Hammock stand design?

[lorriern]

Hi, we are new to camping above the ground. Looking at making a couple of hammock stands and have seen some great designs. Our question is why hang off of a pole that goes between the tripods as apposed to just hanging from the tripods themselves ? Almost all designs I have seen show this concept. Any help would be appreciated.
Wanting to make some self standing units to be able to use our equipment when no trees are available.

[iRokk]

I have actually wondered that, myself, and the only reason I could think of is that with the pole, it would be a downward force on the tripods from the pole, where it would be a lateral force if you were just to attach to the tripods. Not sure if people are worried about pulling the tripods over or breaking them. Maybe I am not even close to the real reason, but I am just as curious as you are.

[Chug]

Just a short note: The reason for the pole in between the Tri-pods. Is the Force inwards from hanging the hammock.

Pulled from the Hammock App: Person weighs 200 lbs.. the inward force is 173.2 lbs.
that Pole will bow upwards slightly. with out the pole.. your tripods will become one with you & hammock Plus Pain.
Search Hammock hang Calculator. as with the turtle dog stand. Lots of info on it.. and how too's.

[iRokk]

Just a short note: The reason for the pole in between the Tri-pods. Is the Force inwards from hanging the hammock.

Pulled from the Hammock App: Person weighs 200 lbs.. the inward force is 173.2 lbs.
that Pole will bow upwards slightly. with out the pole.. your tripods will become one with you & hammock Plus Pain.
Search Hammock hang Calculator. as with the turtle dog stand. Lots of info on it.. and how too's.

I feel like a way to help balance out that lateral force would be to set up the tripods so that one leg from each is on the "inside", like facing towards the hammock?

[Floridahanger]

If you put the leg in, you will now have a tripod lifting up on that leg then sledgehammering down on you Yikes!

Yes. The hammock load will pull lateraly on the tripods. So the solution is to put the hammock on a lateral bar. Now the load is suspended on the bar only.
Since that bar now has a vertical load(gravity only), you can put that bar anywhere you like. Attach to trees, between cars or walls, or between 2 tripods ala TLS(Turtlelady stand) or TDS(Turtledog stand).

[Narksos]

I feel like a way to help balance out that lateral force would be to set up the tripods so that one leg from each is on the "inside", like facing towards the hammock?

You're still going to create torque (inner leg will pivot against the ground) and have the tripod fall in. You can can counteract the torque with ground anchors, but at that point you might as well use a monopod stand.

By using a ride pole, the inward force is taken by the pole and the force vector on the tripods is nearly straight down.

[gmcttr]

Yep...the tripods will pull in on you in a hurry. It's the ridgepole that takes the horizontal forces as compression.

I suppose with the tripod legs spread out far enough (impractical), they would not pull over, but they would probably slide in.