We've seen many different takes on the portable hammock stand over the years, and virtually all of them share at least one thing in common: they hold just one hammock. The new Hive stand from Yobogear sets up anywhere to make hammocking a couples-friendly affair, holding two hammocks side by side. The aluminum frame packs and travels easily, requires no staking, sets up via a telescoping pole design, and doubles as a shelter with the addition of a simple tarp.
Founded by Cal Fenton, Yobogear has been building on-the-go hammock stands since 2015. Fenton found hammock sleeping to be easier on his back, but had to contend with a dire lack of trees on the prairie lands of Wyoming he calls home. So he put together his first hammock stand and grew a company out of it. Yobogear already offers two portable single-hammock stands in the ultralight 5-lb (2.3-kg) Freedom stand and freestanding 7.6-lb (3.4-kg) Cricket stand, and the new Hive design adds a portable two+ person solution to its line.
The Hive stand carries in a 32 x 6 x 6-in (81 x 15 x 15-cm) package designed to store easily at home and in a vehicle. Its 15-lb (6.8-kg) weight looks heavy compared to the Freedom and Cricket stands but is actually in line with portable single-hammock stands like the Kammock Swiftlet and appears well-suited to motor vehicle adventures.
Yobogear relies on telescoping 1 1/4-in aluminum poles, structural crossbars and elbows, and tension lines to build up into a frame with a footprint that ranges between 11 and 14.5 feet x 5 feet (3.4 and 4.4 m x 1.5 m). Users can adjust the length of the legs (and height of the stand), as well as the overall stand length.
The Hive is designed primarily for two hammocks, but it can also be used for a single hammock or even a combination of two side-by-side hammocks and a smaller kid's or gear-loft hammock over top, as pictured at the top of the article. Its large size and 750-lb (340-kg) weight capacity allow it to hold virtually any hammock. Yobogear says it took the stand to the HangCon hammock festival and tried it with every model it could get its hands on, reporting that it worked with all of them, up to and including a 14-ft (4.3-m) woven Mayan hammock. The Hive is also designed to work with bridge hammocks and hammock tents.
There are other hammock stands that can accommodate two people (on one hammock) and even three-hammock designs like the (100-lb/50-kg) ENOpod stand, but Yobogear claims the Hive to be the only portable stand on the market capable of holding two people in separate hammocks side by side. The iDome Shelter and Dookan tent we looked at in 2022 have similar side-by-side/multi-hammock capabilities, but they're both more complex hammock/shelter solutions, not simple stands.
The Hive frame can also turn a single tarp into a dual-hammock shelter. Users can drape the tarp over top or below the peak of the Hive and stake it out as necessary. Yobogear offers attachable extension poles for this purpose.
Yobogear has a few days left on a Kickstarter campaign through which it's offering the Hive for a pledge level of US$799, a $400 discount off the planned retail price. While we like the idea of the Hive, for that kind of price we're not sure we wouldn't prefer two more affordable single-hammock stands (like these) planted side by side. But Kickstarter doesn't seem fazed – the Hive has raised more than six times its goal, and the campaign stands at over $133,000 at the time of publishing. So it looks like the future of hammocking will include some cozy coupling inside Hives.
More info in the pitch video:
Source: Yobogear