WTNUT
5 year old buck +
Good point now that I think about it. I just bought a good gravity wagon same size as yours for $800 to haul picked corn in. For our area that is a fair price.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Wagon blind build
- Thread starter hillrunner
- Start date
Good point now that I think about it. I just bought a good gravity wagon same size as yours for $800 to haul picked corn in. For our area that is a fair price.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
hillrunner
5 year old buck +
A doe back in October, haven't hunted it much yet this year.
OcmulgeeOgre
Buck Fawn
Nice!
Soggy McBottom
Yearling... With promise
Dang, that's awesome!
j-bird
Moderator
So Like I posted I wanted to do this and I just got my gravity cart, small one 150/200 bushel for $250....was a deal I couldn't pass up. Since you have been down this path I want to pick your brain.I thought I'd show the blind I built this fall. I've built several over the years. I use materials I have around to keep the cost down so the colors aren't always the best match. It's very important to me that they are sealed up tight to keep my scent in and bugs and weather out.
Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
#1 - how stable is this thing when your moving it? I was planning on building mine on top of the cart....and not dropping the floor down into the hopper like you have done. My thinking is that I gain about 18" more in height....but I am concerned about it's stability while moving it around. I will have to move mine annually to get it out of a flood plain area to help ensure it lasts a long time.
#2 - Did you use the lower hopper portion for anything? Its a space that I see that is just begging for a purpose, but I can't come up with anything just yet. I'm fearful to use it for storage as anything the mice can get into they will, but it just seems like a great space to try to use for something.
#3 - Do you have any movement in it while moving around inside?
#4 - I am considering taking the wheels off of mine once I get it into position (I got 4 brand new tires on it and would hate to see them dry rot) - did you/do you do anything to keep your tires in working order?
#5 - Did you use the side board pockets for anything?
#6 - Anything you would do differently? We tend to learn of something we forgot or something we would do differently AFTER it's too late. Mine won't be near as fancy as yours....
hillrunner
5 year old buck +
1. It's fairly stable to move, mine was pulled over relatively steep terrain with no issue. I wouldn't want mine any taller than it is though. If your wagon is a little narrower and you do a couple things different with build, you could probably set it on top and end up with the same roof height as mine.
2. I did not use the lower area for anything. I had considered dumping some rock in before building the blind as a ballast to make the blind more stable. Ultimately I didn't do that because I wanted to be able to move it with an ATV.
3. Movement isn't bad at all with the 4 straps in place. I move slowly when deer are present and had no issues being spotted.
4. My tires were pretty well shot already so I didn't worry about it. If you want to put the effort forth, it will definitely make them last longer to store them inside. Maybe you could stuff those in the hopper?
5. Yes, all the vertical boards for framing are in the pockets. If you look closely in the pictures, you can spot it.
6. Yes, 2 things. The 1'x4' horizontal Plexi glass viewing windows are too long for the way I mounted them. The expansion and contraction is too much and they both cracked. Either I needed to cut them in half and make two windows from each one or mount them in a frame that allowed movement. Also I would have bought a 60" tall blind door from deer view windows instead of the residential door. That would have allowed me to keep the sidewalls about a foot shorter.
I got a hay wagon and mounted a redneck gillie,it works great also,I actually park it inside my building in summer to protect it.Chairs make a big difference and the redneck chair has to be one of the best.The can be bought online at a pretty decent price on rednecks webpage when they go on sale
815hunter
Yearling... With promise
Good morning I recently just joined and I am starting the build of my gravity wagon blind out of a 6' by 10' gravity box just like yours and I have a few questions. One is I plan on moving mine around quite a bit therefore I worry about the stability so I am going to put some dirt in mine. But what worries me is how I should mount it to the running gear? Should I bolt it on all four corners? Or just do 2 corners and should I chain the box frame to the running gear with some slack? And with some movement I worry about breaking windows on uneven terrain ? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
hillrunner
5 year old buck +
Wagons cannot be bolted to the gear on all 4 corners or the axles wouldn't be able to follow the terrain , I bolted the back solid and put loose chains on the front like you mentioned. Once you have it in place you'll need to make sure its set flat so that all 4 corners of the box are making contact with the gear or it will have movement.
You shouldn't have any worry of breaking windows, the box itself does not flex with the running gear. Obviously you don't want to be bouncing through the field at 25 mph but as long as you use some common sense it wont be an issue.
If you have any other questions, just ask.
815hunter
Yearling... With promise
j-bird
Moderator
I love the portability of mine. We used it to hunt last fall put 3 of us in it just fine....my daughter killed a deer from it.....then I moved it to our summer shooting range..... It will find a new home come september or so. Ya gotta be a little more careful with mine....when moving it.....but so far so good. I added "out riggers" to add stability a swell.
815hunter
Yearling... With promise
Dam thats tall.....I wanted to go 13'6" but I'm getting nervous about tipping it so I'm going to 12'6". Do you have any pictures of the outriggers just for ideas. Thanks for responding also
j-bird
Moderator
Go to my land tour and start on page 39.....I tried to take pictures as it progressed. There is a lot of other stuff in there as well, but post #794 shows a picture.....this one. I use a long beam on the ground under the wagon (short distance) and then use a 2x8 or the like and get it up under the top lip of the wagon. Then kick the other end into position and then screw a stopping block in place. I would use a set of 2 and tie them together.....I had a high wind event that pushed the wagon off the blocks it was on and the out riggers fell off to the side....the wind blew the blind about 15 feet! You could use ground anchors and cable if you like as well. Mines taller than I had planned, but I like height. I thought about dropping it down into the wagon like most others with some common sense...but, well....I didn't. My cart also isn't one of the real big ones either.... So that makes it look worse as well. You will also see that what I lack in ability as a carpenter I make up for with the liberal use of expanding foam!
815hunter
Yearling... With promise
I have friend that also built one as high as yours but he's been lucky his hasn't tipped i may try your board technique when I get to that point. Thanks for the response I need and ideas.
j-bird
Moderator
Not a problem.... The other thing we do is we lift the wagon up off the ground ( I just use a floor jack) and put blocks under it so it's not sitting on the tires and try to make it as level as we can. I feared the tires loosing pressure and thus leaning....
This is my current stand project. Added these camper stabilizer jacks. They where rated for 1000lb but was $50 wasted money. As boat trailer flexes the jacks slowly retract. Going to mount trailer jacks on each end of pallet shelf to take care of trailer flexing. Trying to decide what kind of blind to use for bow hunting and thinking about Redneck soft sided.
Similar threads
