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I'm a hammock camper. Just to damn old and busted up to be sleeping on the ground anymore so I made the move from ground dweller to tree dweller a couple years back. Now that I'm doing a lot more camping to maximize my motorcycle trip budget, I've found myself having to devise a solution for camping in places that either don't have conveniently placed trees or otherwise pose a dilemma regarding a place to hang the hammock.
My original solution was to carry a tent as well as my hammock. This worked but I hate sleeping on the ground (yes, I have a very nice expensive air mattress but I still hate it). The next solution I tried was to use trekking poles as tent poles and set up my tarp as a shelter, using my hammock on a ground cloth as a bivy under the tarp. Again, this worked but sleeping on the ground sucks. The ideal solution would be a hammock stand but until now there really wasn't an option that was conducive to motorcycle camping.
Enter the Tensa4 https://www.tensaoutdoor.com/product...order-deposit/
Not cheap but when you consider the cost of a quality 2 man free-standing tent that packs small enough for motorcycle travel, it's in the ball park. It also allows me to use my existing gear (hammock, tarp, ground cloth, etc.). I've been following the folks that have developed this product at hammockforums.net (don't go there unless you're prepared to descend into the rabbit hole that is hammocking!). Packed size is about 20†x 4†x 4â€, it weighs 11 pounds and is rated to hold 400 pounds. Yeah, 11 lbs of gear is a bit porky but I'm hauling it on a motorcycle, not packing it on the Appalachian Trail.
It's not as fast as simply hanging my rig between a couple of trees and a requires a bit more fiddling than setting up a tent but the additional set up is offset by the time savings in not having to clean out & wipe down my tent and then fold the tent up neatly enough to get it back in its tent bag.
So far my only complaint is that this rig doesn't allow me to string my hammock as high as I normally like. Rigged up, the sit height of the fully loaded hammock is only @ 12-16", I normally hang so the sit height is @ 2 feet off the ground.
Here's a quick pictorial I put together this afternoon:
Packed up:
Contents (size 11 shoe for scale):
Stand set up (only the higher end needs to be anchored, I added an anchor at the lower end to stabilize things while I set up my tarp):
Hammock strung up (Dream Hammock Sparrow, for those that are interested):
Tarp installed in storm mode (Chill Gorilla Fortress, doors tied back):
Tarp in porch mode:
My original solution was to carry a tent as well as my hammock. This worked but I hate sleeping on the ground (yes, I have a very nice expensive air mattress but I still hate it). The next solution I tried was to use trekking poles as tent poles and set up my tarp as a shelter, using my hammock on a ground cloth as a bivy under the tarp. Again, this worked but sleeping on the ground sucks. The ideal solution would be a hammock stand but until now there really wasn't an option that was conducive to motorcycle camping.
Enter the Tensa4 https://www.tensaoutdoor.com/product...order-deposit/
Not cheap but when you consider the cost of a quality 2 man free-standing tent that packs small enough for motorcycle travel, it's in the ball park. It also allows me to use my existing gear (hammock, tarp, ground cloth, etc.). I've been following the folks that have developed this product at hammockforums.net (don't go there unless you're prepared to descend into the rabbit hole that is hammocking!). Packed size is about 20†x 4†x 4â€, it weighs 11 pounds and is rated to hold 400 pounds. Yeah, 11 lbs of gear is a bit porky but I'm hauling it on a motorcycle, not packing it on the Appalachian Trail.
It's not as fast as simply hanging my rig between a couple of trees and a requires a bit more fiddling than setting up a tent but the additional set up is offset by the time savings in not having to clean out & wipe down my tent and then fold the tent up neatly enough to get it back in its tent bag.
So far my only complaint is that this rig doesn't allow me to string my hammock as high as I normally like. Rigged up, the sit height of the fully loaded hammock is only @ 12-16", I normally hang so the sit height is @ 2 feet off the ground.
Here's a quick pictorial I put together this afternoon:
Packed up:
Contents (size 11 shoe for scale):
Stand set up (only the higher end needs to be anchored, I added an anchor at the lower end to stabilize things while I set up my tarp):
Hammock strung up (Dream Hammock Sparrow, for those that are interested):
Tarp installed in storm mode (Chill Gorilla Fortress, doors tied back):
Tarp in porch mode:
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