Tensa Outdoor Tensa4 User manual

Tensa4 Hammock Stand

User Guide

Setting up 1...................................................................................................

Adjustment 5...............................................................................................

Anchoring 6..................................................................................................

Pitching a tarp 7...........................................................................................

Tips and tricks 7...........................................................................................

Don'ts 9.........................................................................................................

Tensa4 is a highly portable hammock stand, suitable for outdoors or inside, on flat or

sloping ground, either for recreation or full-time use as a bed. It accommodates

gathered-end hammocks up t0 12 feet long, with a ~30° sag and the foot end higher than

the head, for laying flat on the diagonal. You can also adjust it to hang bridge and

transverse style hammocks. It requires at least one anchor point to set up, ideally two.

Tensa Outdoor rates Tensa4 for users up to 350 pounds, itself weighing 12-14 pounds with

accessories,packing to 20 inches long and less than 6 inches around.

Pre-Columbian petroglyphs at the Puerco Pueblo ruins in the tree-sparse Arizona desert seem to

depict strangely hung hammocks, known as contemporary bedding only in the distant tropics

Tensa4 Hammock Stand User Guide

Printed in Portland, Oregon, the United States of America

Version 1.1, June 2020

See http://tensaoutdoor.com/support/ for revisions in PDF format.

Setting up

1. Check to assure your stand is complete,identifying the following:

2. Extend and join the eight telescoping sections to make four 7-segment poles.

Four 4-segment tubing sections,and four

3-segment sections

Four ball-loop connectors

Two ground anchors,either Orange Screws,

Tensa Boomstakes, or a combination

Four lines,webbing or Amsteel: orange baseline,

black ridgeline, and 2 black & orange guylines

3. Arrange the four poles in a figure-8, laying the orange baseline between one pair of

corners (the feet), and the black ridgeline between the other (the apexes).

4. Join the poles and lines at the corners as shown, always inspecting loops for excessive

(>10%) wear:

Thread ball loop through one pole

Pass loop through webbing or Amsteel loop

…then through the other

Pull loop over ball to secure

5. Put the stand’s feet near their final

place, spreading the baseline by your

body length or a little more,laying the

apexes together in a V shape. If on a

slope, assure that the feet are level.

A good place provides for a foot-end

anchor a body length or more away in

the direction the V points. See

Anchoring on page 6 for detailed notes.

6. Attach the black end of a guyline to the

bottom (foot end) apex. If the guyline

is webbing,pass one of the upper

daisy-chain loops over either pole end

to leave a tail. If the guyline is Amsteel,

loop directly over the ball.See step 10 for a peek at the end result with webbing.

7. Secure the orange end loop of the guyline to the anchor point.

8. Lift the top (head end) apex to erect the stand.Unwrap any lines from around poles

so they run cleanly across the corners. Adjust the guyline length or feet position so

the stand leans away from the anchor, with the head end lower than the foot.Set the

stand ridgeline to maximum length.

9. Attach and anchor the head end guyline. Its main purpose is to prevent the stand

collapsing toward the foot side.Do not tighten it, now or ever.Leave it slack so the

head end apex is free to move at least several inches. This allows both manual and

dynamic adjustments, and avoids overloading the poles.

10. Hang the hammock. Those shorter than 12’ (3.7M) need suspension to make up the

difference with 12. So, a 10’ hammock will need at least 1’of suspension per side. With

webbing, use carabiners in the daisy-chain loops of the guylines. With Amsteel, use

your usual suspension method around one pole end per side, not around both poles.

If your hammock has a ridgeline (cord between gathered ends), you may remove the

stand’s ridgeline to make adjustments simpler.

Detail of the finished state of the foot-end apex with webbing option, after the stand’s ridgeline

removed because hammock has its own.

Adjustment

“There’sgonnabealittlebitoftweaking,butonceit’sset,it’sset.”— Sean “Shug” Emery

Test and adjust the hang. Start by sitting in the hammock, always keeping your body

weight centered on the lower (head) side of the baseline. It is normal for the ridgeline to

sag a bit when you sit,but not when you recline. Take heart: setting up the first time

typically takes much longer than later, once the line lengths are set and you develop a

feel.

Problem

Remedies

Seat is too low

• Shorten baseline.

• Shorten hammock suspension.

Seat is too high

• Verify that head end guyline is slack.

• Lengthen hammock suspension.

• Widen baseline.

Problem

Anchoring

The foot end anchor must bear at least half of your body weight. Suitable anchors include

the bases of well-rooted shrubs,vehicles, large rocks or chinks in rock features, the hinge

pins of doors, handrails or other architectural features,shoes closed behind strong closet

or built-in cabinet doors, the frames of beds atop which the stand is erected, etc.A truly

portable anchor for places with zero other opportunities is one or more collapsible water

vessels placed directly under the foot apex.

