Mono-Pole Stand, Human Pile Driver idea

[ntxkayakr]

These YouTube videos have been on TV and the internet for many years, I was wondering if anyone has used the idea to drive a wood or metal pole into the ground as part of their hammock stand/suspension system.

I guess it depends on how much rhythm your camping companions have and how well you trust the cross-member beam(s). Minimal requirements would be good cordage, saplings or standing dead wood in good condition, a bucksaw, parang, or bush knife with good "batoning" skills to cut the notch, and sharpen the ground tip etc. Add water for lubrication. If no one has a percussive tambourine you could always bang a stick on the vertical pole for the rhythm to bounce to.





An obvious disadvantage is that you may need to dig out the mono-pole or use an improvised wench between the pole and tree or two poles to remove them when done hanging. Or re-install the horizontal beam and use a car jack to force the pole out like the fence construction workers do when they are replacing fence posts. (heavy in the backpack, Long sapling tree used as a lever may be better.)
Advantage: lighter and fewer tall poles than bi or tripod and less reliance on guy lines, which should probably still not be totally eliminated. Depth of pole bury depends on the soil type, 1-2 feet should generally be enough. 3 feet for an 8' fence to withstand 50 mph winds, just for comparison.

Just some fun ideas, will post photos if I get around to it or post your own and add a link to this thread please.
Thanks.

[dirtwheels]

Could you post a test report and video along with a materials list. You might want to consider posting 2 of each a car camping version and a UL backpacking version.

[dynamicsnail]

It would be hard to get it to go in at an angle
How do they get those started? Obviously they're in deep enough that they can climb on the sides of it...

[ntxkayakr]

To get a post hole started I use a cat hole trowel. My favorite was purchased from HF member QiWiz:
http://www.qiwiz.net/trowels.html

Big Dig, less than 0.6 oz, 7.25" long is the one I use but there are smaller and larger ones available.

The pole installed as close to vertical as possible is most structurally sound if you do the vector analysis for a mono-pole with minimal forces and spread on the guy lines. Ask an experienced shortwave antenna design engineer, dipoles etc. Angled poles are not stable.

[mrmike65]

Hey, that looks like fun! Pole driving! It could be a new group activity at hangs. maybe hangers could drive poles for future camp shelters in exchange for campground fees

[ntxkayakr]

I have been told many times to NEVER do math in public for obvious reasons, glazed over eyes, ridicule, endless nit picking, etc etc. But if in the privacy of your own home anyone wants to relive the the joys of University and High School here are some sites to stimulate your memories of that good old Newtonian Physics, Vector Analysis and you will recall why the torsion or twisting, angular forces on an angled post make it inherently unstable, and figure out the optimum spread of your guy lines depending on your weight, height of pole(s) to reduce the force on the lines etc. OK so like at max 3 people read all that Blah Blah Blah.

Kids at my University loved my Physics Prof (also my academic advisor) so much they did a "Vector Dance" to "You can Dance if you want to" (Men at Work) music at a talent show in honor of him, he loved it. Now my 16 year old daughter studies Vector Math in Sophomore High School physics and is still behind 90% of the kids in other countries of the world who are kicking our backsides in the STEMs. People like Tsilanoitar Yteicos in this riveting YT video with will keep you mesmerized for the full 17 minutes I'm certain, snark. At least he does not have issues with his technicolored caulk breaking every 30 seconds.



other better uses of your time perhaps:

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors

Angular Velocity Vector:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/rotv.html

FYI: I am not big on posting my own personal photos and videos because the internet never forgets but loves to copy and repost and plagiarize. Also this is very obvious stone age technology and has been done before. And the "right to be forgotten" has only recently been valid in the E.U. and this law stands on quicksand. Those who have gone to court over it will now be remembered forever which is very ironic and extremely funny, or at least to me. I try to give credit to the originators of ideas whenever possible. I'm fairly certain that Adam and his kids drove the first poles into the ground to hang their hammocks from while on a hunting trip in the savanna, but their writings about it were not saved. Difficult to disprove this hypothesis. Blah, Blah, Blah. strange sense of humor I have been told ;-)

[ntxkayakr]

Hey, that looks like fun! Pole driving! It could be a new group activity at hangs. maybe hangers could drive poles for future camp shelters in exchange for campground fees

Totally agree mrmike65. In remote areas a post hole digger is a bit heavy to haul in your backpack or tiny bush plane, not to mention a gas powered auger. It has been many years since I was a kid in the Amazonian Jungle the Aboriginal method of digging a shallow hole with a machete blade, then driving posts, for a simple hut/shelter and hanging hammocks under a palm leaf roof was very labor and time intensive, but a lot of fun. There may be some B&W 35 mm slides of it in boxes at my 84 year old Mother's home but y'all probably don't want to see a bunch of mostly naked men in loincloths, with their wives in wrap around skirts (a few beads and paint above the waist) standing by to supervise. Women were the brains of the operation, and made sure that they didn't all sleep outside, LOL. These people were my instructors, I still remember some of them by name.

BTW: not shown in video clips, more than one cross beam can be installed at right angles to each other to form an "X" to get more people on it and reduce the chance of breaking them if you have 4 or more people bouncing. Notch(s) in vertical post to reduce chance to it slipping, cord up and over top helps. If illiterate stone age folks figured it out hundreds of years ago surely most folks on HF can also, without developing a migraine. This is fun stuff.