Byer Of Maine Vario Steel Hammock Stand
Here' s the official company website: http://www.byerofmaine.com/the-vario-hammcok-stand.html
Please Google Image search "byer vario" to see many other photos of it (I have added pictures in separate post below)
I’m new to ‘mocking, and was in search of a place to hang on my tree-less lot or in my home, and considered everything from sinking a 6x6 outside to having something welded like shadowmoss to hanging from ceiling joists like knotty and pedro. But I have found my solution: a Byer of Maine Vario Steel Hammock Stand. I want to post about it for anyone else wanting to hang at home. A few of you, like bearpaw, justjeff and duroc2006 (who has outdoor photos in the HF gallery), have this stand, but I see no dedicated information about it on Hammock Forum.
It’s a 12.25 foot length span steel structure available as of this writing for $149 complete, including free shipping and no sales tax. Although there are many online retailers, Fogdog.com is where I ordered mine. It arrived in one large box from UPS on my driveway. It is 60 lbs, and believe me, it’s every bit of that weight—I struggled to get that box into the house. The shipping on this stand must be half the price!
I was skeptical that a hammock stand could be strong enough for serious hammocking, and I also questioned the ability to hold a sling hammock (not a Pawleys Island type cross-barred rope hammock). Well, the moment I was putting together the Vario, my fears were out the window. This is all steel, it has only 8 pieces, all machined to fit together perfectly. There are clean welds on this German engineered, China manufactured product (at least that’s how Byer of Maine states it). It has four three-quarter inch nuts/bolts that hold the perpendicular “feet” in place, and no other tools. Everything else is hand screwed, such as the hand nut on the bottom length slider, and the two end height adjustment sliders. So, the neat thing about this is, it can be fully adjusted by hand, which will come in very handy for taking it apart in 2-3 pieces to move, for instance to take it outside on a sunny day.
In my living room, I immediately attached ENO slap straps and ENO SN and later a DN, and slept in it all night. The steel stand takes the weight and forces admirably. There’s a slight in-bowing of the uprights when you first get into the hammock, and I have loaded it to over 200lbs, and there is no fear of failure once I became comfortable with it. No major sway once in it, and I slept in it for two nights successfully, no bending, twisting or breaking. It has a stated weight limit of 300 lbs. It does come with a serial number, and has a written two year warranty, although it does not state how one would initiate the warranty—hopefully it would not include the buyer shipping the item back to Oriono, ME, which would be cost prohibitive; likely it’d be merely shipping back for replacement the one piece that failed.
The suspension point is on a very hard plastic “hook” at the end of the stand—it works well for any hook, strap or rope. I suppose one could drill into the steel with a heavy duty drill if they wanted to add a screw-eye, but I don’t think it necessary, and it would compromise the forest green (only available color) finish. The finish is presumably waterproof, but steel of course is not; I imagine keeping this stand outdoors, it would last for years but require some Krylon/Rustoleum annually.
All-in-all, it solves my issues with hanging indoors and on my treeless yard. There is an available extension that is $35 shipped, and it brings the total length from 12.25 feet to 15 feet. I am ordering it, although I’m not certain I will use it—even a long ENO fits on this stand well and the uprights are not even fully extended for the ENO. Adding length, and putting the upright to maximum height, may be needed for some outdoor uses, such as for adding tarp lines, etc. So, I’m getting the extension so that it’s not an issue in the future. But it works well right out of the box, and if I had a spare $150 burning a hole in my Levi’s, I’d consider buying another stand for future use before they either stop making it or cheapen it up in some way (e.g. use inferior metal). The one thing that, even studying the photos of the dozens of metal and wood stands on places like eBay, you cannot appreciate from a photo is the heftiness, and the quality of material of a product. I wanted to let everyone know that this stand works very well, is a great and mobile indoor/outdoor stand, and will last decades.
