the hammock project...part 3

Sorry for the delay in posting this!

Warning...image and clutter intense.

When we left off last time, i had already cut and stained the wood.
I had:
Two 2"x4"x12' (bottom) frame cuts
Two 2"x4"x6' (upright) frame cuts
Two 2"x4"x4' brace cut
Two 2"x4"x8" brace cuts
Two 2"x4"x4' base cuts
Six 2"x4"x6" spacer cuts

 Okay, let me just write a disclaimer and say that i am not that skilled with tools.  I helped my father build a shed, but i'm certainly no expert or professional.  I am totally in awe of people who build Tardises (like Silly Sparrowness).  I did this project with my father's tools save for the drill bit that i bought.  I used his electric circular saw, two hand saws, a plug-in drill, tape measure, and a single 9/16" wrench.  Oh, and about fourteen 3/8" carriage bolts and a ton of washers.  I was still able to use the eye bolts and paracord/guylines to hang the hammock.  The project, however...took me a few days.  I was sleeping on the couch for a while and company was staying with us for a couple of those days, so i wasn't able to devote my full attention to the project.

The project went something like this...use the two bottom frame 2"x4"s to sandwich the other (cut) 2"x4"s between, then bolt the entire sandwich down to a base.  When you're looking down the length of the bottom frame from the center you would see a brace on the left, a spacer on the right, between both of the bottom frame pieces.  At the end of the bottom frame you would see a spacer on the left and the upper frame on the right.

In theory, this was meant to be portable like TrailH4x' hammock stand...but i couldn't figure out how to get the braces to work right without doing a complicated cut at the end of the brace and figuring out exactly what angle the upper frame would be at in relation to the floor/the lower frame/the brace/way too confusing.  I decided to abandon this and just bolt the brace to the upper frame.  After that i actually didn't have much trouble getting this baby put together.  Well, other than the fact that the original bolts that i bought were too thin (1/4") and bent when i tried to use them, so that was the first hiccup.  I returned them and got carriage bolts instead, and let me tell you that they were vastly easier to work with and much more durable.  So i got the hammock together with little difficulty, just some time consuming work.  Unfortunately, even after putting the frame together, it turned out that i wasn't quite as done as i had hoped.

(Sorry about the lighting and the fact that these pics are blurry).

So as you can see at the top of the pictures, after my first hang it became clear that my hammock was still too big for the stand.  The paracord was tied as short as i could get it, resulting in no slack and in improper hang.  At the bottom, the hammock is nearly brushing the bottom frame.  When i sat down in this my butt was on the bottom of the frame, the brace was in my back...no swing at all of course.  And not particularly comfy, either.

I pondered this for a while and realized that i would have to buy two more 2"x4"s and make them into the upright frame.  The current upright frame i would use for additional longer braces by bolting them on the right...outside of the bottom frame.  This of course made the new upright frame the center of a really wonky sandwich.  I figured that i could bolt the upright frame-become-long brace between the end/upright frame and the base bolts.  This made the distances between brace-->base-->long brace-->upright frame equidistant from each other along the length of the bottom frame.  I know this sounds convoluted but i'm too lazy to draw a diagram.  Just compare the above pictures with the ones below if you need visuals. xD

I was so tired of going back and forth between home and town at this point...i just wanted my project to be over with.  So two 2"x4"x8's and four more bolts later i was forced to completely take apart the project i had just finished, drill some new holes, and then to wrangle it back together again.  This was a little more challenging than initially putting it together and i had to get some help when it came to finally drilling some of the final holes in my new upright frames and long braces.  The result is as follows:

Underneath the hammock base is some yoga mat that i cut to the proper dimensions.  I was hoping that the bolt heads and 2"x4" edges wouldn't damage the floor this way along with adding some additional stability.

So here is my second (and this time successful) hang with only a pillow inside the hammock.  After the first night or two i actually lowered the hammock even a bit more to make it easier to get in and out of.  I think that this room would have been the perfect size to hang this hammock in without the stand, but the hammock frame clearly dominates the space.  The hammock itself is too long to take down (put both ends on one of the eye bolts) without it dragging the floor (or figuring out some way to also lift the center off the ground).  So it's up all the time now.  I've only taken it down once to wash it.

Questions?  Comments?