Portable Hammock Stand

[Spartacus19]

I love your ideas here. I spent some time today making 4 of these stands. Well, at least I have all the pipe cut. I'm still waiting for the amsteel in the mail....

I made one for me, one for the wife, one for the kid, and one for....we should have another kid!

[FWO]

Anyone have a video on how they made them and how they get set up? I have a trip at the end of the month to a quarry with now tress. If my hammock comes in I want to take it. Thanks

[Jsaults]

My first version was with a NRS 1500# rated cam strap. Worked well. I have now graduated to an Amsteel continuous loop which works better. I just use a load-rated carabiner at the apex.

Jim

[Archy88]

Hello all,
Firstly, I sent this as a PM as well Alamosa. I'm sure you're busy and I didn't want to take away too much of your time. Maybe some others can chime in to assist
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I purchased an ENO double nest last summer for the girlfriend and I to use while tent camping. I love the thing, but we haven't found many trees to use it with.

I came across this diy stand and I have a few questions...

I'm very new to this forum and the ideas within it so please forgive me if my questions aren't ground breaking. Also please forgive the structure of my questions as they seem to be all over the place

It appears that 1 & 1.25 EMT conduit are used for the poles...will this setup hold the two of us(about 300lbs)? Are they generally all the same thickness or do I need to find something specific?
Would 7/64 amsteel be strong enough for the two of us as well?

I see in one of the pictures it looks as if your hammock is attached by a carabiner and then in another a carriage bolt is used. I have the slapstraps for my ENO and I was wondering how I should go about attaching the hammock to the poles? Carabiner would be much quicker...but is this the best way?

I am also unclear as to how the amsteel is run. Would a continuous loop be beneficial and if so could someone mockup a drawing? Otherwise I was thinking about two different colored amsteel ropes. One for the center line & one for the boomstake to pole.
...with that said, about how much rope will be needed for this project? I want to run to west marine on Friday and pick some up.

Lastly, would I be able to adjust the gap to be more or less before I add a centerline? Or should I stick to a certain distance to avoid damage to the stand?

I appreciate whatever help you guys can provide. I'd like to pick up the supplies at the end of this week and get it fabbed up. I'll be going on a 10 day camping trip at the end of the month & would like to have this ready to go.

[Alamosa]

Hi Archy, I didn't see your IM between 10 last night when you sent it and 6:45 this morning. Sorry it took so long to reply.

I am glad you find the stand interesting. Hopefully, I can answer your questions. It is probably better to just answer here so everyone can see it and chime in.

Last I read, you stuck with the 6ft poles with holes drilled at various heights. Is this your final layout?

I have stayed with the 6 foot hieght, primarily because they are already built and work well (it is also the length of my pickup bed, so it fits nicely). I am pretty sure I could cut it down at least 6 inches and still have plenty of height for the hammock. It would start getting a little tight for my 12x12 tarp.

I believe you used 1 & 1.25 EMT conduit for your poles...will this setup hold the two of us(about 300lbs)?

I make no claims on the holding power of the poles, but have not had any issues with them when rigged so the tie-outs and hammock are attaching at basically the same point.

I see in one of your pictures it looks as if your hammock is attached by a carabiner and then in another a carriage bolt is used. I have the slapstraps for my ENO and I was wondering how I should go about attaching the hammock to the poles.

I have both wrapped my whoopies or webbing around the pole or just clipped the carabiner to the top. I really don't recommend the clipping the carabiner method as it is using it in a way it was not intended and applying a prying force on its hook.

If you can not wrap your suspension around the pole, you could use a small continuous loop around the pole to hook into.

I have never used a carriage bolt, but I am sure that would work.

I am also unclear as to how you ran the amsteel. Did you end up with a continuous loop and if so, how is it run? Otherwise, would separate precut lengths be more appropriate?

