Fence post supports
- Thread starter Stuart69
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My advice Stuart would be to concrete them in, you can get a small bag of post fix from b&q/wikes etc, just pour in in the hole. fill it with water and leave it to set. I've done loads of fences with it. Those posts supports would not be deep enough to supprt the post for your hammock. hth
It all depends on your soil.
My sandy soil wouldn't support one, but heavy clay or stony soil might.
Those metposts posts are pricey, if you have some concrete and ballast, I'd use that and some elbow grease.
My sandy soil wouldn't support one, but heavy clay or stony soil might.
Those metposts posts are pricey, if you have some concrete and ballast, I'd use that and some elbow grease.
It all depends on your soil.
My sandy soil wouldn't support one, but heavy clay or stony soil might.
Those metposts posts are pricey, if you have some concrete and ballast, I'd use that and some elbow grease.
Teepee, those postfix things are not very deep, the wooden post would just get ripped out mate as soon as any weight was in the hammock, i don't even rate em for fencing.
2 foot deep hole would be ideal but you might get away with a foot and half deep. Ideally dug out with a post hole shovel if one's available as you get a nicely sized hole which you would get with a normal shovel.
I've got a heavy clay soil and use these to support my fences with no trouble. In fact, when the base of the fencepost rots (as they will do!) it is much easier to replace a post with these rather than dig out the concrete.
For fences they are ideal but if used with a hammock you may need to put in a cross brace to stop the tops of the posts pulling in on themselves.
Personally i wouldn't use them. Two holes, tanalised timber posts, jobs a goodun. lol
If there's a wall of a house handy I'd definitely consider putting a rawlbolt in it with an eye for a rope. It can take a lot of tension. Even if it's too far away to do any lifting, one of your posts could be a fairly light A frame just standing on the ground.
It's not that I'm lazy, I just like to economize on effort.
If it was a garden wall I'd want the rawlbolt to have a couple of yards of masonry above it.
I'd put good money on you snapping the post out of the support. Your weight's all on the top of the post, pulling out at about 60 degrees, with a 6ft lever down to the short bit of post that's actually in the support. That's a hell of a lot of pressure on the base.
As those before me said, either find a wall or concrete the post in. You ought to go down two feet on something like this, the last thing you want is to get dropped on your head in the middle of the night, and then clouted in the face by a length of 4x4 that's attached to the hammock...
As those before me said, either find a wall or concrete the post in. You ought to go down two feet on something like this, the last thing you want is to get dropped on your head in the middle of the night, and then clouted in the face by a length of 4x4 that's attached to the hammock...
Thanks for the advice guys, big hole and concrete it is then
I was a bit dubious about the support things for all the reasons you mentioned and was wondering about needing a cross-brace with them too. The soil here is very fine and even the fence posts we have already for fences never feel all that secure.
thanks,
Stuart
I was a bit dubious about the support things for all the reasons you mentioned and was wondering about needing a cross-brace with them too. The soil here is very fine and even the fence posts we have already for fences never feel all that secure.
thanks,
Stuart
There are ways around your problem, but you have to accept the physics of what you are trying to do.
For the average person in a hammock, the tapes are under a strain of (give or take) 600kgs. So while you could use those fence post supports, you'd have to secure either a scafold pole across the top to take a compression load, or some very secure guy ropes to big heavy anchors to take the tension on the posts. Its not impossible but it might not be the the sort of thing you want as a permanent feature in your garden.
ATB
Ogri the trog
For the average person in a hammock, the tapes are under a strain of (give or take) 600kgs. So while you could use those fence post supports, you'd have to secure either a scafold pole across the top to take a compression load, or some very secure guy ropes to big heavy anchors to take the tension on the posts. Its not impossible but it might not be the the sort of thing you want as a permanent feature in your garden.
ATB
Ogri the trog
I made some hammock supports for my garden, 4 bits of wood and some rope, along with 2 ground anchors.
Dont have it up at the mo otherwise would post a picture. basically its an a-frame at either end with a rope running from the top of the a-frame down to the ground anchor. This is what takes the strain. i used eye bolts at the top of the a-frame to join the two wooden legs. the hammock connects to the eyebolt with a maillon.
This is a similar lightweight version
http://www.dizzystuff.com/
Although this is pretty much identical to what I made
Except two of them
Dont have it up at the mo otherwise would post a picture. basically its an a-frame at either end with a rope running from the top of the a-frame down to the ground anchor. This is what takes the strain. i used eye bolts at the top of the a-frame to join the two wooden legs. the hammock connects to the eyebolt with a maillon.
