Portable Black Pipe DIY hammock stand

FYI.. I am 5 ft 10 and I weigh 195 – 205 lbs and the stand is stable with no problems at all!! No, I can use a tarp with this set up.. It only designed to set up a hammock.

Thanks much!

No problem.  Its pretty simple. Hopefully i explained it well and the photos give an idea of what it looks like. I also used teflon tape.. it is not needed.. i think i just used it out of habbit when i thread pipe for a job.. but really there is no need for it on this kind of thing.

Since it is black pipe, you could plumb it for propane and drill some small holes for mood lighting.  Nice job.

Neat!  I wonder if one could do the same thing using PVC pipe?  Easier to cut to length and lighter in weight, tho still not backpackable.  Any reason not to use PVC?

I don’t know since I haven’t tried it, but I’d worry that PVC wouldn’t be strong enough to hold the forces that lying in a hammock create.

PVC pipe is not a strong material. You would have to use at least 3” pvc to even come close to strong enough… maybe you could get away w/ 2” Schedule 80 (thicker walls). Anything less might hold you temporarily but would def not last. PVC gets very brittle when cold, and degrades in UV light, so would only get weaker over time.

keep in mind that dirtbag’s setup doesn’t require any cutting… you can buy lengths precut and threaded at big box stores.

You would need some thick heavy duty PVC… and definitely much thicker then 1 inch.. for sure.

The trick to using PVC would be to design it such that the PVC was in compress or tension: no bending moments.  At that point you would be looking at a tensegrity design concept.

https://tensegritywiki.com/wiki/How_To_Build_A_3_Strut_Hammock_Stand

Doable, requires space and needs some careful planning

Google Tensegrity & Hammock

The beauty of Dirtbag’s construction is (with the load attached at the corners), the verticals are only loaded vertically and the horizontal member is only loaded horizontally.

It clearly works in 1″ black iron (actually steel), in Schedule-40 (Sch-80 is not commonly available at DIY homer centers) I presume and would also work in 1″ galvanized steel pipe.

It certainly wouldn’t work in 1″ PVC, even Sch-80, might in 2″ and probably would be fine in 3″ PVC.  I’d suggest 3″ ABS instead because it’s cheaper, lighter, stiffer and more tolerant of UV and high temperatures.  I see fishermen on my beach using racks of 3″ and 4″ ABS to stage and repair their nets on.  The 6-foot lengths are unfortunate because ABS (and PVC, black iron and galv) mostly come in 10-footers.  A plumbing supply with 20 footers would reduce waste.

But, instead, I’d suggest trying wood 2″ x 2″s (this being BPL) with plywood gussets.

I’m sure it would work with 2x3s or cheaper 2x4s and 2x4s are readily available in 12-foot lengths so no joining would be necessary in the middle.

If you wanted to break it down to 6-foot pieces, then I’d glue&screw a plywood box around the one 2×2 where it joins the other in the middle.  Or drill out each piece for a 1/2″ hardwood dowel.  The two horizontals would not otherwise need to be secured since they are in compression.  Likewise, plywood sleeves or dowels could be used at the top of each upright to receive the horizontal 2x2s.

Yea, even if you kept PVC in compression only, like the Tensegrity setup, you’d need it to be pretty beefy pipe, I’d wager 2″ at least.

Just for grins, I happened to have some 3/4″ galvanized iron pipe and PVC out back so put together a quick and dirty setup to demonstrate differences in flexibility/rigidity. This obviously isn’t a perfect experiment/example, nor does it approximate the specific forces the pipe would experience in these hammock setups. Just wanted to see how the two pipes would react.

Here’s a pic of the two pipes, extended roughly 7′ from a fixed anchor (wedged in the rungs of a ladder). The galv pipe had just a little deflection. The PVC was already sagging 8-9″ under just its own weight.

Then I hung a nalgene filled halfway w/ water (roughly 1.5lb total) at the end of each pipe. The galv pipe still had barely noticeable deflection. The 3/4″ pipe darn near touched the ground, which was about 3′ of deflection.

So, would PVC hold under direct compression? If it wasn’t allowed to deflect, probably… but its SO flexible that it just bows out of the way under even slight compressive forces if not stiffened thru larger pipe size or some other method.

BTW, I read “tensa”-something and didn’t look close enough at the pic Jon posted to realize it wasn’t the typical tensa-hedron single person hammock stand. ( https://www.tensaoutdoor.com/2019/06/17/make-your-own-tensahedron-stand/ )

That thing is AMAZING! As a single person unit, it would be quite heavy for backpacking… but if you split that up between 3 people, now you’re getting into the realm of a real option. Love it! So many cool hammock stands out there!

^^ Ryan thanks for those photos. That was a perfect demonstration.

2×2 with plywood gussetts?  That would be interesting. Might work. I’m picturing or imagining a weight limit. Like 150? hmmm

Thanks for the comments on doing this (or NOT) with PVC pipe.  Makes sense that it would bend under load.  My other experiences with PVC have not involved stressing longer lengths.  Appreciate the DIY’ers!

Carbon tube anyone?