April 2004
Have you ever wished you had a
hammock stand--perhaps for a tree-less backyard, patio, grassy meadow, or
campground site? Now you can hang your
hammock anywhere with the easy to make pipe stand described below. Although a bit pricy, the stand is extremely
sturdy, durable and functional. With
effort it is also portable and serves equally well indoors or outdoors. It accommodates all camping hammocks that
can be hung between 12-foot-wide supports.
The stand is easy to construct
with items straight from the supply store--no cutting, sawing, measuring,
nailing, etc! Assembly time by one
person is less than ten minutes! The
finished 5-foot high stand is rectangular with a 12' horizontal ridgepole and
two upright legs, each with 4-foot long 'feet' perpendicular to the ridgepole.
Construction requires two small-to-medium size pipe wrenches. The stand weighs 90 pounds, thus is very
strong and sturdy. It is the weight and
strength of the pipes that keep the stand from unacceptable wobble or shake
during use. In fact, the stand can
easily support a 200-pound person doing chin-ups!
The stand can be assembled or
disassembled as often as needed with the pipe wrenches. Another great advantage
of the stand over some commercially available ones is the ability to pitch a
separate rain canopy or tarp high enough above the hammock to provide a standup
shelter.
Parts List
I buy my pipe and fittings at
Lowes home improvement store. The costs and Lowes sales numbers are given below
for reference. Note that my locale Home Depot store also had all the parts,
except the large 10' pipe.
All pieces are 1.25" galvanized
steel pipe or fittings with normal water-pipe threads
Lowes# Cost$
24003 20.50 A)
10' pipe, one for horizontal ridgepole
24019 6.64 B)
18" pipe, one to extend horizontal ridgepole
24076 32.32 C)
5' pipe, 2 for uprights
24020 32.72 D)
24" pipe, 4 for foot braces
22000 3.82 E)
90 degree Elbow, 2 to attach uprights to ridgepole
22231 7.94 F)
Tee Junction, 2 to attach foot braces to uprights
22431 4.16 G)
1.25" Union, one to attach 18" & 10' ridgepole pipes
Total cost: $108.10 plus tax, plus
wrenches (?)
Part G is the only unusual item.
It is a 3-part in-line fitting consisting of a large central female nut with
male-to-female adapters on each side. All three pieces can be tightened
independently. The union easily allows the 18" and 10' pipes to be
attached together to create a ridgepole that is about 11.7' long. Note that a regular 1.25" coupling
(Lowes # 22330, $2.10) would also do the job, but assembly or disassemble is a
bit more hassle.
Note that the stand will take down
into the individual parts, the longest being the 10' length of pipe--this might
be a problem fitting into your car (see alternative below)!
Shorter Ridgepole Pipes
If your supply store has 6' long
pipe, you can easily exchange the ridgepole parts A) and B) with two 6' pipe
lengths and thus eliminate the hassle of the 10' long pipe in the ridgepole
described above. Likewise, you could make
the uprights (part C) with 6' lengths instead of the 5' lengths used
above--this would make the stand a bit over 6' high, allowing the rain canopy
to be positioned even higher for a stand-up shelter!
End caps, either metal or PVC (my
preference), can be added to the four threaded ends of the perpendicular
feet. This adds a finished look and
helps protect floors and bare toes.
Link to Rick's Stand
A less-expensive alternative hammock
stand, built by Rick Allnut, can be found at:
http://www.imrisk.com/hammockstand/hammockstand.htm
Other Portable Stands
Several
portable hammock stands can be found on the market. A short review of some is provided in the February 2003 issue of
Hammock Camping News at:
http://www.hammockcamping.com/Newsletters/Feb2003.htm. Also
see the listing at the end of each Hammock Camping News issue under: Camping
Hammock Accessories--Portable Hammock Stands for links to more information.
Use
of a hammock stand can certainly expand your hammocking options. Whether homemade or purchased, a suitable
hammock stand can be worth its' weight in gold!
Safe
Hammocking ....Ed "Not
To Worry" Speer
Take a hammock on your next
outdoor trip
and experience the wonder
of nature all over again