I have seen in several folk's pictures the use of a screw through the top rail and end cap used to secure the cap in place. I was thinking of using JB Weld instead. Any thoughts on that idea? Obviously it is permanent but that's fine with me...I don't think I will ever want to remove them.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Steve
Thanks hppyfngy. Your's was inspiring but I was afraid to tackle the angled cuts...I have a skill saw but not much skill. :-)Originally Posted by hppyfngy
Thanks Ol Grumpy. Given my old wood shop teacher's comments (something like "Son please find a different hobby!") it turned out better than I had dared hope. :-)
Got a lot of pics and some questions. I wasn't sure if I should just start a new thread, or post it all here, to keep all the info in one place. I decided to post it all here. Hope that was the right way to go!
Started this morning, finished this afternoon. I say "finished," but it obviously needs some "tuning." So I'll show you what I've got so far and ask my questions and see what anyone has to suggest.
First pic, the bare-bones stand:
Pressure treated 2X2's, cut to 7 feet. Over-done it with an 8" "decorative" hinge. Right now, the legs are approx. 48" apart. No angle cut on top, as I will need to be able to adjust for uneven ground. The spread limiter line WILL be added, once I adjust the length of the legs. And then the "feet" will be added. The ridge pipe is currently 15'. More than enough for the HH Expedition Asym with the standard rain fly, but I'm in the process of making a Black Cat tarp with a 12' ridge, so I'm thinking I'll probably be needed a ridge pole cut to 14' when that's ready.
Here is how I did the ridge pole attachment:
That is an anchor shackle attached to the hinge, holding up the cast eye-bolt. Now don't panic, that end cap will only be used for the tarp when the new one is built. Even then, I may just leave the end cap off. Depends on what I need for the new tarp.
I do not like how close the end cap comes to the back leg. I could gain a little more distance by using a quick link between the shackle and the eye-bolt, I have a pair of them on hand. Maybe a loop of cordage if I need to drop it down some more? Or increase the spread of the tripod legs? But as you'll see the over-all height needs to be dropped, so maybe doing something about that will give a little more distance between the end cap and the rear leg. Oh, the other view:
The TDS with the HH Expedition, empty:
Now, the "will it keep his butt off the ground" test:
All Righty! Passed that test! But, it keeps "his butt off the ground" a little too high. When sitting in the hammock, I'd much rather have my feet ON the ground. Looks to me like something needs to be lowered. I did have to work a little bit to get into the hammock thru the bottom entry.
So, what would you suggest? Just lower the ridge pole, maybe with some good cordage between the shackle on the hinge and the eye-bolt? Increase the spread of the tripod legs? (Now at 48".) What about shortening the legs, themselves? (Now at 7ft.) Or maybe a combination of the above?
I do know that the hammock should be 8" to 1' lower than it is in the above picture. Just not sure what is the best way to do this.
Once the new rain fly is ready and tried out on the stand, I'll probably cut a foot or more off the 15' ridge pole, whatever it takes for it to work with the new rain fly.
Here is the hammock with the original rain fly moved out of the way, with a load (me,) on board:
Now with the rain fly in place, and the same crash-test dummy inside:
Not sure if it will be useful or not, but and end shot of the above:
And at last, me exiting the "HH birth canal". Mother and child are both fine:
I'd really like to hear any and all suggestions you might have, to help me get this thing tuned up and ready to go. Sorry if the length of this post was too long, but remember I'm the new kid on the block. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL
I would trust JB Weld. All you're trying to do is keep the thing in place.
Lots of folks do not trust these end caps to hang their bodies from, and just use them for tarp attachment points or not at all, but they have worked for me.
But, I have also used this method. It takes a little "play" out of the system over hanging from cordage, but it's super simple and stable once set up properly.
FlaMike, you might consider eliminating the end cap altogether if it's not giving you the clearance you want. With that eyebolt to attach to, you don't actually need them.
Otherwise, looking good!
Some say I'm apathetic, but I don't care. - Randy
Vary nice...just a few details to sort out.
Keep in mind that for clearance between the end cap and back leg, all you have to do is rotate the tripods so the back leg is not inline with the ridgepole.
I switch back and forth between a WBRR bridge hammock (~25* hang angle) and a variety of different length gathered end hammocks (35*-30* hang angles) which require the length and height of the ridgepole to be easily adjusted.
