View Full Version : Portable hammock stand
What height do you like your hammock. If you had a perfect setup that is. I saw this hammock stand and decided I could build it. Now my height can very depending how wide I make the pipe so if I don't like the height I can lower or raise. Any ideas will be helpful. Oh I have a Hennessey ULBP if that helps in your answer.
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-9/qid=1152622690/ref=sr_1_9/602-6807456-1299826?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B00092M278
TN_Hiker
07-11-2006, 10:37
I prefer mine a little less than waist high (at the low point) as I find it makes it easier to enter / exit my HH asym. Since I haven't had it very long, I haven't used it during the colder months yet. However; I would suspect I would want to hang lower when the temps. drop.
TN Hiker
At what height do you tie your ridge line to get the hammock to be at your waist height
Assuming everything is relatively level, I wrap the tree huggers at eyeball level or slightly higher. To give you an idea of what eyeball level is I am 5' 10".
I am interested in making a portable hammock stand out of metal pipe also, just don't know how to do it. Can you fill me in on the details?
do you want it to be car portable or is the hammock stand for use around the house only?
car portable:
2 T connectors for 2 inch steel pipe
4 18 inch or 24 inch sections (2 for each end) for the feet to the hammock stand go into the Ts
4 plastic end caps for the ends of the feet
4 36 inch or 42 inch sections and 2 couplers for the uprights - one section goes into each T then a coupler for the next section
2 elbows for the top of the uprights
4 36 inch sections and 3 couplers for the connecting rod between the two uprights
Mine is a little simpler then Hog On Ice's but then it will only be one tie point. the other side will have to be tied to something like a tree, car, fence, etc...
2 7' sections of hurricane fence top railing 1'1/2"
2 nipples for said pipe
1 eye bolt with wing nut.
I will cut the two pipes in half and weld the nipple into one half of each side. Then join the two top pieces with the eye bolt. For my anchor I have 1/2in re-bar I will weld a flat plat on to uses as an anchor. For rope I have a poly rope. All material I got at Home Depot for $20 last night, except for the re-bar which was free. It will look a lot like the byer stand in the target link above, expert made from metal.
Do you have a picture? I was thinking of using 1" EMT rigid conduit. Not certain it could take the stress.
do you want it to be car portable or is the hammock stand for use around the house only?
car portable:
2 T connectors for 2 inch steel pipe
4 18 inch or 24 inch sections (2 for each end) for the feet to the hammock stand go into the Ts
4 plastic end caps for the ends of the feet
4 36 inch or 42 inch sections and 2 couplers for the uprights - one section goes into each T then a coupler for the next section
2 elbows for the top of the uprights
4 36 inch sections and 3 couplers for the connecting rod between the two uprights
Do you ahve a picture? I was thinking of using 1" EMT Rigid conduit, not certain that it would take the stress though.
I gave a link to what I a looking at copying, but I have not built it yet. I will try to start on it tonight. I hope to be finished with all the non welding parts by Friday. It depends on how much I can get done with my wife leaving for Florida. Here are some other pictures of it.
http://www.byerofmaine.com/amazonas-moskito.htm
http://www.byerofmaine.com/images/lrg_images/lrg_amaz_access_maderastand.jpg
Do you ahve a picture? I was thinking of using 1" EMT Rigid conduit, not certain that it would take the stress though.
just quoting from memory from the hammockcamping group over on yahoo - unfortunately I am now blocked from that group from work but see link for a short writeup about it in the hammock camping newsletter from a couple years ago: http://www.hammockcamping.com/Newsletters/2004/Apr2004.htm
flyfisher also has a portable hammock stand of somewhat different design that may work for you: http://www.imrisk.com/hammockstand/hammockstand.htm
Hog, Risk stand looks good and I think I will make one for home thats not portable. I was going to make one that was but I recently bought a jeep so I kind of decided against it. The byer stand is like $50 made of wood. Mine so far is all galvanized and stainless and has only cost me $20. Wow I think all this making my own (stoves, stuff sacks, test hammock, now stand) stuff is getting kind of addicting.
I did it. I finished stage one of my portable hammock stand.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12043&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12043&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12042&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12042&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12041&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12041&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12040&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12040&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12039&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12039&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12038&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12038&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12037&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12037&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12036&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12036&c=577)
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12035&c=577 (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12035&c=577)
How long is the re-bar stake? Did it hold to the ground well?