My amsteel tie-outs are large continuous loops. I placed an a overhand loop at each of the 4 connection points - 2 boomstakes and top and bottom of the pole. I use these to make a turkshead knot for attachment. The pins are just to keep the turkshead for slipping.

Lastly, would I be able to adjust the gap to be more or less taught before I add a centerline? I'm not totally sure what these degree measurements look like on my hammock in real life.

I don't understand this question. You use the center line to stand the two poles up. It must be taut or the poles fall down. I use a section of surgical tubing on one end to allow the connecting line to adjust for when the hammock is loaded.

[Archy88]

Thanks alot!

By no means was I trying to rush you. I was certain that you had not looked that the PM yet. Replies in the thread are just fine.

What I meant by adjusting the gap, is that I've never had trees in an "ideal" situation. They're either close together or further apart.

I wasn't really sure as to how much I'd like my eno to sag with this setup. I was hoping to rig up the two supporting poles, with stake lines & stakes. Hook up the hammock, and then if needbe I can move the poles further apart or closer together. Once I'm happy I would then cut an appropriate length of amsteel to create my center/ridge line.

Hope that clears it up a little?

Any chance you remember how much rope is needed?

Thanks a million once again!!

[Alamosa]

Not off the top of my head, I'll have to measure that when I get a chance.

[efcustoms]

I was wondering what type of conduit you used. was it the thin walled emt or the thicker walled threaded stuff, IMC ithink It was labeld. just wondering if the thin walled stuff will bend. thanks.

I have had the concept for quite awhile and even built the prototype several weeks ago. I have really wanted to record and post a video of using it, but due to weather and other commitments, I just haven't had the time. As summer quickly rolls into full swing, I decided to post what I have so others may benefit from it and I can benefit from feedback and others ideas.

We had our council camporee this weekend and I am happy to report that this stand worked flawlessly.

Here is a picture of my setup this morning (after a night of rain).



I took the tarp off so you could hopefully see the setup better. I used a simple 2mm polyester line from REI for the CRL. It is tensioned with a figure-9, but really does not have a great deal of tension. Once the hammock is loaded, all the force is transferred to the amsteel and anchors.


This is a close-up of one end. We have had rain everyday for I don't know how long (I can't remember the last day that it did not rain) and the ground is very soft. I put in a third boom with a whoopie-sling to the head of the pole as a pre-caution. I am fairly cautious when in such a vulnerable position. I am confident two lines would hold under normal ground conditions.



You can't really tell from this angle, but I have it slightly angled backwards so that the head end of the pole is farther from the gap than the foot end. The lines running from the booms to the foot end will keep it from slipping towards the gap. The slight angle insures that it can not slip backwards. I don't get carried away with the angle, as I still want all the pressure on the pole to be vertically into the ground.

The basic line is a continuous loop with an figure eight bight marking each connection point to the two ends of the pole and the two stake booms. Using the bight, I make the connection at each point with a larkshead knot. I used pins to make sure nothing slipped off or down, except at the bottom of the poles where I don't think there is much pressure at all.



Here are all the components of the stand:
1) 1.25 inch conduit
2) 1 inch conduit
3) stake booms
4) stakes
5) amsteel loops (plus a couple of whoopie-slings)



Here you see the basic pieces nested.



The final transport size of this stand is 5 feet by 1.25 inches (plus the cordage). Easily will fit with my scout gear in the pickup or the canoe.

[Alamosa]

I was wondering what type of conduit you used. was it the thin walled emt or the thicker walled threaded stuff, IMC ithink It was labeld. just wondering if the thin walled stuff will bend. thanks.

It is the thin walled EMT. As long as the hammock and guy lines attach at the same point, it is only a compression force being applied to the conduit, so it has shown no sign of bending.

One time I did lash my conduit poles to shorter fence poles and attached the hammock at the top as normal. This did cause a small tweak to the smaller of the two poles.

[iRokk]

I always wonder how these stands stay upright with no one in the hammock to provide that tension