Ground anchors hold best placed as far away from the stand

as the guylines allow, soil conditions permitting.

Orange Screws are the best choice for soft to medium-hard

ground. Use the case as a handle to drive in,then as a toggle

to connect the end loop of the guyline to the eye of the screw.

Ridgeline sags when reclining

• Lengthen hammock suspension.

• Increase stand tilt.

• If hammock has integral ridgeline

(cord between gathered ends),

remove stand ridgeline.

• If hammock has no ridgeline, shorten

stand ridgeline.

Head or feet touch poles

• Widen baseline.

• Shorten hammock suspension

overall, or lengthen on contact end,

shorten on non-contact end .

• If head touches, reduce stand tilt.

• If feet touch, increase stand tilt.

• Verify that stand feet are level.

• Cross poles so those nearest head

and feet are outboard.

Stand tips toward foot end

• Increase stand tilt.

• Shift body weight further toward

head end.

• Shorten head end guyline enough to

prevent tip, but not make taut when

hammock empty.

Remedies

Problem

When the ground is too hard for an Orange

Screw, a Tensa Boomstake can usually be

pounded in. In softer ground where the

titanium stake alone is liable to pull out,

add the boom to increase holding power

by redirecting the guyline’s pull to the end

of the boom. First insert the stake through

the holes in the end of the boom tube to

make a figure 7.Point the boom toward the

stand, and drive the stake in at an angle to

keep the boom horizontal. Loop the end of

the guyline over the end of the stake and

under the tang, then twist the guyline around the boom end as shown left.

The most challenging ground lacks any cohesion, like loose sand, pea gravel, or mud. If

possible, excavate or relocate to find firmer ground. Try using both guylines and anchors

on the foot end.If still insufficient,find a log or fill the carry bag with the loose material,

tie guyline around the middle, and bury it crosswise at least several inches deep as a

“dead man’s anchor.”

Pitching a tarp

Tarps up to 11’ (3.35M) long fit between the apexes, their staked guylines tensioning. For

more headroom,set up on a slope with the head end pointing upslope to make a roomy

vestibule under the foot end. Longer tarps call for creativity or the Tarp Extensions for

Tensa4 accessory (sold separately) which also increases headroom.Do not tension a tarp

by tightening the head end guyline.

Tips and tricks

Using Amsteel UCRs

Some stands include lines of ultralight and compact Amsteel (Samson Rope’s

trademarked Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene UHMWPE), spliced into Utility

Constrictor Ropes (UCRs). An inner“bury” rope passes through an outer constrictor. Adjust

the length by shortening the constrictor, sliding it along the bury, then“milking the bury,”

gently squeezing and elongating it with your fingers like milking an udder. This grips the

bury. Slipping can occur if the “milking” is insufficient, or if the lines are dirty. For extra

security, tie a slip knot where the buried line enters the constrictor, to prevent entry.

Moving and stowing the stand

You can move the stand easily from one place to another with hammock still attached,

either open or collapsed into a column.This is useful for getting further from or closer to

the party, or to adapt to changing light or wind conditions. You can partially collapse the

poles while assembled, to stow by day under a bed or in a closet, to free up space.

Single anchor

We recommend anchoring both sides of the stand to avoid collapses, for instance in high

winds with the stand empty, or when you reach for that zipper pull at your feet, but only

the foot guyline is mandatory. To help stabilize, you may hang a counterweight such as a

pack or water vessel from the head apex instead of or in addition to a head guyline.

Two hammocks, one tree, one Tensa4

Split the stand into two inverted Vs. Hang foot ends of the hammocks from the tree (or

pole, vehicle, etc).Put the open ends of the Vs along the hammock sides, at much the

same shallow angle and width as if setting up normally. Set a ground anchor beneath

each head apex, and secure the feet to the anchor using lines in Vs along the ground to

prevent the feet sliding toward the tree.Hang the head ends from the apexes. Note that

this calls for two additional ball loop connectors or improvised equivalent.

Bridge, spreader-bar, or other tight-pitch hammocks

Set the base to only about 3-4’ (1M) so the poles clear any spreader bars underneath,and

the apexes spread wide and low. Omit stand ridgeline.

Transverse hammocks

Also called 90-degree hammocks. Do not lean the stand, but balance it centered with

both guylines lightly tensioned.

See-saw

If you want head and foot ends to be interchangeable, say in a social setting where

unsupervised users may not understand the asymmetry, adjust the head guyline length

so when the stand tips footward, the stand leans the same amount as it did headward,

switching orientation.

Tensa Solo conversion

Tensa Solo is a hammock stand product sold separately, that uses many of the same

components as Tensa4. Its main advantage is lower weight,pack size,and cost, at the

expense of some reliability since it requires more and stronger ground anchors than

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