Hey, everyone. I'm vey excited about this project I've been working on and wanted to share it with you all. I also could use some help with a portion of it.
I wanted my hiking poles to double as spreader bars on a bridge hammock, but wasn't coming up with a satisfactory set up.
I really liked TeeDee's use of bamboo poles and had seen other hikers use bamboo for hiking poles. So, I set out to make hiking poles out of bamboo that could also serve as spreader bars on a bridge. My hiking poles have to be about 50 inches long. However, if I left the bamboo poles as ~50 inches long, they would interfere with my tarp when used as spreader bars.
I solved this problem by cutting the poles to the necessary size (they act as 36" spreaders) and then attaching PVC irrigation pipes as the handles. I placed irrigation pipe "risers" on the pole for the attachment. The PVC handles are removable, which makes them shorter to serve as spreader bars. The handles also act as toggles for my marlin spike hitch set up.
The poles are very light, very strong, and hold me just fine in my new DIY bridge hammock (a Grizz Bridge). I've tested them for hiking and they work great.
I hope some hangers find this useful and I'm more than willing to share more details if anyone wants any.
PICS: (1) Poles assembled with handles on (2) Handles used as toggles on marlin spike hitch (3) bamboo poles inserted as spreader bars (4) suspension triangle with whoopie sling attached to dynaglide.
OK, here is my question about my bridge set up... (The pictures hopefully help, but I can add some for clarification)
Each of my suspension triangles consists of a single line of dynaglide about 6 feet long that connects the two corners at each end of the bridge. I girth hitch a whoopie sling to the dynaglide. Actually, I have a piece of 3/8 plastic tubing around the dynaglide to protect the dynaglide from the whoopie sling at this point of attachment. The whoopie then gets hung on the marlin spike hitch. HOWEVER, I run the risk of the whoopie moving from side to side along the dynaglide, which then makes the triangle unstable. The reason I used this approach was to keep everything simple. Perhaps I made it too simple.
Possible solutions I can think of:
1. Find the sweet spot of the suspension triangle, i.e. the center of the dynaglide, and tie a knot on either side of the plastic tubing with another piece of cord so the whoopie cannot drift to one side or the other. In other words, the knots will act as a stopper for the plastic tubing/whoopie connection to keep the triangle sides equal at all times. I prefer to keep the plastic on there just to protect the dynaglide from wear and tear. But if it has to come off for safety reasons...I have #2 below.
2. Cut the plastic tube from the dynaglide so the whoopie attaches directly to the dynaglide. I think the tubing is nice to protect the dynaglide from wear and tear but I believe it contributes to the side-to-side motion. Then I could experiment to see if the whoopie sling still slides when directly in contact with the dynaglide. If it does, then I'll try to figure something else out.
Any help is greatly appreciated!!
SoCal Mike
P.S. I wanted to say a big thanks to some of the HF members who helped me with my many nagging questions. A special thanks to Grizz for his advice on bridge hammocks, spreader bars, and for listening to my progress along the way. Shug was a big help with my questions about hiking poles as spreader bars. I learned from some of his mistakes without having to make them myself. And krugd (Don) has been very helpful with his feedback as I experimented with my bamboo pole project. Thank you, gentlemen; and thanks to anyone I may have overlooked--it's not intentional.
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