The TurtleDog stand

[e_2]

BTW, it's hard to beat the strength-to-weight ratio of an Aluminum windsurfing mast for a ridgepole. They will take nearly 600lbs of compression.

If you shop around, you can find them for around $20 used. I use a 460cm 2-piece mast, which is about 15ft long assembled.

I've been shopping for used kayak paddles too..

[Rice-N-beans]

Made the stand bag out of canvas

Rereading the thread again and this caught my eye! 😎 Nice job!

[Jimbo3b]

I finally made my stand during the first week of April. I used all the best tips found here, including:

Galvanized fence top rail, 10 feet long, cut in half,
Two three-foot wooden dowels inside the top rail; the smaller diameter is in the center, to decrease buckling chances, and the larger is cut in half, inserted in each end, to avoid crushing by the eye bolts and again to avoid buckling stresses.
Outdoor pressure-treated 2 x 2s,
Heavy-duty 4-inch gate hinges.

I built the stand during the first couple of days of April, then went on a 5-day camping trip with my brother to Utah. I used the stand with:

DIY hammock,
two DIY underquilts (insultex on the outside, cheap poly-fillled quilt next to the hammock),
Assymetric camo tarp.

Most of the plans were from this forum and from the great resources at DIY Gear Supply, and most of the soft-goods materials were from DIY Gear Supply. The whole setup was just right for nights in the 30s and 40s. The tarp was needed mostly to get the moon out of my eyes. You might have noticed, if you looked at the gear list carefully, that my next project will be a top quilt to replace the cheap sleeping bag I'm currently using. Many thanks to all the contributors to these threads.

Here's the stand and gear at sunrise near the abandoned town and movie set of Pariah, UT, on April 11:

Turtledog at Pariah UT.jpg

[Penfold]

That is a really pretty shot

[atraperegrinus]

I can get Metal tubing from a family member for dang near nothing. what would be the best tube to make this out of.

I know i can obviously get the steel MUCH cheaper than aluminum, im pretty sure he can get both.

do you think 1" square steel tube would work for the legs? I was also figuring making the top section out of the same tube just to make it easier on myself.

same question for aluminum, but would i be better off going for a bigger size?

I'm a big guy for the record, so i'm better off overbuilding than not, ( i am 300 lbs 6'5" ) and use a clark nx-250.

I'm not an engineer and Google wasn't being my friend when i checked earlier so hopefully someone with better knowledge of metal tubing can help me out.

[gmcttr]

...1" square steel tube ...

Fairly meaningless without wall thickness.

[atraperegrinus]

Fairly meaningless without wall thickness.

he works at a place that does large commercial work, so i'm going to assume anything i get will be at minimum 1/8th" thickness. I don't believe they work with 1/16th.

Sorry i didn't think to mention this. My Apologies

edit: he can get me 1" x 1" Steel tubing at .083" thickness, which is right smack between 1/16th and 1/8th, seems to be the best choice money wise.


will that be suitable for the legs and the cross bar?

[WVadvrider]

I must start to gather materials for this stand, also.

[Jimbo3b]

That is a really pretty shot

Thanks Penfold! It was a really neat area to visit.

[atraperegrinus]

2014-05-10 14.05.29.jpg

Got mine all set up aswell, finally found a ridgepole suitable for a big guy.