Bridge Pole

[Catavarie]

So I know that I can use aluminum tube, carbon tube, hardwood dowel, even sturdy bamboo, but what I'm wondering is if I could use shower curtain rod.

We've recently updated the bathrooms in our house and switched out the old straight shower curtain rods with thed curved style rods, so I have 2 rods and I was thinking they might work for bridge spreaders. But I'm unsure, they seem very thin walled and are an inch in diameter. So they would not be very packable, but if they would withstand the compression force then I may be able to whip up my first bridge hammock soon. Otherwise I'll just have to wait for a bit longer to try this out.

[GrizzlyAdams]

can't say definitively without measurements. But...

the spreader bars on the JRB BMBH are fairly thin

the larger the diameter, the more strength a thin wall of a given thickness gives you.

you can control in part the compression the spreaders will get by selecting the spreader length and length of the side of the suspension triangle. If you have the luxury of hanging from trees that are fairly far apart (e.g. 15' - 18') you can put quite long suspension triangles on to reduce the compression over what you'd have otherwise.

I say pay up the life insurance and go for it!

[Jazilla]

I'm with Griz. Go for it. Cut a U shape in the end and dip in plasti dip and you won't need spreader bar tips or pockets. The worst that can happen is the pole bends and the hammock slumps and you learn they where too thin or your suspension is too short.