tower

[Guest LukeHga]

does anyone no how to build a succesful deer tower 15ft or sso? thanks for the help.

[johnf]

Re: tower

Yes, what do you want it made of wood or metal?

[Guest LukeHga]

Re: tower

wood

[wtnhunt]

Re: tower

Welcome to the forums. Have been some pretty good blinds built that pics have been posted of in here. I framed all of mine with steel tubing and the tower was all steel tubing. Just spent a little time with a pencil and piece of paper and drew out what I wanted. With however you build it, make sure and anchor it well.

[Guest LukeHga]

Re: tower

thanks

[AdvantageTimberLou]

Re: tower

welcome to the forums, I don't have any tower blind plans but I know guys on here will try to get you some.

[johnf]

Re: tower

Use pressure treated lumber to save yourself some headaches down the line.

You will need to build this on sight as it will be way to heavy to move if you make it out of wood.

Here's what you'll need.

4 15' 4x4 -Legs

2 20' 2x4 or 2 x 6 - Ladder legs

6 4' 2x12 - 4 will be Top Ring the other 2 are floor joists

2 16" 2x12 - Trap door frame.

4 6-8' 2x12- Bottom Ring

10 10' 2x4- 8 will be cross braces 2 will be latter rungs

1 sheet 3/4" Plywood-Floor, roof, door?

4 sheets 7/16 Plywood Walls/windows, door?

2 hinges

Speed Square

Framing hammer or Drill

Galvinized 16 penny Nails or 4" Gavinized decking screws.

Start with 2 of the 4x4s and 1 each of the top and bottom rings. I would probibly go with 46 or 47 inchest to make sure I had enough to play with when decking the floors and putting up walls. Line up the legs and the top ring square and put 1 nail on the bottom outside corner of each side so you can move the legs out to get your final angle. Go to the bottom to determine how wide you want your base. I wouldn't go any less than 6' and would probibly go 8' sence your using wood. Put 1 Nail through the center of the bottom ring into the 4x4 making sure that they are in the exact same spot on both sides. I would make them about 4-6" about the bottom of the legs. Now use your speed squar at the top on both sides to get the same anle on bot legs. Write down the angle, you might need it later. After getting your angle right put about 4 or 5 nails in ever joint to make it solid. Cut off the excess, there should be excess on all outside corners on the top of the top and the top of the bottm Now take 1 of your 10' cross bars and nail it flat with only 1 nail about 2 feet down from the top ring and on one leg, move the other end diagonally down to the other leg and nail it. Flip the whole thing over and do the same thing on the other side so they form a big X.

Now build another one just like that one.

Now that you've got two sides you'll need to put them together. It's heavy, you'll need help.

Tip both sids up on edge. 1 end should be 4' high the other 8' or whatever you decide to make your base.

Use the angle that you got when you determined your leg angle and cut your top ring on that angle so it fits together wright or you could just scribe the size from the others. Do the same thing with the bottom ring. When everything is at the right angles nail or screw it down solid and cross brace it.

Now would be a good time to nail or screw the X braces togeter you can do this two ways. First you could get a scrap piece of 4x4 and put it in the gap where they meat and nail it to both sides, or you could get an 8" lag bolt (and nut) drill them and screw them togther to get rid of the gap.

Befor you flip it over to do the final side you'll need to brace the bottom with at least 2 boards one at the top and the other at the bottom. This is going to be a heavy son of a gun. You'll need more help.

After flipping it over you'll need to determine where you want your door. If you want it on the side, you'll need to doo the top and bottom ring and then build the ladder up the side. If you want the ladder in the floor, which I recomend, Do the last side jsut like you did the first.

Now your ready to do the floor joist. You can go in either direction at and put them 16" apart. You need at least 4 nails in them and joist hangers are never a bad idea. This would be a good time to frame in your trap door. I would suggest putting it between the two joists about 4' from the edge of the floor and would make it no more than 22" wide. That's a big enogh hole for most folks to get throug. If your too big I would put my 2 floor joist 20" apart and make a 20"x22" hole and probibly build a frame under the door hatch. Now build your ladder. Angle the legs on the outside of the door frame against the top ring to the far bottom ring. This will give you the maximum angle and make it more comfortable to climb up. Do this on both outsides of the doorfram and nail in solid. Cut your ladder rungs to the length from the outside to outsids and nail them flat against the ladder leggs 14-16" apart.

At this point I would deck the floor and build my trap door. Cut the hole in the floor on the inside of the frame. Now put a 2x 4 ring around the inside of the frame so the door has something to sit on. Now would be a pretty good time to make sure you're going to fit through the hole.

Now you're ready for the walls. Your in a little bit of a sticky situation at this point. You can put your wall and roof up now, but it's going to be a pain to get the thing upright and you will need to brace it alot befor you try, or you can lift the whole thing now and put up the walls and roof while its standing. (probibly what I would do.

I would use at least a 50' chain and a truck or wench to lift the stand. I had some friends doing this 2 yeas ago doing it with a 20" rope. The rope broke and killed one of them. You need to be as far from this thing as possible when lifting it.

When building the walls I would completely assemble each side including the top and bottom plates and windows on the ground. Lift them up and nail them down. When framing make the plywood the same with of the floor on all sides, but leave a 3 1/2 on eaither sid of the first 2 walls which will stand opposite of each other. Center them up and nail them down to the floor. before doing wall # 3 brace off the opposite side from where you're goint to put it in. Pull it up and in and nail it down then attach it two the two other walls. Now would be a great time to be using screws that way your pulling them together not banging them apart. Knock your braces off the hole that's left and do the same thing with your final wall. Get your measure ments for the roof and build an outside frame for it with only 1 joist in the center. It's not going to have to hold much and you want it to be as light as possible. I might suggest a simi clear or green/clear roofing for weight reason and for light. Pull up your roof using a rope, get in place and screw the roof frame to your top plate. Also you will probibly want your roof to hand over 6-12" on all sides to keep the rain out. Now get a can of "Great stuff" and fill in all the holes.

Wow that was long.

Didn't take time to proof read sorry for the errors and typ o's that are probibly there.

Good luck.

[johnf]

Re: tower

I left out the wood for the wall and roof frame.

And I would mke my walls about 4" taller than the tallest person who will use the stand. A smaller box will be warmer when it's cold.

I've got a cousin up in NW Arkansas with a stand like this that he insulated with 1" Styrofome on the walls and floor and 2" on the roof. He says that if it's below freezing he turns on his heater for about 5 minutes about ever hour. It does only have 4 windows that are about 12X18 and are very tight. And uses a trap door.

[Guest LukeHga]

Re: tower

thanks everyone

[okiedog]

Re: tower

I don't have any plans to share with you. I sketched it out in my head while I was building it. Took me awhile to build, because I did almost all the work myself. Finished it Monday, but don't have a picture of the finished product (my batteries were dead). Here are some pics while I was working on it.

I'll post the finished, painted stand next week.

[Guest LukeHga]

Re: tower

dang thats nice. i will share with daddy everything yall have put up. thanks, luke

[Guest HatRadinhunter]

Re: tower

Wow, thats a pretty nice tower.. how much does all that lumber cost you, if you dont mind my asking.

[Guest Hoot]

Re: tower

Im gonna be out planting some plots in the morning . Since its been so dry here this summer and the seeds are so high this year we decided to wait alittle longer on planting. So i will take you some pic's of our tower stands .

[mo_hunter]

Re: tower

very nice work, it looks awesome you could bow hunt out of it as well as gun hunt. Great job