Well, I finally pulled the trigger on a pole stand. I figured out it was cheapest to go to Lowe's and get 10' galvanized pipe. I ended up with 1", thought about using 1 1/4" but it would have been almost 20% more. Since I bought 10' pieces and had them cut and threaded I ended up with a rather modular design. Oh, and on a side note, Lowe's says cutting and threading is free but that is only for the first two. It is $0.50 each after that. I had my wife with me so she bought two of the pipes and saved us $1. Final cost with the wonderful 9% IL sales tax was $104.78.
I ended up with 4x 6', 4x 2', 1x 1', 1x3', 1x 4'. Also required are 2x tees, 2x 90°, and 1x straight coupler. My wife found some chair leg type rubber things that we could use instead of the expensive galvanized caps. I also picked up 2x 6' pipe insulators.
The result is a stand that can be 7', 9', 10' or 12'. The insulators seem to even out the legs, so there is no wobble there. Also, it should keep it from marring a wood floor if I ever use it on one.
I tried using 1.5" straps to hang the hammock but could not get them to stay. I'm having better luck with 1" straps.
If you were doing this and did not want the option of hanging a 11' tarp, you could get away with only 3x 10' (4x 5', 5x 2') and cut almost $19 off the price. Right now I have it set up at 9' but I'm really thinking of extending it to 10'. With the 6' height the hang angle is too steep. (you need to have the straps near the top to keep from bending the legs in) It is nice for watching TV, but not quite right for sleeping all night, at 6' I don't feel like I can quite get stretched out.
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