No trees??

[roverdisc1]

This may not be the right thread to post in, but I'll give it a try.

My right-brained-over-think-everything engineering mentality might be taking over, but I am trying to switch from a tenter to a hanger and the only big downfall I can see is not having trees (stay with me here). All of you other engineering minded persons, forget about everything but the concept.

Make 2 inverted V's, hang your hammock between them making sure that when hung the V's have an outward angle of X (30-45 degrees). When the weight of your body is in the hammock, the force is being applied "down". making the outward angle of the V's work "with" you. The angle that the V's are affixed to will account for your swing stability.

Not sure if you understand that, but set aside anything else, will this concept work?

[blackbishop351]

Somebody tried making a stand like that....can't remember who right now. They didn't take advantage of the geometry like you're talking about, so they might've been able to get away with lighter poles. The main problem with the design was the supports from the "V" to the ground, though. I think their conclusion was that they'd need something on the order of circus tent stakes to hold that much tension. Not terribly practical.

[roverdisc1]

think about your garden variety swingset. it is nothing more than 2 inverted V's connected by a horizontal crossmember.

[Just Jeff]

But with a hammock there's a LOT of force on the horizontal vector. It would take big stakes and pretty big poles. Not worth the weight, IMO...if I had to carry something like that for my site, I'd just bring a tent. JMHO.

Give it a try and take some pics....maybe I'm just not understanding your idea correctly.

[Coffee]

This may not be the right thread to post in, but I'll give it a try.

My right-brained-over-think-everything engineering mentality might be taking over, but I am trying to switch from a tenter to a hanger and the only big downfall I can see is not having trees (stay with me here). All of you other engineering minded persons, forget about everything but the concept.

Make 2 inverted V's, hang your hammock between them making sure that when hung the V's have an outward angle of X (30-45 degrees). When the weight of your body is in the hammock, the force is being applied "down". making the outward angle of the V's work "with" you. The angle that the V's are affixed to will account for your swing stability.

Not sure if you understand that, but set aside anything else, will this concept work?

Oh man, you said the magic words.

I was thinking about what would be needed a while back to do something like this. The problem I came up with was the weight of the poles. I did not make it to the weight of the stakes. Even if you were able to get the stakes into the ground and hang the hammock at a big enough angle, you would still be putting a lot of torsonal force on the pole.

If the stake held, I think the pole would bend somewhere in the middle. Having a V shape with the V inline with the hammock would help. But that is still a lot of force on the pole. I was thinking you would need something out of titanium too try to keep the weight down. Even then it would be way heavier than any trekking pole I would want to use.

The issue with designing something like this is not making something that will be iffy and hold up for a few uses, but last for many nights in a row. I am hesitant to take anything with me that I do not think could hold up for the long haul.

Risk has a pic somewhere on his site, www.imrisk.com , with him hanging from a tree on one end and a board on the other. Although it is tied to the bottom of a tree and the tie out. Made more for when the trees are too far apart than anything else.

[Coffee]

I forgot to add, I am not trying to shoot down all of your ideas and sound completly negative. I like to see some outside the box thinking. If something could be make I am sure there is a lot of money waiting out there to be made. I'm sure I would get one. I just think practically it would be very hard to do.

[slowhike]

I forgot to add, I am not trying to shoot down all of your ideas and sound completly negative. I like to see some outside the box thinking. If something could be make I am sure there is a lot of money waiting out there to be made. I'm sure I would get one. I just think practically it would be very hard to do.

at this point, i'm thinking there's not much that can be done for a treeless backpacker, in the way of a stand that could be carried.
but that line of thinking could lead to a really lightweight, portable hammock stand for camp grounds & other travel.

[Tango61]

Depending on where you were, you might could use really big boulders to tie onto. I remember seeing some pic's of a guy in Scotland doing that. You might could also utilize some mountain climbing equipment like jam nuts in crevaces (sp?) but I would be very careful about this and get as much technical knowledge as possible before hand (ie get some mountaineering experience).

[Rhino-lfl]

just find some poles to make a ridgeline for your rain fly and top net, then sleep with you hammock on the ground like a tent!! 3D camping!

[blackbishop351]

just find some poles to make a ridgeline for your rain fly and top net, then sleep with you hammock on the ground like a tent!! 3D camping!

You don't even have to do that if you're using a ridgeline hammock. And the tarp shouldn't need a ridgeline at all. Check the Hennessy site and Hiking HQ for pix.