TurtleLady/TurtleDog stand: 8 eyebolts and 3/4 conduit, no drilling or lashing

[Banana Hammock]

I used 8 eyebolts and 3/4" conduit (no welding - a perfect press-fit). The eye-bolts took the place of tripod-lashing, hinge-hardware, through-bolts arranged in a "T", welding, or drilling any holes. Micro-adjustable and works extremely well.

First, the two "quirks":

1.) One pole doesn't "fold" flat, but can just be unscrewed from the eye-bolt relatively easily for transporting.

2.) The tripods have a bit of play, when unweighted. I'm talking just a smidgen. The amount of space left from two half-inch thick eye-bolts not-quite-filling in all the space of the one eyebolt's hole. When weighted down, they are solid, without any movement at all, I swear. I was amazed. (I was having slippage issues with my poor attempts at tripod lashing with rope, so I'd rather have these two quirks)

I have a welder, but didn't need to use it. The 1/2" eyebolt nuts are just press-fit into the 3/4" conduit, and rated at 300 lbs each. I "lightly" hammered them in, and they ever-so-slightly deformed the tubing, in the most perfect way. Since all the forces are "downward", pulling the eyebolts INTO the tubes, I found it to be extremely secure without any welding.

The entire cost was less than $50.

8 eyebolts (1/2" x 6") w/nut @ 2.41 each = $19.28
7 conduit poles (3/4" x 10') @ 3.12 each = $21.84
Total cost = $41.12 before tax

You could save money by going with 5' long tripod poles, needing 3 less conduit poles - the eyebolt configuration raises the height of your ridgepole, compared to tripod-lashing.

(I already had a tubing cutter, climbing carabiners, and Amsteel)

(I stole the eyebolt design from Scott at meatfiregood.com - the only part I thought of was using his "press-fit-eyebolt" idea on the ends of the ridgepole). Except I hung my ridge-pole from the rear pole's eyebolt, sandwiched between the two front side-poles, so it's weighted correctly and cannot slip out.

All other credit goes to TurtleLady & OldDog.

I didn't feel comfortable with a heavy fence-post hanging above me (in case of failure), so I threw some eye-bolts into the ends of a 10' piece of 3/4" conduit. I found that as long as your hangle is close to 30º, it hardly puts any load on the ridgepole at all (besides compression). (I even used some thin-walled aluminum before I went to conduit, and even though it was as rigid as a wet noodle, 30º + my body weight didn't even deform it at all - so 3/4" conduit is plenty sturdy for the proper "hangle".) This even makes the ridgepole length micro-adjustable, by screwing out the eyebolts to lengthen or shorten the points of attachment. I didn't feel like drilling holes, and the eyebolts make for a smooth and rounded place for Amsteel or carabiners. (I've since changed to carabiners for both upper and lower ridgepole-eye-bolt attachments - shown in last photo)



All pitched up without the use of a single tree! And that nifty little wood-stove with the chimney makes the ambience very "campy", as well! (the smells of burning trees, and the crackles of twigs a flame - I don't hug trees; I burn them!)



I went with 7' long tripod poles, without "limiters" since it will be used on carpet or grass - hasn't slipped at all, and looks clean. Works great indoors and the dog likes it:



At night, outside, I just clip the dog's leash where the dromedary bag is attached in this picture. It's extremely secure, even when he tries to dart after a squirrel:



Here's information on how I opened and closed the one eyebolt for the rear tripod leg: . I found hammering directly on the nut, into the (factory cut) ends of the poles worked best for me. You can hear when you're hitting the lip of the conduit, beating around it until the nut is seated flush all around. Make sure to screw the eyebolts all the way tight for the ends of the ridgepole, so they'll face the same way (up), during use. I point all my gaps towards the sky (eyebolt "gaps" up/poles down).

One caveat: The "rear" pole would need to be a half-inch longer, if you wanted perfectly equal legs, although I could also unscrew that eyebolt by a half inch and equal things out as well. By design, the "rear" pole sits above the others. The other two aren't exactly equal either. It's hard to explain, but they're just a smidgeon off from each other. You could get perfection by unscrewing the eyebolts slightly, or figuring out precise measurements that would change depending on how far the legs are splayed. The micro-adjust-by-unscrewing is a real solution for those obsessive compulsive days at camp.