Hanging hammocks from a truck creatively with no trees?

[peripatew]

Long story short: our family just moved to Cambodia for some humanitarian work, and we're trying to find a way to get back into the outdoors. We purchased a 2003 double cab Tacoma 4x4 to help with that. My son and I brought our hammocks, WBBB and a Hennessy Cub. Some places have abundant trees, but others no so much.

Finding a spot that allows us to hang one side from the truck, and the other to a tree should be easy enough. But, I'd like to try and think of a way to hang the hammocks only from the truck. Weird I know, but I want to attempt a good solution. And if that's just not possible, then I'd like to figure out a good support leg for the side of the hammock that isn't attached to the truck.

I'm planning on having a custom roof rack made, so I have some flexibility with that. Labor and supplies are cheap here. And I don't mind having something coming up out of the rear hitch. I don't have many options regarding the truck bed itself, as I have a motorized fiberglass bed cover. I'm planning on putting a mattress of some sort in there with a mosquito net draped over the whole back end for the wife and our youngest kiddo.

I've searched around, and I'm finding some mixed info on what the stock roof rack can hold. I'd prefer to use the stock rails, rather than screw something new into the roof.

Any help in thinking through this?! I'm not an engineer by any means, but would love to work at creating a great way for our family to easily escape the chaos of living in a 3rd world country . Thanks! I'll provide any other info that would be helpful!

[Pipsissewa]

Maybe you could attach two long poles to your roof rack front and back like these: CLICK HERE. Then hang two hammocks parallel to the truck, one on each side. You wouldn't have to screw anything additional into your roof. And that gives you a two-person hanging capacity for your family.

Best of luck to you!

[karbo]

i have used a power pole for one end and run my suspension over the roof of my truck ,at the end of my suspension i have a loop, i will put a strong stick in the loop open the door put suspension in and close the door. i have done this several times and works well. You can also make a turtle dog stand. good luck and happy hanging.

[peripatew]

Bump! Thanks for the responses. I just got back from an amazing weekend trip, but sadly had to sleep in the truck as there wasn't adequate trees to setup our hammocks (nor did I want to bushwhack for an hour just to set them up, leave no trace!). Thankfully we slept ok, but I really missed my hammock. I've been doodling some plans, but when I try to use the hammock calculator to figure out some measurements, I'm getting screwy results. Here's the doodles: ImageUploadedByTapatalk1438869931.212031.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1438869943.644892.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1438869954.763243.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1438869969.928783.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1438869987.698246.jpg

Sorry that they are crude, but hopefully it gets the point across. Another, non-doodled option is to use a front hitch mount and use another T pole in the front. I'd like to keep this as simple as possible though, and it seems like the roof rack poles could help with that.

A few questions, the top of the roof rack will be around 7' tall, what's the ideal width between the suspension poles? I'm hanging in a BBWB at 210 pounds, and my son in a Hennessy Cub at 80 pounds. I'd like to get this as close to ideal as possible before I start having things fabricated for me.

And, for fun, here's a few truck pictures from the recent trip: ImageUploadedByTapatalk1438870191.310716.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1438870201.378603.jpg

[PaPa K]

I was pondering the same question and thought about using the slide in receiver hitch and building a pole assembly to fit in that. That should handle one end and it can be built as sturdy as your needs dictate.

[peripatew]

I'm hoping to be completely sell supporting via the truck for both suspension points though. When we camped this trip, my total available footprint was small, with no other support options other than other vehicles. I'd do that in a pinch, but would prefer not too.

[lxzndr]

I think your sketch ideas should work out with the correct materials.
You might be better with separate tarps though, you could anchor to the bottom of the truck.

If you are concerned about the load on the roof, you could add a leg to each end of the poles so that the roof bar is just to keep the legs stable.
either make the leg adjustable, or have the connection to the roof bar be a sleeve that the leg slides through, and hang from the leg, then you can hang your hammocks a reasonable height.

you may also consider a bars from front to back to take some of that compressive load. (like the stands do)

Since the weight isn't much of a factor, you could also make a canopy frame to get everything under a tarp/canopy and hang from the supports. much like a 10x20 portable garage.

[lubbockhammockguy]

What if you do the aluminum 1' pole stand and just have one end attached to the truck support

[peripatew]

I think your sketch ideas should work out with the correct materials.
You might be better with separate tarps though, you could anchor to the bottom of the truck.

If you are concerned about the load on the roof, you could add a leg to each end of the poles so that the roof bar is just to keep the legs stable.
either make the leg adjustable, or have the connection to the roof bar be a sleeve that the leg slides through, and hang from the leg, then you can hang your hammocks a reasonable height.

you may also consider a bars from front to back to take some of that compressive load. (like the stands do)

Since the weight isn't much of a factor, you could also make a canopy frame to get everything under a tarp/canopy and hang from the supports. much like a 10x20 portable garage.

Thanks for the ideas! Im hoping to find a solution that allows this to work with the least amount of extra parts. But I see where vertical supports could help with the load. I'm hoping to keep the hammocks as close to the truck as possible to prevent a higher "leverage load".

I hadn't though much about the compressive load though, good point. With all of that, it seems that bamboo turtledog stands would be easier and lighter. .

Our usage will be infrequent, 2-4 nights a month on average would be at the high end.

[peripatew]

What if you do the aluminum 1' pole stand and just have one end attached to the truck support

Have a link for what that would look like?