A little engineering help needed.

[buckhunter168]

Hi, I'm looking to build an elevated deer blind on my property. I plan on using blind elevator mounting brackets for the legs of the blind. These brackets accept 4"x4" posts for legs. Cross bracing is applied later by the builder.

The first problem (or challenge) is that the area where I want to put the blind is at the edge of a marshy area with cattails and an area with thick tag alders. Is there a method or design that would allow me to place the blind in that area without compromising stability and without sinking.

The second challenge is related to the height of the blind. I want the floor of the blind to be as close to 20' as possible. The longest length 4"x4"'s I've seen are 16'. Does anyone have any ideas or plans for building a blind that high?

[GVDocHoliday]

You'd be better off using old Electrical poles...however with the mushy ground that would be rather unstable.

We put up a tower blind this past summer using the elevators...great tool. We put ours up at 10'...plenty high for what we needed. Very sturdy and very stable with the cross bracing.

We used treated 4x4's and 2x4's so it was heavy as heck and required the use of a front end loader to setup up...would have been impossible to use 16' 4x4's and get the platform up.

[explodingvarmints]

That is too high for 4x4's. You would need at least 6x6's if you are building this a stand alone application. You should probably dig some footings for it as well..... try to achieve less then 1500 p.s.i. ground load per footing to tell you how big to make them. I wouldn't even trust 4x4's at 14' with the weights you're going to be dealing with given your current sub-grade conditions. Maybe look into one of those Texas style tripod blinds. Could drive 4x4's into the muck till they get tough to knock down (acting as piles) and then cap them with some treated plywood.

[Quack Wacker]

Rycenga Homes in Grand Haven, MI can get you 20' 6x6's or longer and deliver them to the site or close to for cheap.

[Lundman]

BH168 - I am in the same boat. I currently have a 18' tall enclosed blind made on top of 6" dia trees that I cut off. The blind is about to fall down.

6x6 is a good choice, but they are expensive.
6x6 $135 24' long
4x6 $70 20' long
4x4 $40 16' long
2x2x1/4 Steel tube was $150 for a 24' stick
Prices are approximate.

The 6x6 can be installed in the ground with cardboard tubes and still get you around 20' to platform height. This will anchor the platform against winds. The problem is that no one makes the brackets for 6x6's.

I was considering 4x4's with the conventional brackets that can be purchased. This would get you around 14' up. I was then going to build a 12' tall blind. I would install the floor about halfway up inside the blind, thus producing an enclosed cavity below the blind. This would give me a place to mount and secure my 20lb propane tank. I am located inside a wooded area, so wind not not as much of a factor. I would still have cables down to earth anchors to keep from tipping over.
No real good solution w/o custom brackets for 6x6's
Keep us updated on what you do.

[Critter]

Anybody have good pictures or plans for the 4x4 brackets? I would think building them for 6x6 would be easy enough given proper measurements.

[LTCracc]

Unit you need to get on here more, good luck with the blind.

[QuakrTrakr]

Here (http://www.shadowhunterllc.com/content/view/13/12/) are the elevators. I've used them on 3 blinds now and one of them is on 12 foot 4x4's. It works fine. Just cross brace the heck of the legs to tip it up. I put a strap around the blind and hooked a 20' strap to my truck and tipped it right up. To anchor it, I just put one ground anchor underneath it and attached some aircraft cable to it. Here's a picture of us standing up a 8 footer.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/bergcrane2/tippin.jpg

[JimmyontheSpot]

If this blind is going to be 20' in the air, you better get it right. If the wind blows a little too hard one day and you're hunting, 20' is a long way to fall.

4x4's are plenty strong you just need to cross brace them every 4' or so. I'd put some footings down too. The softer the soils the bigger the footings. You might use 'sonatube' concrete forms which are like huge cardboard paper towel tubes at least 24" diameter. The footings need to go below the frost line at 42" deep too.

this sounds like a big project. You might want to get an engineer or an architect to look at it.

[Atchison]

Use 4x6 for anything over 16' since this is a stand alone unit (6X6 would obviously be better), you want to setup a larger surface area on the marsh land that will allow for minimal if any sinking to spread the weight over a large area

Maybe draw up roughly what you are planning and post the prints on here for a few people to look at before building anything

[QuakrTrakr]

I use these to anchor it down. I use one directly under the blind, but if you're going that high, you may want to use 3 or 4 of them aroung the tower. http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_10551_10001_44120_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1

[solohunter]

My blinds are 12-14 feet, on cedar posts 4 inch tops, 4 ft in ground, the next one will only be 8-10 feet up, the higher up the smaller the vitals get and the larger the spine gets,,,,, good luck sounds like a large project for soft ground,, my cedar post are free on my brother property 1/4 mile away,,, kinda free,, I gotta get them outa the swamp :)