One tree hammock stand using cheap stuff...relatively!

[CamoDeafie82]

Hello guys. due to an upcoming campout hosted by my best friend's location on his landlord's property, though on 200 acres, and have a LOT of trees....but the area he picked for the campout is rather lacking in trees if everyone wants to be close to a bonfire...... I decided to try a crazy idea out here....
Materials needed;
4x cargo straps of 300-500lb class
4x 10" or so nail stakes, the heavy duty ones you can find at any camp store
a collapsible aluminum Army center pole from one of their General Purpose tents (Medium I think?), the pole telescopes out to 10something feet, but for the purposes of this, I only extended it one section at a time..
Because I don't have Amsteel or the 16ft long cargo strap from the USAF at the moment, I used two tree hugger straps and a whoopie sling as my ridge line...I could probably get away with using the Fiancee's hammock whoopies and make a 3 piece ridge line but... I chose not to this time.
Essentially, it is sort of a tensegrity stand, where the ridge line is pulled from the single tree to the army pole, set at a 60 degree-ish angle, and the 4 cargo straps tied down to the nail stakes using larksheads on each of the stakes...It held my 260lb butt up just fine, no drama whatsoever, and most importantly, NO pulling out of the stakes! That was a very real concern here...

on to the pics!

What one needs. I took one whoopie off one end of my hammock suspension, so that I can use the tree strap directly to the hammock, and utilized the whoopie as a ridge line between the other two tree straps.


remaining whoopie end on the top of the army pole here, then 4 cargo tiedown straps down to the ground


hung my lumbar pack from a steel hook on the tree strap.


With my 10x10 BCUSA tarp, it covers just enough.....I think in good weather, this is good enough


side view of the whole set up.

I'm pretty sure my Long Ogee tarp could probably cover the thing better.....but it's not bad at all here

hope you guys enjoyed this!
The army pole sections collapse to just a little over 4 feet long each piece.... and its made of beefy aluminum...with long enough Amsteel and more stakes or stake booms, one could in theory do a bunker stand/side by side two hammocks.... something I might try out at the campout with the fiancee's GT UL hammock, she's not heavy at all (5'4 and 105lbs), but I ain't sure if the 4 stakes would be able to bear with the strain.... though I believe most of the compression is on the army pole in this set up, right?

[jjr]

Nice stand! Thanks for sharing.

There will always be force acting on the stakes, but I believe you are correct and the brunt of the force is on the pole and the tie outs are there mainly to stabilize. The closer the angle of the pole is to the angle of the suspension, the less force will be pulling on the stakes. Also the steeper the hang angle the less horizontal force. With that being said it looks like you have it pitched nicely and if the stakes hold while sleeping in the hammock overnight you are good to go.


Cheers

[Nighthauk]

One of the things that will change your plans, of which I found out, is the density of the soil from your lawn to the woods. I have had stakes hold on my lawn but did not hold in the forest soil because it is less compacted. I had to move to a 2' piece of rebar to make it work. Just because it has more holding power.

[CamoDeafie82]

Nice stand! Thanks for sharing.

There will always be force acting on the stakes, but I believe you are correct and the brunt of the force is on the pole and the tie outs are there mainly to stabilize. The closer the angle of the pole is to the angle of the suspension, the less force will be pulling on the stakes. Also the steeper the hang angle the less horizontal force. With that being said it looks like you have it pitched nicely and if the stakes hold while sleeping in the hammock overnight you are good to go.


Cheers

Thanks ! Yup that is what I am thinking.

One of the things that will change your plans, of which I found out, is the density of the soil from your lawn to the woods. I have had stakes hold on my lawn but did not hold in the forest soil because it is less compacted. I had to move to a 2' piece of rebar to make it work. Just because it has more holding power.

The area I will be attempting this, is basically a large yard/field... the firepit is about a hundred feet away from the one big enough tree for hanging this. There is a forest within a quarter mile from this field, with a thicket of thorny stuff in between and in very hilly areas....one of the warnings from his landlord is that of a large mountain lion living on the property, so to allay my fiancee's fears, we've decided to camp relatively close to the house (on the field/large yard) I do believe the soil is more solid that that of my parents' yard, but we will see.

[TallPaul]

Another option is to use multiple nail stakes for each strap going to the ground, with them facing different directions. Rebar would be a better option. I've had a nail bend on me before.

[CamoDeafie82]

Another option is to use multiple nail stakes for each strap going to the ground, with them facing different directions. Rebar would be a better option. I've had a nail bend on me before.

Rebar is a better option I agree. I will see if I can spare more nail stakes; these are the big ones with the green plastic doodads usually in the box marts, but all the plastic parts have broken off/gotten lost over the years... Perhaps two per strap in a V shape should be far more secure? Actually, a Picket stake line will work as well on each strap end... hmm time to do look at them!

Yup. Picket Holdfast set up should be more than strong enough with two, maybe three stakes per line. looks like I will be trying this for a more secure ground staking system for the strap ends!

[Russtang]

Rebar is a better option I agree. I will see if I can spare more nail stakes; these are the big ones with the green plastic doodads usually in the box marts, but all the plastic parts have broken off/gotten lost over the years... Perhaps two per strap in a V shape should be far more secure? Actually, a Picket stake line will work as well on each strap end... hmm time to do look at them!

Yup. Picket Holdfast set up should be more than strong enough with two, maybe three stakes per line. looks like I will be trying this for a more secure ground staking system for the strap ends!

Hehe, I have more of those nail stakes missing the plastic, than ones with the plastic.

FYI, I've found the nails (minus the plastic) at home depot or lowe's for something like 30 cents each, vs About $7 per four of the camping stakes.

[CamoDeafie82]

Hehe, I have more of those nail stakes missing the plastic, than ones with the plastic.

FYI, I've found the nails (minus the plastic) at home depot or lowe's for something like 30 cents each, vs About $7 per four of the camping stakes.

That's actually a good deal. I have heard of another method, if there be large low growing brush near enough, then I may be able to tie the lines directly to them and not need the stakes.... we will see this weekend!

[HandOfGod]

Interesting idea. I was lucky enough to find a campsite that had two trees that were spaced out enough that I could use my hammock. I need to have a solution like this if I get in a situation that I only have one tree available. Great ideas!