Another version of the Aluminum Surplus Military Pole Stand

[Agfadoc]

Well here is the stand in the Grand Tetons and in Yellowstone. I took out the guide gear tarp just to see how it would fit.

It worked great and it got down to 28 degrees. ..
You have to zoom in to see the temp.

I need more time there, I'll be going back.

[G...Hawk]

.
A,

Fantastic travel gear !

TLAA-AMAP-tripods generally photograph well; the locations demonstrate the fantasy of always finding a place to hang
while traveling across the country.




G

[hppyfngy]

Okay, thanks to all you who have gone before me, I now enter the fray.

I have to! I can't help myself! Besides, I've had the poles for a month and yes, I eventually succumbed and ordered the Grainger clips. That was hard as I don't have a local Grainger's and with shipping they were like $25! Almost half of what the poles plus the bag cost!

Made the bodger in me cry a little...

So, as much as I love wrapping and frapping, I think I'm just going to save my lashing skills for more natural woodsy materials like bamboo and wood poles. For this baby, I'm going heavy metal. Industrial!

Just read through the whole thing again before I start, looking for any innovations.

Agfa, are your spread limiters working hard? I mean do you trust those cord locks or are they just sort of keeping everything in place? I guess the tripods dig in enough so that they aren't really being called upon to keep the tripod from spreading? I'm unsure how I'm going to address that...

I'm also not sure about how I like the open ends of the legs sucking up dirt
if you're on wet ground, but I don't know if I want to do the spike mod, as clever as it is...

And I'm glad the point about the eyebolts on the ridge pole has been explored. I might have done that if left to my own devices.

So I'm off to the hardware store soon to pick up the eyebolts and washers and things I don't have for the assembly.

Thanks again!

Any other new tips anyone can think of, after having lived with these things for a little while?

[Agfadoc]

The shelf limiters work great for me, the cord locks only form the curves to ensure that they wrap around the tubes so they don't slide down. There isn't hardly any pressure on the paracord until I load it down with a bunch of stuff. It's very convenient in my opinion to be able to set the tarp or hammock while you mess with the suspension. I use the shelves much more than I thought I would.

The dirt on the bottom of the feet can be an issue, but I've used the stand in a multiple of conditions so far and there isn't much dirt that formed inside the poles. I assume you could use the plugs previously mentioned to plug the holes.

Mine has traveled 2500 miles with me so far and I'm currently in Tahoe without the need this week (many many cedars and pines) but will be heading for the Badlands at the end of the week and am very happy with the portability of the stand.

While in Yellowstone I overheard another camper saying that the setup was too complicated, but I think it's versatile and gives me options.

[hppyfngy]

Complicated, schlomplicated. It's clever and it's Beastly!

Who doesn't have 10 minutes to play around with this?

I feel like I want to come up with plugs but not spikes necessarily. Maybe just some big old rubber corks or something. I'll see what I can come up with.

I like the shelf idea a lot. I was just not sure whether the cordage was "working" or not. I wouldn't like to trust my butt to little plastic cord locks...

But mine will never have a reason to come indoors as I have several other stands for that.

Just got home with eye bolts and stuff. To the shop!

[Agfadoc]

Have fun with it, the only time the limiters were actually used was when I had it on concrete where the legs could slip and if one of the cord locks broke, I figured the 550 Ioop wouldn't go too far.

I do keep the shelves below the top rails in that case so they won't slip upwards and collapse the triangle.

If that makes any sense.

[matthew2000tx]

This is a very interesting thread. I'm going to have to pick up some of these poles. I have a set of the fiberglass ones for Ham Radio uses but now I want a set of these.

[Jsaults]

I have my poles but have not had time to construct a stand.

Has anyone used this in soft, loamy or sandy ground? I once had a bipod support sink nearly a foot into soft ground adjacent to Pymatuning lake in PA.

I was thinking of using PVC pipe caps to limit ground penetration. Any thoughts or better ideas?

Jim

[GroundHog]

I haven't done it yet for mine, but I was thinking of cutting some 6 inch discs out of heavy duty mud flap material. Then put a hole in the center for the spike on mine to go through.

[hppyfngy]

So who is selling these poles now? I went back to joshgramp to buy some more and he doesn't have any. (and wasn't very nice about it, btw)