The Flex Of The Byer Vario Stand Revisited
Byer Flex—I have studied the Flex that BillyBob mentions for the Byer hammock, and when I watch my 123 lb wife get into it, I can really see it (more than I can feel it when I settle in)! In fact, the bottom bracket flexes down toward the floor by at least 1 inch! Alarmed, I went and got a couple hardcover books (I read on a Kindle now and books are little more than paperweights and hammock stabilizers in my house these days) and put them under the middle of the bottom bar in hopes of “helping the Vario out”. Well, lo and behold, when I sat in it and the bottom bar hit the book and would not flex, what happened? The four “feet” came off the floor! (Grizz and Kuzuko and the math whizzes would have known this without “War and Peace” under there).
Ah ha! Like those banana shaped wooden hammock stands—it suddenly dawned on me—this Vario is already precisely calibrated to allow flex in the uprights and the bottom bar. Each takes its own percentage, if you will, of the total flex, which allows a weight of up to 300lbs to hang from a 12.5 foot distance on a 60 lb contraption.
So, in the end, I think “pre-loading” the flexible uprights with cam buckles, or putting books under the bottom bar as I just did, is not recommended. The steel stand works best, and is least likely to have shear force wear and metal fatigue and breakage, if it is just left alone and enjoyed.
With all that said, I could be wrong.
Thanks for the input, stroik
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SmokeBait
Thanks coolkayaker! When they shipped yours they must have seen what it really cost and changed it. I see ****'s Sporting Goods sell them and we have one not too far away. If no luck there will try Amazon. Actually have some good trees in the back 40 but wanted something for up close to the house that is portable.
I sincerely don;t think you'll find it at ****'s Sports. I have a hugemongous Dicks Sports here in western Chicagoland--the three -story kind with a climbing wall--and they do not have it. Nor does the small Dicks Sports elsewhere in IL; I checked. So it's only ****'s online, unless your store is different.
Smoke, don;t forget one CRUCIAL thing. Dicks Sports, even if you could find it, charges SALES TAX (even if you order Dicks online). Amazon, thank you, does NOT! Significant factor for a $150 purchase. ;-o
Yeah, even with trees, this would be nice closer to the house. Or indoors in the winter. Can't you see yourself swinging from your Warbonnet in your family room all winter, underquilt on, watching 2.5 Men reruns with the thermostat set to "off". Stick it to "the man", get off the power grid, you know, that sort of thing. :-)
My wife seems to be okay with it--not great with it, just okay--being out of the living room and in my front room/office.
Pretty funny about Fogdog, as you mention, the light bulb went on after they got reamed on UPS'ing that jumbo 60 lb box to my house. I had no fogdog promo code or anything--I think they just wised up. Amazon will, too, soon, so beware.
That's great info, stoik. Thank you.
Geez, you'd think I work for Byer of Maine from this thread, but it's just a cool thing that answered my personal issue of treeless yard and no hook to hang up inside.
Sandykayak, hi! From fellow kayaker coolkayaker1! My wife's a scrapbooker, and I'm a writer (by hobby)!
P.S. BillyBob is right, don't get the extension. Your WBBB and whoopies should works fine without it.
Wow, that's amazingly similar
Quote:
Originally Posted by
zim65
Zim65, good find. $99 with free shipping. Made by a company name Dubose Industries. Hmm. I gotta say, the photos look just like the Byer of Maine Stand. You're right. But clearly it's not the same product, as it goes to 14 feet (the Byer only does with extension, sold separately) and weighs more at 69 lbs., and comes in colors. Hmmm. Funny, the ad that you linked describes it with some specs in top part that are different slightly than those in the bottom. This could either be a great bargain, or a complete hose job; all depends on what shows up at the doorstep, I suppose. Who's going to take the plunge and get one and post photos; the rest of us will either be in awe, with sparkles in our eyes looking at the great deal and hammock stand...or laughing so loud the milk comes out of our noses (or Budweiser, in the case of BillyBob and I).
Maybe Smokebait will guinea-pig this Dubose Stand for us.
9 Attachment(s)
Generic Byer Hammock Stand
With the stand at it's maximum extensions my tape says it is just shy of 14 feet by a few inches, sorry one to help hold the tape.