Hammock Stand Suggestions

[hacktorious]

That hammock stand is nice but bulky. I designed and am in the process of testing a simple, cheap design.

I expect it to cost less than $30 and will require only a drill to manufacture with pieces from your local hardware store.

My design is for use when you have one tree/post you can tie to but need to tie off the other end of the hammock. although i guess you could build 2 of them and use one at each end?

i'll try to add some pictures when i get done building my 2nd prototype but until then heres some details:

Tools needed:

power drill with 3/8" bit
possibly hammer or screwdriver

Parts List:

2 2x4's 8' length
1 large 6" threaded eye bolt (rated to at least 200lbs, more is better)
2 washers for eye bolt (i like to put washers on both sides of the wood)
2 large "ceiling hooks" (like eye bolts but screw into wood instead of needing nuts/washers)
3' metal chain with links big enough that the hooks above can go through the holes in them.
10-15' steel cable with at least 150lb work load (i think i used 1/8")
4 cable clamps in correct size for cable you picked
1 heavy duty dog tie out (looks like a giant wine cork screw)

To put the unit together-

measure both 2x4's and drill a 3/8" hole @ 7ft (or 1ft depending on which end you measured from)
add a nut and a washer to the eye bolt, stick it through both 2x4's and then add another washer and nut.

stand the wood up and insert the hooks/chain so you have an A with the wood being the verticles and the chain going horisontally across to keep the legs from spreading any farther. the hooks allow you to adjust how far the legs spread.

with the A frame complete- take your cable and make a loop around the crossed section of the wood. add 2 clamps to keep the cable tight. on the other end of the cable, make a loop around the dog "tie out" stake. drive the tie out into the ground, and allow the cable to keep tension on the verticle A frame. now tie the hammock onto the eye bolt and sleep tight.

i know i did a horrible job explaining that so heres a crude picture:

I wonder if a T would work better than a V. The cross piece would be on the ground.

[HandsomeRyan]

I wonder if a T would work better than a V. The cross piece would be on the ground.

I thought about that but the upside down V allows the wood to "dig in" a bit as weight is applied also works well if the ground is not perfectly flat/level. unless you put some type of "cleats" on an upside down T i'd worry about it slipping foward or backwards.

I may experament with the "T" design a bit if/when i perfect the A frame.

I noticed on those 2 person porch swings such as this:

have kind of a Y shape and are pretty sturdy even being made of thin metal tubing, if i were better at metal work i'd love to play with this idea as well.

[TeeDee]

the trick is to have the stake far enough out that the force pulling on it is sideways and not pulling it up out of the ground. (having heavy red clay mud here in east TN doesn't hurt either)

if you really don't trust the stake you could use rope instead of cable and tie it to a tree/rock/car/pole/etc. at any length away as long as you are not using dynamic (stretchy) rope. crude ascii of what i mean

[tree]----rope----A{hammock}[tree]

distance between 2 trees is too far to hang hammock directly but A frame allows use of hammock without excessive droop.

If you are doing that and the rope is really far away, then why bother with the inverted 'V'. Just a simple 2x4 with a notch on the top would suffice.

[blackbishop351]

Side to side stability? I can imagine that a single 2x4 (or any single upright) would dump the whole thing on its side pretty quickly. I don't think I'd trust the inverted "T" idea, either - at least not without a lot of bracing like Risk's stand has at the bottom. The "V" is definitely a good way to go for simplicity and stability.

Tying off to a tree would work fine, but I'd want a stand that I could set up in the middle of a field if I wanted. I had actually thought about using those huge circus tent stakes instead of the dog stakes, but I've heard they're next to impossible to dislodge...not to mention often requiring a 20 lb. sledge to drive them in in the first place

[Cannibal]

I remember seeing something about a guy who used the single pole method. He was skeptical going into it (hung very close to the ground), but was surprised how stable it was with the weight of him in the hammock. If I remember right he even had someone push on the single post while he was in the hammock and when the post was let go, it returned to near vertical.

That said, I'm not gonna be the next to try it!

[slowhike]

yep, side to side stability was my thinking to. i remember having a line on top of a post sitting on top of the ground for some reason (can't remember why).
any weight along w/ movement on the line caused the post to swing violently from side to side.
i'm pretty sceptical about using stakes of any kind. i know it does work at times when the conditions are right, but... the conditions aren't always going to be right.
besides, i would think that in most cases when a stake is solid enough to hold that kind of force, it's (like bb said) going to be a problem to get out.

i can't help but to keep thinking about the idea of using a rigid top pole as a starting place. could be a top rail used for chain link fence or like someone else said, bamboo.

[TeeDee]

Side to side stability? I can imagine that a single 2x4 (or any single upright) would dump the whole thing on its side pretty quickly. I don't think I'd trust the inverted "T" idea, either - at least not without a lot of bracing like Risk's stand has at the bottom. The "V" is definitely a good way to go for simplicity and stability.

Tying off to a tree would work fine, but I'd want a stand that I could set up in the middle of a field if I wanted. I had actually thought about using those huge circus tent stakes instead of the dog stakes, but I've heard they're next to impossible to dislodge...not to mention often requiring a 20 lb. sledge to drive them in in the first place

Funny - Risk tried and didn't get dumped. Also, BillyBob recently reported using the simple notched 2x4 and actively tried to upset the hammock - he reported it as being very stable.

[slowhike]

I remember seeing something about a guy who used the single pole method. He was skeptical going into it (hung very close to the ground), but was surprised how stable it was with the weight of him in the hammock. If I remember right he even had someone push on the single post while he was in the hammock and when the post was let go, it returned to near vertical.

That said, I'm not gonna be the next to try it!

maybe the line angles involved make a difference in the poles stability???

[Cannibal]

TeeDee got it; it was risk's site that I saw the write-up.

I don't even PRETEND to understand what makes it work, but I think that may have something to do with it. He was hanging pretty low.

[TeeDee]

TeeDee got it; it was risk's site that I saw the write-up.

I don't even PRETEND to understand what makes it work, but I think that may have something to do with it. He was hanging pretty low.

Also, go back to page 1 of this thread and look for BillBob's report. He reports his experience using the single notched 2x4. I think he said he originally read about it on Risk's site.

Risk wrote that even after actively pushing the 2x4 to one side to upset the balance, it merely returned to its original upright position. I'd say that is pretty stable.