Year: 2018

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What happened to the Tensa2?

As we have expanded our product line it was apparent that our naming schema was inconsistent and causing confusion on what the stand really was and what its function was. The major part of this confusion was with the Tensa2 single pole (each side) support. As a result of this we have come up with a consistent way of naming our products.

Another issue is the product transition from only offered at TiggzCraftworkz.com to a Tensa Outdoor product. Cheryl is the solo owner of TiggzCraftworkz and both Cheryl and Todd own Tensa Outdoor. The goal is to eventually transfer all the hammock related TCW items into Tensa Outdoor products. The products themselves have not changed.

TCW has offered the NoGround series, plus a variety of support items such as lines and anchors. The 2 stands are the NG Trekking, a backpackable set of purpose built trekking poles and hammock extensions and trussing to support up to 250 pounds. This is the lightest weight system we offer. Currently this is only available through TiggzCraftworkz.com

TCW has also offered the NG CarCamp tele. This is a light weight 5-section telescoping hammock support that needs no truss lines. Like the Trekking it requires 2 strong anchors per pole, and 2 poles are needed to fully support a hammock without other supports (tree, post, etc). It is almost as light as the Trekking, but all of it would go into your pack. Both TCW and Tensa Outdoor currently offer this as “CarCamp” and until a few days ago “Tensa2” respectively. TCW will quit selling these when the current stock has been sold. Thereafter they will be available as the Tensa Solo at www.TensaOutdoor.com (this site).

Tensa Solo is a 5-section telescoping pole with 4 sections usable for hammock support and the 5th only for tarp support. It uses common parts from the flagship Tensa4 plus a few unique parts to the Tensa Solo. The Solo is composed of 4 of 28 sections from the Tensa4, and therefore is not practical to build a Tensa4 from the Solos.

Our new naming schema is easy to understand. Tensa is for the company. The number following Tensa is for the full 7-section struts used. Our flagship product is the Tensa4 and it consists of 4 7-segment struts. You can take 2 struts and a fixed anchor (tree, post, etc) and make a functional hammock stand. This is now referred to as a Tensa2. Neither a Tensa1 or Tensa3 has any practical use. However a Tensa7 is a stand with 7 struts that should hold 2 hammocks. I say should – we have not yet tested that. A Tensa10 (10 interlinked struts) would hold 3 hammocks, etc.

Currently the only place to get the NoGround Trekking is via TiggzCraftworkz.com

The Tensa Solo (and NG CarCamp until sold out) are available at both websites. Same product, same builder, different color guylines.

The Tensa4 is available as pre-orders on this site.

Anchors and lines and replacement parts are also available. Just ask.

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Why the Tensa4 hammock stand exists

Our Tensa4 hammock stand came about from hammock hanging needs that go way beyond camping, but cover full-time hangers like me. I developed the stand to avoid ever needing to try to sleep in a bed again, such as when staying in hotels. I’ve succeeded, with Cheryl’s expert help, and Tensa Outdoor has come together to help others enjoy the same freedom.

The photo above shows a Tensa4 set up on a full bed, one of two in a cramped motel room. The hammock is an insulated LaSiesta Colibri (no affiliation, just a simple cheap all-in-one). I was attending a wedding on the coast, 2 nights. The first night, I attempted to sleep in the bed. As usual I slept terribly, so spoiled have I become by a hammock as bed at home. This is not the first time I’ve set up a Tensa4 in a motel room, but the previous night may well represent the last time I ever attempt to do without. I’m free now.

This stand packs and sets up just about anywhere, well below carry-on luggage dimensions, with no need to clear a space, drive anchors into anything, tie to trees or posts well-spaced, or even create trip hazards. It is truly unique in these respects, and we’re thrilled to bring it to market.

I first camped in a hammock in 2006. I liked it better than a tent and pad, but that’s as far as it went then. I went back to my bed at home, and continued to toss and turn, and to suffer back and neck pains, as I had all my life. Then in 2010 I took an 11-day bikepacking trip down the Pacific coast with my hammock. The trip was life-changing in many ways, among the simplest of which is that after several nights, I noticed my back pains went away completely. I slept like a baby every night on that trip, with sweet lucid dreams of holding my body in the cup of my hand, my hand become the hammock, in an infinite recursion of older me to younger me, oversoul to little me. I feel well taken care of in a hammock, the caretakers being me, an unknown Pre-Columbian genius likely from the Caribbean, and the universe dynamically balancing tensile and gravitational forces, cool in summer and warm with quilts hung below the rest of the year.

There is something womblike and protective about a hammock missing in beds, profoundly regenerative, like reconnecting to some universal umbilicus. Yes, I often sleep on my side in fetal position in a hammock, which has now been almost every night for 5 years. I’m never going back to a bed if I can help it.

Hammocks for camping are becoming hugely popular, but a constant limiter of their adoption is the scarcity of suitable trees in some otherwise wonderful places to camp. What’s more, many places with trees prohibit hanging hammocks, for reasons good and bad. These facts make hammocks less reliable as bedding choices than tents and pads. Tensa Outdoor is about fixing this, letting people hang truly anywhere, inside or out, whether full time at home or on the go.

Now, if ever I’m hospitalized, do you think they’ll let me set up in the ward, so I can rest?

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On the road

I’m on the road testing the Tensa4 hammock stand, camping, and visiting Cheryl at the Tensa factory (kitchen table and toolshed) in Woodland. Did you know you can now pre-order the stand? Yes. See the Shop page.