Soil Anchors

[oldgringo]

Like a Danforth anchor.

[matto]

You want the guy line attached to the stake right at the ground. Think lever - with the guy line above ground level, the portion of the force on the stake from the guy line that is perpendicular to the stake has a lever arm to pull on the stake. The higher above ground level, the longer the lever arm for that portion of the force and the better the force can rotate the stake out of the ground. With the guy line right at ground level, the lever arm is essentially zero, not quite, but very close - TeeDee got into a lot of calculus here which "integrated the forces between the ground and the stake" to compute the pivot point for the ground forces on the stake (I know that is what he did because my engineering GF just said so - she said she could follow what he did, but couldn't reproduce it - a mathematical physicist's world view is just soooo very different )

The worst possible guy line/stake arrangement:

The stake is high out of the ground, the guy line is attached at the top of the stake, yielding the longest possible lever arm and the first angle above is less than 90 degrees so that the guy line is essentially pulling the stake up.

I see people doing this all the time with those shepherds hook stakes. The stake pulls out with the first wind gust and they wonder why.

Those nice cords attached to the tops of stakes are really meant for pulling the stake out of the ground and not to tie off to.

The pivot point is usually called the point of fixity and you don't need calculus to determine it. But IMO, more important than any of this business about the angle between the stake and the line is the angle between the line and the ground. Use a longer line to get a flatter angle and you'll be much better off.

Stakes should be driven into the ground at such an angle that the angle the guy line makes with the stake is actually pulling the stake into the ground instead of out of the ground.

Driving the stake in too flat (toeing it in towards you) has the drawback that there's now less soil over the tip of it. At some point the entire thing will simply pull out of the ground. That's why it's not a bad idea to put a rock on top when possible.

If I was really going to nerd out, I'd calculate the optimal angle to maximize the passive soil pressure in front of the stake. Feel and common sense are probably better guides though. Everyone here is on the right track. No matter what, hanging a hammock from small ground stakes seems like a lot to ask of them. I don't know how well I'd sleep. (Visions of waking up with a stake stuck in my forehead .)

P.S. Nice pics Scotty!

[miisterwright]

I've hung a few times in the back yard on stakes. I found that using my hachet to make some long stakes out of sticks between thumb and wrist size worked well. The thicker stakes seemed to act as a wedge to pack the ground around them. I used them in the "N" configuration about 10-12' behind my bipod/staff. Worked great. Of course, if there aren't trees there aren't many sticks. Would work for areas that have trees, but aren't a suitable distance apart.

[larrybluhm]

For sand, particularly on beaches a mountaineers deadman snow anchor is 'da bomb. They are available in several sizes. I've used it kayak camping with a one tree hang system with a a bipod at the treeless end. This is not a gram weenie system. Most of my local kayak campsites are on a beach against a steep hillside proliferating with poison oak...

[SwingingBagpiper]

I recall reading in another thread about a hanger who was looking for a secure ground / soil anchor for a hammock stand.

I am that hanger. Thank, Jim. I'll give it a try.