Isle Royale Forums

Hello all,

I was wondering if the shelters had appropriate ways to hang a hammock inside the shelter without risk of damaging the shelter. I sleep great in hammocks and wondered if this was possible.

No I have a couple hammocks, there would be no good way to hang without damaging the shelter.

I'd say it depends on the shelter. My last trip I shared the Todd Harbor shelter with a group of 3 others. One of them hung his hammock and appeared to be quite comfy.

The shelters I've stayed at were not conducive to hanging...trust me, I would have preferred hanging vs sleeping on the floor.


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I thought about this a lot and have looked for a way to attach a temporary grip to a 2x4 that would not do any harm. Clearly you don't want to go around drilling holes or screwing in eye bolts. Something that would work sort of like a cable grip but designed for 2x4s.

A couple of sturdy c-clamps should work....put something soft on the floor below you the first time

SoonerDad wrote:A couple of sturdy c-clamps should work....put something soft on the floor below you the first time

You might want to try this in the garage first. The amount of pressure required to secure against a lateral pull on a C-clamp of that magnitude will probably be enough to damage the wood.

DonNewcomb wrote:

SoonerDad wrote:A couple of sturdy c-clamps should work....put something soft on the floor below you the first time

You might want to try this in the garage first. The amount of pressure required to secure against a lateral pull on a C-clamp of that magnitude will probably be enough to damage the wood.

A couple of small plywood backers for the clamp may minimize damage to 2X4, or use the ledge(4X4) to mount your clamps and backers; test at home first.

I was not actually concerned with denting the wood

In fact, I was trying to think of a good way to add a small 'point" to the pads on the clamp to help with holding power

SoonerDad wrote:I was not actually concerned with denting the wood

In fact, I was trying to think of a good way to add a small 'point" to the pads on the clamp to help with holding power

That sounds like a fine waiting to happen to me. Why not just set up outside the shelter?

You might want to ask the original poster....you know....since they asked about INSIDE the shelter

Is there a fine for denting the wood of the shelters???

There are two types of Rangers on the island. The parks employee who gives the leave no trace talk or fills out your permit for you and then there's enforcement officers (The ones who carry a side arm).

Enforcement officers can and do gift tickets for a variety of violations. While I don't know first hand, if they saw a hammock hung inside a shelter and causing damage to the shelter it would be up to their discretion to give a ticket or not for destruction of parks department property.

Not a gamble I'd like to take but to each their own.

"Damage" is a relative term....There is leaving a mark and there is degrading the structure.I am quite certain I have damaged the shelters with my head....but you would be hard pressed to tell where

The "dents" that you would make to insure a clamp holding would certainly do no more damage than the pocketknife graffitti

I'm certain a c clamp or similar type device can be designed to leave no damage.

Just thinking, c-clamps would not be something I'd ever choose to lug around in my pack, personally. Not sure how much a suitably-sized one would weigh, but I'm pretty sure it would be a relatively large penalty.

In August I saw a variety of things in shelters, including some fairly substantial hooks in one, little cup hooks (which I took advantage of to keep my pack suspended away from the mice) in another, nails, etc. Over the years people have done some modifications, I guess.