Well that is part two of my project. I don't think just the re-bar itself will work so I will need to add a plate to give the bar some service area in the ground. But my friend (the welder) is going to see his grandfather in Tennessee. When he gets back I will gut both pipes in halves and weld the sleeves to the top of the bottom section. This way I don't have to have
2-7ft bars they will break down to 4-3 1/2 ft. sections.
Just Jeff
07-12-2006, 20:09
What height do you like your hammock. If you had a perfect setup that is. I saw this hammock stand and decided I could build it. Now my height can very depending how wide I make the pipe so if I don't like the height I can lower or raise. Any ideas will be helpful. Oh I have a Hennessey ULBP if that helps in your answer.
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-9/qid=1152622690/ref=sr_1_9/602-6807456-1299826?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B00092M278
I made one similar to this using 7' poles, about 3" diameter. They cost about $2 each at Lowe's...called fence marker posts or something like that. I just square-lashed them together near the top and spread apart the bottoms. One cable ran from the top (near the lashing) to the bottom of a tree that was too small to hold a hammock. Then I hung the hammock from another tree and from the top of that stand, just like in the picture above. It worked ok as long as I didn't bounce around, but I could tip it over when I tried to.
Jonas4321
07-13-2006, 14:26
I made one similar to this using 7' poles, about 3" diameter. They cost about $2 each at Lowe's...called fence marker posts or something like that. I just square-lashed them together near the top and spread apart the bottoms. One cable ran from the top (near the lashing) to the bottom of a tree that was too small to hold a hammock. Then I hung the hammock from another tree and from the top of that stand, just like in the picture above. It worked ok as long as I didn't bounce around, but I could tip it over when I tried to.
A friend of mine went hammock camping with his Scouts, and they all used the "X" at each end, then down to long stakes into the ground and said it worked well. I believe he said that he tied the rope off to the "X" from each end, not one continuous rope over the "X" to the ground.
Sorry, that's confusing even to me, and I wrote it.
From the stake in the ground to the lashing of the "X" was one rope. From the hammock to the "X" was another. In this way, the top of the "X" was not free to slide towards or away from the hammock along the rope. Its location along the ropes was fixed. He was able to adjust where the feet of the "X" met the ground, but once he was in it. it stayed put. He used this method for BOTH ends of the hammock. He used Scout staves (5' long 1" diameter wooden poles, much like heavy broom handles).
I never saw it, and I have not tried duplicating it, but he is an honorable fellow and said it worked. Don't know what they did for tarps.
Jeff I slept in it Wednesday night and it worked perfect. Only problem was the rope I was give is poly and stretched. At around 3 I had to tighten. I had tried using a prusik not but it would not hold my weight. It kept sliding. How can I remedy this. Is a prusik knot supposed to be used only on smaller rope or with different size rope.
Just Jeff
07-14-2006, 12:59
Good to hear it worked - pretty cheap solution if you have a good site for it.
Yes - the prussik works best when used on a larger diameter rope. It depends on the friction of the types of rope your using, too.
A better answer may be non-stretch rope. If you're only using it for car-camping or in the backyard, just get some cheap old heavy rope from a hardware store. Climbing rope would probably work, too - it's made to stretch, but probably not for the relatively static weight you'll be putting on it.
Well I managed to put togethar a car camping hammock stand for $95. Might have to add $5 for some green paint later. I bought a Texport Deluxe Steel Hammock Stand for $85. Then I inserted a 1-1/2" 90 deg. EMT conduit elbow in the end of each upright to increase the height. The conduit elbows cost $10. The stand works with the Byer of Maine traveler, but you are just a few inches from the horizontal bar. The stand work extremely well with my HH ULB. The hammock stand is 14' long and 65" high.
A couple more hammock stand pictures. Thanks for the tip with the gallon jug of water "Just Jeff".
Okay what's up with the gallon jug. Did I miss something along the way. Is it too keep the tarp tensioned?
It helps keep the tarp tensioned when your in the hammock. The uprights flex inward reducing the length of the ridgeline. The tarp is actually tied to the tree on one end and the water jug on the other. The rope tied to the jug is routed over the "S" hook so it slips back on forth on the "S" hook when the upright flexes.