5" round wood post not enough?

[QuiltinMom]

I had another thread where I was asking about a semi-permanent hammock set up. I would like to just put up the tree slings and possibly leave them up all summer so the kids can connect the hammocks whenever they want them.

We have a 12" diameter tree that is about 15 1/2' away from a building. We want to be able to set up 4 or 5 hammocks at one time. So I asked on here how to go about doing that and someone said to put a pole 15 1/2' away from the building and about 15' away from the tree. I thought I did my research well enough to understand that we should go with at least a 6x6 pole. We considered using a metal pole, but couldn't seem to come up with an idea of how big it needed to be. We have some schedule 40 pole here, but it was only 1 1/2" so that didn't seem sufficient. https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...se-for-comfort

We purchased and set a 5" diameter wood fence post. It is buried 3' deep and is set in concrete. This has already been done. Now I am getting the impression that this is not going to be strong enough for multiple hammocks. https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ent-suspension

So did we short change ourselves? Is this pole under sized? I want something there that we don't even have to think about if it will hold or not. I don't want any worries about the kids goofing around on the hammocks and having that pole give way.

So do we need to do something else? If so, what do we need to set that would hold at least two and possibly 3 hammocks?

THANKS!!!

[Bubba]

If you are going to support multiple hammocks, it might be a good idea to have some kind of cross brace from the top of the pole to the other anchor points. If that's not possible maybe some counter tension from the top of the pole to the ground away from the hammocks.

I would not leave any suspension exposed to the outdoors. UV rays, heat and moisture etc. will prematurely weaken the suspension and increase the risk of breaking.

[OutandBack]

The only way you are really going to know and get some piece of mind is to have someone test it.

If I was testing this I would tie a temporary heavy rope to the top of the pole with some slack and anchor it to something strong. Like a vehicles bumper hitch or tractor.
So if the pole breaks it won't come down on the tester but fall to one side.

Attach your hammock straps at the proper heigth (~6') and adjust the hammock so it is 12-18" off the ground.

Get someone heavy to sit, then lay, then move around, move around some more with some bouncing, watching what the pole does.

You are either going to get a good feeling or bad.

hth, remember this is the internet do not trust everything you read as if it comes from experts, some are just guessing.

[old4hats]

I have a stand with 4x4 verticals, with a 45 deg brace near the bottom. I am over 220lbs. and have used this stand for 51/2 months continuous use and have never seen them bow at all. A 5inch treated pole is more massive by far than a 4x4. I plan to use some of them in another project for hanging and I have no doubts that they are up to the task. OutandBack is right, only a trial run will answer your questions, and his method to do this is right on.

[gmcttr]

I'm the guy that suggested a 5" diameter post may not be sufficient, only because it was stated that three hammocks would be hung from it. My warning was that I would not hang three adults from it and to restrict it's use (for three at a time) to the Cub Scouts.

Will it hold three adults? With proper hangs angles it probably will. Will three adults ever plop down into their hammocks at the same time? Would it hold? Who knows? I tend to plan around Murphy's Law.

[hodad]

we did a 3 way with bamboo as the center, of which I don't have a pic but it was the same pole as this pic but the sand stakes were x 6 with two to counter each hammock. This was over sand so failure would have been less painful. https://www.hammockforums.net/galler...9_original.jpg

[cougarmeat]

We had a day hammock (one of those fancy nylon string models) in a courtyard where only one end of it would get direct sun. After a summer, the strands on that end were clearly deteriorated. We used the hammock one more season, reversing the ends, but then retired it. UV damage is real!

[Nodust]

It won't break. Maybe bend overtime with heavy use. I've had 1200# cows tied to one and they couldn't budge it.

Make sure it is pressure treated to last.