Enhancing a tree platform

[mvwicker]

Good idea there, to have a safety railing during construction. The leftover 4x4x10' legs would do for the sides.

The property has 77 acres total, almost all in timber. This platform overlooks a half-acre meadow at the base of a deep hollow with a small creek.

 

[mvwicker]

With warm dry weather again over the weekend, it was time for the next step in adding a roof and sides to the tree platform.


Temporary brace for the roof frame


Roof frame resting on the brace


Pilot holes for the lag screws holding the roof to the trees

The first experimental roof will be a "soft top" made from a tarp stretched over a frame made of EMT conduit:

3/4" hole in the roof frame, 3" deep

Start bending 9" from the end of a 10-foot conduit to get a triangular frame with 90" base and 16" peak height. Figure this out using Pythagoras' theorem.

Mark the center and bend 2" before it to get a flat ridge

Bending with a "conduit hickey" requires some skill

If done right, the conduit ends slip right into the holes in the roof frame.

Once one tube is bent, the others can be bent to match in less time. Final result:

...and that is enough for one day.

Leaving the roof frame tilted down during this phase made it easier to drill the top holes and place the conduit while standing on the platform. The roof frame itself acted like a diagonal handrail.

 

[mvwicker]

The next step in making a "soft top" roof is to reinforce the conduit frame with 1"x2"x8' slats along the ridge and eave bends. These will be attached to the conduits with clamps at 16" centers:

Clamps loose, screws in pilot holes at 16" centers just like the holes in the roof frame

At this point it is clear that not all the conduit bends are exactly the same (remember what I said about skill? :ashamed However, by reordering the conduits and flipping some of them right-to-left, I got reasonably straight ridge and eaves lines.

Clamps are tightened down after pressing over the conduit. A rubber mallet is useful here.

Braces in place on the ridge and one of the eaves.

Now the roof frame can be raised and lag-screwed into place:

3 washers prevent bark damage and allow some tree growth; protruding screw allows for the tree's bending in the wind.

Here the roof frame is in place with the conduits placed and braced.

That's it for this weekend. Here are three last photos to show the beauty of the Ozarks in Fall:

:thumbsup:
:dance1:

 

[johnk]

Looks like you put a lot of time and work into your project. Looks great...........

 

[mvwicker]

Looks like you put a lot of time and work into your project. Looks great...........

Thanks!

Lots of time and work is not necessarily a good thing, though. I wouldn't make any money doing this for a living
But it is fun to do a custom job like this, where things have to be cut to fit the space between trees, and assembled in a way that can withstand tree motions.

 

[mvwicker]

Another fine weekend, another step in the tree stand enhancement saga.

It was high time to add hand rails for safety. They are lag-screwed to 2x4s running parallel to the trees, to avoid excessive tree wounding and to provide dimensioned attachment points:


Select a suitably bent 2x4, lash it in place temporarily...

...and then fasten it with two lag screws. Repeat on the other side:

The bottom of the riser rests on the joist ledge, so just one lag screw is needed:

The bend of the 2x4 follows the curve of the tree:


Next, attach a 2x4 handrail to the riser:

...and a thicker 4x4 shooting rail to the front wall:

Later this was replaced with a 3x4 landscape timber which, being rounded, looks and feels better.

This is how it looks after 3 handrails are in place:

Note the obligatory tractor in the picture , used here as a tool carrier.

 

[mvwicker]

Next, stretch a tarp over the roof and sides.

Start with a Harbor Freight 19'x29' camouflage tarp, cut into two 9.5'x29' halves:

Roll it up with the camo pattern inside, so it will be outside after deployment:


Tennis balls protect the tarp from tearing on sharp edges:


The night before, I made some clips from 1/2" ID PVC conduit. Start by cutting roughly 1/2" rings with a reciprocating saw's metal-cutting blade:

Then cut out a quarter of the ring with tin snips:

A 10-foot conduit can make about 200 of these, and they clamp onto 1/2" EMT conduit with tremendous force.

The tarp gets draped over the roof frame and centered, then clipped to the front and back conduit "rafters":

View from the outside:


The bottom parts of the wall sections of tarp are tied down temporarily with bungee cords and rope:

Note that early evening is a good time to do this, when the winds are calmest.

This is all for now. The next step is to make two more walls and to attach the bottoms more permanently.

 

[mvwicker]

The sides are stretched down and attached to two more conduits:

At the back, by the trees:


At the front:

This one-screw clamp failed in high wind, so it was replaced later with a two-screw strap.

Use plenty of clips to hold the tarp to the conduit:


Inside view of the clipped tarp.

 

[mvwicker]

The extra weight of the roof necessitated bracing the legs:

Otherwise, the platform would shake from side to side in the wind and when someone on it moved.

 

[mvwicker]

View of the meadow from the platform:

...and the same view through a rifle scope: