Portable Hammock/Tarp Stands

**happycamper527** · 10-19-2011, 16:35

Hey all, been lurking for awhile, this is my first post.
I want to thank Turtlelady, whose bamboo stand got the wheels turning for this one. I wanted a stand that would support the hammock and tarp, and be portable enough to take along car camping or just to throw up in the backyard when the mood struck. Anyways, here it is...

Just another angle, the tripods and cross braces are made from 3/4 inch EMT conduit, I used 6 10 foot long pieces total, I think they were $4.10 each at Lowe's. The braces are attached to standard conduit clamps which were .85 cents a piece.

These are the cross braces, I plan on using a 24 inch round piece of polyurethaned plywood on each tripod to act as tables.

These are the brackets I made for the end of the 2x3 support. These attach to the tripods and the hammock suspension attaches to the bottom of the bracket, the tarp is attached to eye bolts in the 2x3.

I used 2 - 2x3's, cut at 6 1/2 feet to give me a 13 foot long support. This is the steel bracket I use to attach the 2x3 and keep the straight and rigid.

Anyhow, I sure would appreciate some input, as I am a noob to the whole Hammock thing. It's actually Shug's fault, I stumbled onto his video's when watching some of Tinny's and it got me hooked. I gave up on the tent thing but continued "camping" regularly with our 5th wheel. Previous injuries which include a back broken in 3 places and separated shoulders took the lying on the ground option off the table, the Hammock option however should get me out of the campgrounds and back into the woods!

**griesl** · 10-19-2011, 17:37

I think most of us can blame Shug for our interests in hammocking.

Now on to your topic - that is one awesome looking stand. That should keep you off the ground most any place you might go where there's no trees. Good work!

**sidvicious** · 10-19-2011, 17:53

one hell of a stand. nice work.

**Les Rust** · 10-19-2011, 17:57

Great looking stand. Hope you get plenty of use out of it and that you're back in the woods in short order. Yep, you can blame it on Shug--lots of us do!

**UncleMJM** · 10-19-2011, 20:32

Outstanding. So is the conduit simply flattened at the end and bolted together? Same thing on the braces? What are the lengths of the braces?

I may ditch the pile of bamboo I'm curing and just go buy conduit.

I really like what you've put together.

**happycamper527** · 10-19-2011, 20:51

Originally Posted by UncleMJM

Outstanding. So is the conduit simply flattened at the end and bolted together? Same thing on the braces? What are the lengths of the braces?

I may ditch the pile of bamboo I'm curing and just go buy conduit.

I really like what you've put together.

You got it, I flattened the ends and drilled and bent them to get everything to fit together snugly.
I started with 6- 10 foot lengths of 3/4" conduit.
I cut the uprights for the tripod at 90 inches, leaving 30 inch drops to use for the cross braces.
The cross braces are attached to the uprights using conduit clamps, all bolts are 5/16" and I picked up a package of wing nuts so set up can be done without any tools.
I'll try to take some more pics of those details tomorrow so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

**Dos** · 10-19-2011, 20:54

yeah- I'm blaming it all on Shug as well.
Now I am a DIY splicing, dicing gal as well as a gearhead!!

yes, I read through TurtleLady's entire post.
Very nice revision.

And moreso, happy that you are able to get back into the woods!! Whoo Hoo!

oh wait....that is Whooooo Buddy!!

ps how did you make the end brackets for the 2 x 4?
you have a detail pic? ty

and those end tables are gonna be niiiice!

**KSC** · 10-19-2011, 21:00

Nice looking stand. I would love to see some more pictures so I can try to copy it. It doesn't look like it would be too difficult to build. Thanks for showing it to us!

**olddog** · 10-19-2011, 21:43

Fantastic! That's a Turtlelady Stand on steroids.

**happycamper527** · 10-19-2011, 21:52

Here is the end bracket on the 2x3. I just used some 1/8" x 1 1/2" stock I had in the shop, the top tab which is bolted to the tripod bracket is 1/4" x 1" and the bottom mount for the suspension is just a small piece of 5/16" round stock bent into a "v" shape. Excuse the rust, it started raining during this project and I was too into it to stop and wait for the rain to clear before setting it up...

Here is a better pic of the tops of the tripod uprights. The ends are flattened and bent, there is also 2 5" long pieces of 1/8" x 1" stock sandwiched on either side of the center upright for the 2 x 3 end brackets to bolt to.

Here are a couple of pics of the cross brace mounts and the bends in the ends of the flattened conduit, the Anvil in the shop sure made that task easy...

I'm sure I'll be making some changes as time goes by, but for know I'll clean up the brackets and paint them and get some use out of it. I just ordered a Poncho Liner to try to make a PLUQ, and I've been looking diligently for used down bag to cannibalize for a colder weather UQ. Problem is, this website gives me too many ideas, looks like there will be plenty of projects in the future, guess I better learn how to sew...