No Trees? No problem - Ground Anchors

[Pitch]

How hard is it to get those anchors out of the ground when you are ready to move on?

The anchors have a removal boss on them which I strung with Dyneema (no knots! - splices only or it breaks every time - cable would even be better)

Generally, they come out without a problem. Sometimes they get hung up in very packed soil (especially if I pound them in too deep) or if they hit roots or rocks on the way up.

One trick I learned is to pour some water into the hole and let it sit for a while if they give me a hard time - this helps a lot in the packed soil scenario.

Really just knowing how deep to put them (and no deeper) helps a lot based on soil type. Looser soil = deeper

[Pitch]

That's very cool and it looks rock solid judging by the opening scene. This might be a good time to remind folks that by law you are supposed to call One Call or whatever it's called in your state before you dig or drive anything into the ground. In most state parks, electric utilities are underground and I would hate to think what would happen if you drove this into a water line!

I dunno if the scene with me bounding up and down on it made it in - it was supposed to but the edit list came out all crazy...

They are plenty strong for me, in this setup and soil type. YMMV

Re: Underground electric etc - oh yea- thank you!!

[Pitch]

What are the oar locks for?? Why not just clove, or better yet, constrictor hitch the suspension lines to the uprights?

Thanks for the video. It's nice to see how other people are doing things.

I thought about using knots and it would probably work fine - but I had the oar lock and said "why not".

My thought process was (in this order)

Need to prevent line from falling off poll - especially on the head end
Easy and available
Force line will be center with the pole (less stress on support)
Oar lock can not slide down a poll

There are a lot of solutions that will work. This was mine at the time

[sr1355]

In most state parks, electric utilities are underground and I would hate to think what would happen if you drove this into a water line!

Judging by the length of re-rob and angle of installation I don't think the anchors are more that 12-16" vertically below grade. In most location electric/gas are required to be installed min 30", that's not to say they are all installed at the depth but in general they are...

It would be a realy mess though if you hit a waterline... At least you could take a shower

[sr1355]

Very cool setup BTW.... Looks like 4 anchors, 2 rachet tiedown straps, 2-2" PVC sch 40, 1 oar lock, rerod driver, BigHammer, and ridgeline.... Is that correct, missing anything, would be a great thing to carry in back of car for setting up where no trees.... Some places I've camped at are treeless like middle of Moab Desert...

[SGT Rock]

The anchors have a removal boss on them which I strung with Dyneema (no knots! - splices only or it breaks every time - cable would even be better)

Generally, they come out without a problem. Sometimes they get hung up in very packed soil (especially if I pound them in too deep) or if they hit roots or rocks on the way up.

One trick I learned is to pour some water into the hole and let it sit for a while if they give me a hard time - this helps a lot in the packed soil scenario.

Really just knowing how deep to put them (and no deeper) helps a lot based on soil type. Looser soil = deeper

This got me thinking as I was mowing my lawn a little big ago - what if you took a larger stake and simply put an eye near the tip to push into the ground and leave the stake in place? If you put the stake in at an angle against the pull off the line wouldn't it have a similar effect? Maybe I need to go try that.

[Pitch]

Very cool setup BTW.... Looks like 4 anchors, 2 rachet tiedown straps, 2-2" PVC sch 40, 1 oar lock, rerod driver, BigHammer, and ridgeline.... Is that correct, missing anything, would be a great thing to carry in back of car for setting up where no trees.... Some places I've camped at are treeless like middle of Moab Desert...

You got it!

ReRod is ~20" long. Titanium would help.

4 anchors are ~150 grams each. Switching out steel cable would help. If these could be re-made in titanium that would help too. I was thinking about removing the fins as well - they help but are not needed if you go deep enough / soil is not super loose.

You CAN get away with 3 anchors but it makes for a PITA setup... I've done it with TWO anchors and a wide base on one side.

Ratchet straps could be easily replaced with another kind of cordage but keep the wear point in mind (mainly the connection to the steel cable). Tie slip knot in center of strap to secure suspension to - this makes it easy to remove the knot later and more importantly stops the entire rig from tipping over left/right.

Anchors are 18" long but I put them in on ~30-45 degree angle off vertical and only as deep as I "feel" they need to go depending on soil conditions. These are only ~12" deep linearly, so likely ~8" deep below grade.

PVC could be substituted w/ bamboo or very stout non-collapsible hiking polls (or a very light hammocker!)

Oar lock can be skipped if you don't hop around a lot. This just keeps the head end from falling off. I was swinging in this thing quite a bit with no problems.
Big hammer could be the end of a hatchet if you carry this sort of thing. Big rocks work, too.

Note: This is not really super low impact... but it works.

Worst cases:
Poor installation / setup or anchor comes loose (Fall on ground!)
Can't get penetration into the earth (Sleep on ground -nooo)
Can't recover anchor / recovery line breaks (lose anchor or dig it up)

[Pitch]

This got me thinking as I was mowing my lawn a little big ago - what if you took a larger stake and simply put an eye near the tip to push into the ground and leave the stake in place? If you put the stake in at an angle against the pull off the line wouldn't it have a similar effect? Maybe I need to go try that.

Been there

In my experience the stake gets pulled straight out the hole it went in.

What happened in my test was the earth acted like a pully / guide for the line and just hoisted the stake straight out. If you made a second groove in the earth down to the line it could work though - changes the angle the rope exists the stake/earth

[SGT Rock]

Been there

In my experience the stake gets pulled straight out the hole it went in.

What happened in my test was the earth acted like a pully / guide for the line and just hoisted the stake straight out. If you made a second groove in the earth down to the line it could work though - changes the angle the rope exists the stake/earth

LOL, I didn't read this before I went out and tried. I got the same result.

[SGT Rock]

I noticed your removable ones have that extra line, is it on the nose or the back of the anchors?