskets on?"

Yes, the poles would simply sink into the ground if the baskets weren't on. I am going to destuctively test them, however. My suspicion is that they won't take this kind of pressure repeatedly.

"Why the eye-bolt rig instead of tying directly to the handle?"

Originally I did tie to the handles when I was trying the crossed pole/one tree thing. I noticed considerable deformation in the top of the handles, indicating the plug inside the handle might eventually punch through. Given that i was increasing the vertical load on each pole by over 100% in the two pole/no tree experiment, I thought that it would be wise to switch to eyebolts. Made the rigging easier, too.

"Did you try different pole angles?"

Yes. Because I ran a ridgeline between the two poles, I could put a considerable load on the rig before I got into the hammock. Once I got in, I could tighten it up the rest of the way, get out of the hammock, and adjust guylines. The ridgeline is also an effective handhold for getting in/out of the hammock when it is slung so low to the ground. Oh yeah, you can hang a tarp from it, too.

"I can envision trying something similar with my HH, but instead I'd use the main rope attached to the handle (maybe a clove hitch) and then securing to a screw stake. Then I'd add a couple more side lines like you did."

Go for it! This is how man started to fly!(It's also how man started to crash.)

-Pedro

[warbonnetguy]

did you guy's ever see this? he just uses another tree instead of stakes.

http://www.imrisk.com/hammock/singlepolehammock.htm

[Drop]

I'm looking into this whole two pole hanging thing atm. I love how Pedro is using the ski poles but see how the short length leads to a very low hang. Would longer cross country skiing type poles be an option or would they be noticably weaker? (cross country poles vary in length from around armpit to nose height I believe)

Or possibly sticking with regular poles but using a couple of ally sleaves (with the eyebolt attached) slipped over the top to gain an extra foot or so?