uncle matt

redneckmike87

hey i made probably 30 -40 of these stands at the vocational school and we sold them to help fund our program we used 1 inch conduit for the main parts and 3/4 for the rungs of the ladder. we then used a 1/8 inch sheet on the tops with a seat from a school desk welded to it. we made them 15 feet tall. make one then make a jig so all the others are perfect after the jig is made production of these will fly. to weld it you just need a cheap mig set up and do it outside or in a well ventilated area because galvanized gas will make you sicker than a dog let me tell you from experience its not fun when all you had to do was turn a fan on. we then had the auto body program paint them but spray paint will work fine in fact we use spray paint to touch up the 3 my step dad bought.

they work but gander mountain had 15 foot ladder stands on sale for 49 bucks and that requires alot less effort

LKNCHOPPERS

I doubt you can build them cheaper if you figure your time and materials. You can get a higher ladder stand with a seat at Gander Mtn or D I C Ks for $50.

GregH

Be careful when welding conduit. Breathing smoke from galvanized pipe is not good for you.

BTW, you could make a pretty decent ladder out of unistrut, plus it's green.

uncle matt

Although I did mention the unhealthy smoke I did omit that the reason I stopped making them was that you can buy them dirt cheap these days - especially when they go on clearance after season. Plus, these days every stand comes with a safety harness.

Additionally your typical 15' ladder breaks down into stackable sections which makes moving them alot easier.

seastrike

The resaon that i want these stands is because they are so easy to move. I borrowed one this year from a guy i hunt with, and Numerous times i would on the spur of the moment i move it by myself. Unstrap it, drag it through the woods to a new spot, throw it against a tree and you are go to go. Or you hang it on the back of a 4-wheeler and move it miles down the road. I even killed a deer, 30 minutes after dragging one a 1/4 mile to a new spot at 3:30 in the afternoon. You cant do that with the 15 foot stands from gander or bass pro. The second reason is that i believe they will last forever. The stand i used this year was built in the 80's and is good as new today. There is value for me in being able to easily move my stands around, maybee thats just me. I priced the parts today and i am looking at about 28.00 per stand plus welding labor.

I wish i could figure out how to post the plans for yall to see,,they are different than the ones already posted. Any ideas, the plans are in word file that is over the allowed size limit

seastrike

what is unistrut??

GregH

It is a type of channel, mostly used in industrial and commercial applications, that allows you to clamp pipes (electrical, plumbing etc.) firmly in place. It comes in 10 and 20 foot lengths. It can be galvanized, powder coated or stainless steel. It can also come with mounting slots every 2" apart. There are many fittings that allow it to be fastened together in many ways, including ladders!

Pic of 2 pieces.

uncle matt

Unistrut is a universal strut used in construction for all sorts of things. Most typical size is the 1-5/8" X 1-5/8" although it comes in other sizes thinner and thicker but all 1-5/8" wide.



This site says uni-strut is like legos and I agree. There are so many different fittings available. I made my bike hangers in my garage out of uni-strut with the rollers fittings and some hooks. I pull my bikes up into the rafters with a pulley system and rope.



Oh and did I mention is is prety darn expensive? That is why I quickly forgot about buliding a whole treestand out of them. But I have always thought that a long slotted section would be nice along the side of a ladderstand's ladder as a part of fall protection that you could adjust the catch little by little as you go up or down.