Deer Hunting Shed

[rusty1034]

Howdy all,

First of all, I apologize if this is posted in the wrong category, but here goes.

I have this Amish built shed I intend to mount on an old set of hay wagon running gear. The 4" X 6" skids on the bottom fit nicely on the outside of the 10' long planks on the running gear. (sorry no pix of the running gear). The planks on the running gear are bolted to the metal frame.

My fist thoughts were to bolt the skids of the shed to the planks on the running gear. I recently talked to an old farmer dude who said I might be better off loosely chaining the skids of the shed to the planks on the running gear. His explanation for using chains is that it will allow flexibility between the shed and wagon during transport, possibly preventing stress fractures to the shed caused by driving over uneven ground.

I'm not sure how much traveling this set up will see, but I'd rather not take a chance and end up breaking things.

Thanks for your help, and good luck this fall !

Rusty




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[j-bird]

Sweet building..... I have wanted to put a stand on a hay wagon or old grain cart for a while, but just have not gotten around to it yet. The mobility of them I think will be awesome.....especially if your not 100% certain of where to best place it or if you want to put it in a flood plain, you can remove before the spring and summer flooding seasons. Just an opinion on my part here, but you may want to consider making the windows a little bigger and ensure they are low enough to shoot from a sitting position. It's tough to tell from the pic so you may be just fine, but window size and position can make shooting from an enclosed blind even more comfortable for you. Good luck!

 

[Mennoniteman]

Great idea! And usually if the amish built it it's a well built shed. Being a builder, I like the idea of bolts better than chains. Chains will allow more rocking of the structure over uneven ground, potentially stressing the structure. Bolted solid is a good thing in this scenario, not a bad thing. I'd use 1/2" carriage head bolts straight down through the floor in the center of the 4X6 skids, through the planking of the wagon, with a substantial washer on the bottom to keep the planking from cracking. It would be an improvement to run 2X6's crosswise of the planking underneath the wagon to run the center of the bolt through, since the bolts going through the wagon planking is the weak spot. Make sure that the wooden bed of the wagon is securely fastened to the steel running gear as wagon beds are notorious for flying off running gears in high stress conditions. In my youth the Amish neighbor boys and I stacked too much hay on the back of a wooden wagon bed that wasn't fastened to the running gear. Next thing we knew we were tossed off the back of the wagon onto a pile of hay...