This is a similar lightweight version
http://www.dizzystuff.com/
Although this is pretty much identical to what I made
Except two of them
what to do in my opinion is go to your local councel yard and as em do hey have any oldtell grapth post and would they mind cutting you two eight to ten foot lenghs then concrete them in and well you aint going anywhere with them and the jobs a gooden
Ogri is quite right about the scaffold pole accross the top. But you don't even need a scaffold pole - I have a 6ft piece of 2"x1" wood across the top of mine. It's more than strong enough!
The rest of the set up if a frame of scrap wood from my garden. Two uprights - one is a piece of 4" x 2", the other is 2" x 2", with a piece of 3"x2" along the bottom and a coupe of 4 ft longs 2" x 1"'s at right angles on the bottom to stop it falling over. Just nailed together.
I set it up as an experiment and it's still going strong after about 6 months use!
The good thing about my design is its movable and non permanent just move the screw in ground anchors. If it can hold my 16st weight with kids bouncing up and down......
just move the screw in ground anchors. If it can hold my 16st weight with kids bouncing up and down......
woodspirits
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
i only had one fixing point, so the missus had the rope over her shoulder standing at 45 degrees, i wouldnt mind but i only had 2 hours kip before she collapsed 
andys right, even the longer met posts eventually work loose most of the 4x4 planed timber posts (pine) are a bit rubbish, first time you tried to turn over it would be game over!
andys right, even the longer met posts eventually work loose most of the 4x4 planed timber posts (pine) are a bit rubbish, first time you tried to turn over it would be game over!
One simple solution, if you do not wish to concrete them in, is to use 4 posts. 2 at each end. Place all four posts along the same line. The outer posts should be about 2 1/2 or 3 feet from the inner ones. Then use a good stout wire, such as close-line wire to attach the tops of the two posts together. Repeat at the other end. You now have a situation where any pull exerted on the two inner posts is transmitted (and shared) by the two outer posts. Effectively giving you twice the holding power. I use close-line tighteners to snug everything up. That is those turnbuckles with an eye-bolt coming out of each end. Easy to re-tighten later as things shift and stretch a bit.
Another very old trick for situations like this is the use of a "deadman." or sometime called a "sleeper." In this case, you would set your two upright poles into the ground. Then at either end and also in a straight line, dig a ditch the length of the post and about 2 or 3 feet deep, and bury an entire post, with a stout wire, chain, or cable attached to the far end and coming up out of the ground and attaching to the top of your upright. You now have even more holding power than in the previous example and you only have two posts visible. Use treated wood. The only drawback to this method is the wire running at a 45 degree angle from the top of the two posts into the ground could be a tripping hazard. I guarantee you will NEVER pull these out of the ground.
Another very old trick for situations like this is the use of a "deadman." or sometime called a "sleeper." In this case, you would set your two upright poles into the ground. Then at either end and also in a straight line, dig a ditch the length of the post and about 2 or 3 feet deep, and bury an entire post, with a stout wire, chain, or cable attached to the far end and coming up out of the ground and attaching to the top of your upright. You now have even more holding power than in the previous example and you only have two posts visible. Use treated wood. The only drawback to this method is the wire running at a 45 degree angle from the top of the two posts into the ground could be a tripping hazard. I guarantee you will NEVER pull these out of the ground.
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A mate of mine once put in a 3"x3" post to hang his hammock from. It was 8ft long with 2 foot buried in concrete. The other end of the hammock was attached to the house.
When he climbed in, the concrete held firm, but the post bent so much that his backside was resting on the ground!
Bardster's solution looks good. I am going to try this myself.
Z
When he climbed in, the concrete held firm, but the post bent so much that his backside was resting on the ground!
Bardster's solution looks good. I am going to try this myself.
Z
It's some deep and meaningful equation of physics where....
h= (0.5 x user weight) /Sineof the angle of the support cord to the true horizontal. The support line forms the hypotenuse and becomes a function of both user weight and the angle that the hammock is strung - the tighter it is rigged, the more strain on the support system.
Hence why some people have snapped single lengths of paracord (550lb breaking strain) when used as a hammock support.
ATB
Ogri the trog
h= (0.5 x user weight) /Sineof the angle of the support cord to the true horizontal. The support line forms the hypotenuse and becomes a function of both user weight and the angle that the hammock is strung - the tighter it is rigged, the more strain on the support system.
Hence why some people have snapped single lengths of paracord (550lb breaking strain) when used as a hammock support.
ATB
Ogri the trog
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