Bought the lumber and hardware for stand number 1, wanted to build and test one before progressing to stand number 2. I always have to double everything since I also have to buy and build for young son who hangs with me. We used 2x3's because I couldn't find any decent 2x2's at either the Orange Box or the Blue Box. I thought about going to the local lumber yard but the 2x3's were closer and weren't the worst I'd ever seen so I figured I'd give them a shot, I have a habit of overbuilding. Since I was building these specifically for a Cub Scout car camping trip to the beach next month, so no trees, I wasn't concerned with weight or size. I could not locate the military surplus ham radio antenna sections locally so I ordered 12 off of ebay with a huge rubberized dufflebag for $60. I wanted to use the aluminum sections rather than the fence pole so I could break down ridge shorter and I have a few different tarps for different conditions and wanted some convertibility. I am not gifted with the carpenter gene, I have the desire just not the ability, so it took about two hours to cut, assemble and get the hammock hung. Put in leg restrictors and used two doubled loops of 550 to hang the ridge and used 3 sections of the antenna for a 12' ridgepole so I could use the whoopies. Worked like a champ. young son loved it. Now I have all of the material for stand number 2 which will get built this week. I would like to have a couple of test hangs before our trip next month.
One thing I did, that I saw somewhere on this massive thread, is use Eyebolts on the outboard leg on the lower hinge connection rather than just a bolt. Thought it would be useful for hanging stuff or for use of a tie down to the ground for wind protection. The leg restrictors are about 3' up the leg which I cut to 6.5'. The spread is pretty wide at the base about 5.5' from leg to leg for a little more stability.
Turtledog Hinge.jpgTurtledog Hinge2.jpgTurtledog1.jpgTurtledog2.jpg
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