Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We purchased this after reading all of the reviews. Unfortunately, none of them mentioned that this stand would not fit the most common sized hammocks. From mounting ring to mounting ring it is only 9 feet wide. The description says it is 13.5 feet long. So - by that description it seemed rather straight forward that a 13 foot hammock would fit it perfectly. Unfortunately, the 13.5 feet is very misleading - I didn't measure it, but they must mean that it is 13.5 feet long along the CURVATURE OF THE BOW - that's a ridiculous way to measure something. The meaningful measurement is what is the distance between hangers. (or even total linear length - which is only 10 feet 5 inches at the very extreme.) We knew the hammock that would ship with it would be junk - it was. So we placed in the same order a top-quality Pawley's Island hammock (a 13 foot hammock). When we got it all set up the high-quality hammock just rested on the ground when suspended between the hooks. Now we have to return the Pawley's Island hammock and find a good quality hammock that is 9 feet in length, - and as I write this, I haven't found one. To make things worse - being 6 feet tall, a 9 foot long hammock (once you take into account the ropes and all) - doesn't leave me a whole lot of lounging room. If this hammock stand was described accurately (and dare I say truthfully) I wouldn't be in this predicament. Given the $56 shipping cost - there is absolutely no option to return it, as shipping both ways would cost as much as the stand itself - so we are stuck with it. On the positive side - it was very easy to put together.