I wish I wouldn't have stopped myself --- instead of buying the tripod stand from Cabelas I decided to save a little money and build my own.

Not having access to a welder or metal supplies I decided to try PVC piping. I designed a very sturdy PVC pipe stand that will accomodate a 5x5 pop-up style ground blind on top. It "was" going to be made out of 6" PVC for the posts and 4" PVC for structural supports.

Then I saw how much 6" PVC Connectors were!!! OMG So I redesigned the stand at the store with 3" posts and 2" structural supports.

In the end it still cost me over $250 for parts and took me the weekend to cut to size and assemble. Then as soon as I tried to move it it crumbled - granted I had not started cleaning and glueing the joints yet - but still I have $250 in parts laying on the ground and my evening project will be to reassemble the 8'x6'x6' jigsaw puzzle and I'm still not sure if it will be structurally solid!!??

Here's what it will look like - kinda

If anybody has experience with joining PVC and knows if it will be strong enough please let me know either way??? Regardless, I'll post a pic when its complete!