ENO  Roadie Hammock Stand

I bought the Eno Roadie stand at the Tustin, CA REI store after deciding to purchase it based upon my reading all of the reviews that I could find on the product. I have to admit that I was hesitant to make the purchase but I pulled the trigger because I could always return it if I wasn’t satisfied. When I brought the Eno Roadie stand home, I set it up in the driveway. It is easy to set up. Yes, the hammock hung a little lower than I wanted, but there was no danger of it dragging on the ground. My Eno brand hammock was fairly comfortable, but it did hang a little too close to the car than what I wanted. The stand works well enough out of the box, but I wanted to try to customize it to address a few concerns mentioned in other reviews. The following is an account of how I altered the product and I hope that it helps others that have purchased this stand or are considering making the purchase. First off, I have a 97 Toyota Matrix with a wheelbase that’s advertised as 102.4 inches and I camp with an Eno Doublenest hammock. I camp in the local mountains and I was looking for a way to be able to pull over, hang the hammock, and get a good night’s sleep without having to sleep in a campground. Also, I wanted to be able to use the hammock while surfing/camping down in San Diego and needed a means to hang the hammock because the trees have been removed from a lot of campgrounds in order to make room for RV’s. The biggest concerns that I had were if the hammock would possibly hang too low to the ground (I am 6 ft tall and weigh 185 pounds) and that the tarp would also be too close to my car. I plan to use this setup while winter camping and would like to distance myself a little further from the cold body of the car. Another concern that I had was that if I used my hammock tarp, would there be enough room to suspend the tarp above the hammock and between the Roadie stand's poles and how would I secure the tarp to the ground. I solved the problem of the height of the hang by replacing the bottom pole section with a longer pole: I purchased a pipe used for fencing. I went to the local hardware store and bought a hollow 6 foot long round aluminum fence post that was 1-5/8 inch in diameter (cost was $8). I took the top pole section with me to make certain that the top section would slide into the new post: it did. I used a hacksaw at home and cut the post in half and then filed the sharp edges smooth with a round file. The bottom post was now 11 inches taller than the original bottom post that came with the Roadie stand. This not only gave me more options for the height of the hammock hang, but also increased the width between the front and back poles allowing more room to hang a tarp (using a ridge line) and redirected the hammock a few more inches away from the side of the car. This also allowed me more options to secure the tarp on the car side of the hammock. I do have concerns with the new setup. The pipe is made of aluminum, I believe, so be wary of its durability. If you weigh more than I, you may want to try to purchase a heavier gauge post made from a different material. I figure that an $8 aluminum post is cheap enough that if it doesn’t work well (bends, which it hasn’t done yet) I can go to a pipe supply company and get another pipe made of heavier material. Also, I am not an engineer so by lengthening the overall pipe, I don’t know how the bottom “foot” of the stand is going to hold up. Are the welds strong enough? I guess that I’ll find out with time. Like with many hammock hangs, use your imagination to make a more comfortable set up.

I just spent a week using this at the EAA Airventure Airshow in Oshkosh, WI where there were not enough trees. It's a great concept but needs some tweaks (taller and out more). I used it with a Honda Pilot and it was too close to the truck and not high enough without being stretched too much. No idea how a bigger guy could make this work without ending up on ground or hitting truck. Also you can't use a rain fly normally as it is inches from the truck. Hard to sleep sideways. Very good for portability. Easy set up. But for those dealing with weather, would suggest the portable stand alone instead. I had to wrap the tarp to the top of my truck and down, which was okay for light rain but not the thunderstorm. Had to cry uncle and go into the camper that I was trying to avoid! Does not work with my Kammock hammock which is too long.