By positioning the tripods so the ridgepole can pass by the back leg and using a continuous loop to hang the ridgepole, it can be shortened or lengthened by sliding the pole through the continuous loops and raised/lowered by adding or removing wraps of the continuous loops around the ridgepole....
IMG_3099 (Medium).JPG
One thing that concerns me (and it may just be a lack of detailed photos) is that it appears that you have the hammock suspension attached to the ridgepole a fair distance inside of the eyebolts causing the pole to bow downward. If that is the case, you need to move the hammock suspension attachment point to the outside of, and as close as possible, to the eyebolts. hppyfngy's photo in the above post is a good example of this.
Ahhh, so that's what's going on. I was also wondering about the downward flex but I didn't see your attachment points.
gmcttr is right on. I'd move that to your eyebolts and you will eliminate that sag.
Some say I'm apathetic, but I don't care. - Randy
I appreciate the comments!
I did try rotating the tripods so the ridge pole passed to the side of the back leg, but as high up as it is, that took more turning than I thought might be good. Lowering the ridge pole a bit would allow that to work fairly well, though.
Increasing the spread of the legs also helped with that. I went back out and opened them up from 48" to 64" (or was it 68"?) pretty much removed the problem. And with the 7' tall legs, it didn't seem excessive.
As for the bow, this is almost embarrassing!I've studied this thread enough to fully understand what causes the upward or downward deflection of the ridge pole. But, well. . . You saw the picture.
What happened was, I used the little short tree straps that came with the HH Expedition and wrapped them around the ridge pole, figure -8'ing the eye-bolt. But, I guess the last wrap or two, on both ends, wound up on the inside of the bolt. So under tension, those wraps moved towards the center a bit, causing the downward bow.
You can actually see this in the pics, on the left hand tripod. No idea how I missed it.
When I find where ever I put that roll of duct tape, I'll apply it to the threads on the eye-bolt, so I can use the hammock's ridge line without those straps to tie on to the ridge pole. That should eliminate the bowing. I didn't do that to begin with because I got in a hurry to try it out and couldn't locate the tape, so I decided to risk the straps instead of the ridge line.
I do need to bring the hammock itself down closer to the ground, probably about a foot. I guess if I really don't have to lower the ridge pole further from the hinge, then I will have to shorten the tripod legs. Thinking that using a longer ridge pole, I would have to have a little more height. (That's why I left the legs at 7 feet.)
When I do shorten the legs, I still want to keep a wider base, but still not quite sure how wide would be enough, or too much. I don't think I'll actually cut the legs until I see just how long the ridge pole will have to be to work with the 12 ft. hex tarp.
And I haven't forgotten about the spread limit lines, just waiting for the final leg length. And then, of course, I'll add the soft ground feet I mentioned, earlier.
Thanks for the help! And I'm always open to further suggestions and/or constructive criticism.
Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL
Remember, you can cut the length but you cannot add length. 7' is ok to use. Just lower the ridgepole without cutting the leg length.
The 7' will allow you to have the ability to move the ridgepole up if you have uneven ground between the TDS's to compensate for the ground or small "hills". I would change the hardware connection from the stand to the ridgepole to allow for a variety of lengths.
Also since you have a 15' distance, you can adjust the suspension just like in the woods. A little steeper than 30* angle is no biggie.
And, go ahead and finalize the spread limiters, looks like your there now that you know how to fix the downward bowing. Other than that...
...Lay back and enjoy in a job well done.
Enjoy and have fun with your family,before they have fun without you
Florida Hanger,
You know, leaving the 7 ft legs at that length is not something I considered. Been through that thing where you wind up saying, "It doesn't matter how many times I cut it, it's still too short!" once too often. That's why I started with the extra long ones.
But what you said makes perfect sense. I wanted to make this as versatile as I could, as I never know just what conditions I'll be using it under. But I never intend to carry it very far at all. Unless there is a problem fitting it into the boat, and I don't think there will be, I'll leave the legs at their present length and pretend the idea was a result of my "foresight."
As for adjusting the height of the ridge pole, I think I bought a little more Amsteel than I need for another project. In fact, the Amsteel was kind of over-kill for that project, anyway. I'll use that for the adjustable part.
Thanks! You just made my life a little easier.
Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL
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