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MustardDog Stand
I've been following the Turtledog stand thread with great interest lately, thinking of different ways to work out a two-person version for the wife and I to share. Then, a few weeks ago, This post by gmcttr really caught my attention. The poles are heavy and expensive to ship, but they would be very flexible to allow construction of something that worked well for us.
And, 30 poles and a bunch of stainless steel hardware from Home Depot later, we ended up with this:
http://i.imgur.com/9SRbT.jpg
Or, by day:
http://i.imgur.com/QQDxw.jpg
Without the Kelty 16x16 tarp, it's a little easier to see what we did:
http://i.imgur.com/bfbVu.jpg
It works a lot like the turtledog stand - it's designed to pretty much exert only compression force everywhere, but since we wanted to be able to do two hammocks side-by-side, we had to figure out a way to use triangles to form a stable base to support two of the ridge poles.
The end sections, rather than being tripods, consist of one large triangle, which has a cross bar for stability at the point where the hammocks hang, and two back legs, which can be placed at the same point to provide a very stable triangle
http://i.imgur.com/Rp3wh.jpg
These triangle sections are connected using stainless steel hardware from home depot, with eye bolts and chain connectors keeping everything connected:
http://i.imgur.com/3gCNj.jpg
These connections are semi-permanent, with only the apex of the triangle being disconnected when the stand is taken down. The whole top triangle packs down like this:
http://i.imgur.com/Nj1Jl.jpg
We also used snap buttons from Grainger to keep all of the poles "clicked" together, making it possible to move the stand without the pieces coming apart, and I used colored duct tape to mark the sections for easy assembly. All torn down, it packs into two bags just a hair over four feet long, small enough to fit in the trunk of a Jeep or the back seat of a car
http://i.imgur.com/rpVwY.jpg
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Mustardman, hats off to you. Problem solving at its best. It is plain to see that this will give many enjoyable days of fun, and what a conversation piece!
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That is awesome Mustardman! Still trying to wrap my head around all the mental gymnastics to develop your system.Look forward to countless questions. If the tarp was supported from the peak of the A frames there would be enough room to have a square dance.
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That is one sweet hang. Plus you get to hang with your sweetie.
I love how people share their iterations and ideas on this forum.
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An immense job sir! That has to be the DIY of the year!
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Very nice! Got a part number on the "snaps"? I'm going to have to add those to mine.:thumbup1:
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OMG!!! That is just amazing!!!! :thumbup:
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Looks great!! I would have to agree...best DIY of the year!
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I actually got them from Grainger:
Snap Button,A,0.250D x0.390 H,Pk10
Item no: 3DPZ8
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Thoughts running rampant over your stand Mustardman. I can see scout groups throwing these togeather out of some 2 x lumber for jamborees and such. Might have to be transported on roof racks or scouts trailers but 10 or 12 of these for a troop of scout hangers would be a sight to see. Don't personally need a dual Mustarddog stand but anxiously awaiting the wooden version.