I am now on a quest for a ultra light ground anchor or staking option for use with a free-standing hammock setup. But before I can move to an ultra light version, it is important for me to get a few design criteria put in place. The most important of which is holding strength.
Holding strength is crucial to me in Florida since 90% of the ground is sand and that makes matters all the worse.

I have started testing a few configurations and have some numbers to share with the forum. My test bed is basicly loose to medium packed sand. If the anchor holds here, it will hold anywhere.

1.
Description: Standard 9" Coleman tent stake, 0.5" wide, aluminum
Test setup: Drove stake to depth at approx. 30 degrees to the vertical. Pulled line at approx. 90 degrees to the stake
Results: 18 lbs max , pulled out in expected direction

2.
Description: Standard 9" Coleman tent stake, 0.5" wide, aluminum, with hole 2.25" from the tip for line attachment
Test setup: Drove stake to depth at approx. 30 degrees to the vertical. Pulled line at approx. 90 degrees to the stake
Results: 12 lbs max, as the line became tight it did not cut through the sand to full depth, it began to pull the stake straight up and out of the ground

3.
Description: Standard 9" Coleman tent stake, 0.5" wide, aluminum, with hole 2.25" from the tip for line attachment , cut down to 5.25" and additional hole at 0.5" from new top
Test setup: Drove stake to depth of 17" with 0.5" tube at approx. 30 degrees to the vertical. Pulled lower line to "set" the stake at approx. 30 degrees to the anchor
Results: 20 lbs max, as the line became tight it definitely "set" the anchor, but then pulled the bottom of the anchor around and upwards.

4.
Description: 0.5" diameter pvc cut to 4.5" with slight angle at one end. 0.5" eye bolt screwed through the center and additional line attached to the back.
Test setup: Drove anchor to depth of 17" with long screw driver at approx. 30 degrees to the vertical. Pulled lower line to "set" the stake at approx. 30 degrees to the anchor
Results: 43 lbs max, as the line became tight it definitely "set" the anchor, the failure mode was simply pulling the whole anchor up through the sand.


I have a few more ideas and setups to test, but if anyone else has similar data to share. Please do.