Unbuilding something...

[356]

On the way to work this morning I noticed that the storm that came through Missouri toppled over the south property tower stand. The stand was secured with four auger mounts about 18" into the ground in addition to the ground spikes that come with the tower. One auger was pulled out of the ground, and I can only assume the rains ahead of the storm must have really softened the ground before being hit by 60+ mph winds. Three augers were still in the ground. No straps broke, so I can only guess that once the one auger came out the vibrations allowed the straps to come off.

The bad news: One door hinge and one window broke--I've already ordered replacements. The chair I kept in the blind was the likely culprit of the damage. I am sure there will be some other tweaks required to get the stand ready for next season.
The good news, part A) The metal tower is intact, with only minor tweaking of two cross-bars. Part B) I was considering moving the stand to another location, so now I have the excuse to go ahead and make the move.

 

[Bill]

yikes! hope mine are hanging in... I only use center augers but their pretty deep.

Hopefully that doesn't turn into a big PIA for you.

 

[356]

…Hopefully that doesn't turn into a big PIA for you.

This definitely put a crimp in my already very limited farm time. I’ll use the tractor to pull the blind back on level ground and then load it on the trailer. I am moving it to another part of our property, where I will use the tractor again to put the blind vertical. I’ll need to recruit some help as well. My guess is that I will do this in three steps…retrieve and trailer this weekend, then repair once the new plexiglass arrives, then redeploy at the new location this spring when I can recruit some help—I have a couple of ladder blinds to put up, so I’ll do those at the same time.

 

[bigboreblr]

With the price of those blinds, I'd anchor them tto some concrete pads

 

[Tree Spud]

What I have done is drive 6' metal fence posts into the ground for anchoring each leg. Then drive a lag leg through the post into the stand leg. I'm sure you could find a way to attach to your metal leg with some hardware.

 

[356]

What I have done is drive 6' metal fence posts into the ground for anchoring each leg. Then drive a lag leg through the post into the stand leg. I'm sure you could find a way to attach to your metal leg with some hardware.

I was thinking about the during the night, and decided on using fence posts...

 

[buckdeer1]

Have you seen the video of the Drury's when one fell?I have had one that was only 6ft to base blow over so set a 4x4 next to it to fasten it to.If you don't let it start to wobble it won't fall over

 

[356]

While I didn’t get much done today (given that after church seven of our grandkids came over and I was tasked with making the brisket), I did use the opportunity and extra help to retrieve the fallen blind. The new window came this week, and I will being repairing the door hinges, roof and straightening the tower supports before placing it in the new location.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I’ve got one down too, what’s the best way to raise it back up?

 

[356]

I’ve got one down too, what’s the best way to raise it back up?

I am using our tractor, loader and a helper. I haul it using pallet forks and snugging it to the pallet fork frame with four ratcheting straps. Once on location secure the straps to the upper portion of the stand and raise the loader while backing up. Without a tractor three people, two ropes and a utv will work.

 

[356]

…Hopefully that doesn't turn into a big PIA for you.

…It did..

After six months the blind is up in its new location. I still have some repairs to make, including installing the replacement window, and adding some rivets to the door frame. In addition to the footing anchors, I used auger anchors and two T-posts. Now I need to brush it in and build a new ladder.

 

[buckdeer1]

Alot of the issue is the straight legs.I get elevators from sportmans guide.But with that one being metal frame you did all you can.Do you have pavers under each foot?

 

[356]

It only goes from 4’ at the top to 5’ at the bottom, which it too straight. I used pavers when it blew over (80+ mph winds), so this time I did not, opting instead to go a few inches into the clay. I also took time to ensure it was level, rather than eyeballing it. For now it feels very solid. When I go in to finish the blind, I will double check everything. My plan is to add a 2’ platform by the door, and move the ladder to the north (treeline) end. I have a small area brushed out to “park” the e-bike which I will use with this location.

My larger tower was built using the Elevators, 2x4s and 4x4s. Those really make the building process straightforward, and would have eliminated the “fiddling around” I am doing with this blind to make it work.

 

[356]

I had some additional time to fiddle with the blind today. Two deer were harvested from the blind in this, my first full season using this tower blind. Seat time in the blind revealed some opportunities for improvement. These included:
1) Changing the window hinges to fold up, using magnets to hold the windows in position.
2) Move cup-holder to the corners—above the maximum “chair height.” The original placement took up needed space for the office chair.
3) Installed bow and propane heater holders (also known as shelf brackets) towards the top of the blind in the corners. These are under $2 each at Walmart or your local hardware store. A small bolt in the end distal hole ensures the bow or heater does not slide off.

New Window Configeration


Original Window Configuration

 

[356]

I added a place to hang the propane heater. By flipping the window to hing up and getting the heater off the floor the blind feels much more spacious. The rivet gun really works well for these type of upgrades. While I would not purchase another 4’x4’ blind, this one is working out OK for an adult and child or solo hunts.

 

[bigboreblr]

a 4x6 surface at 90 degrees to the wind at 50mph is 153 lbs of force pushing against it. at 75mph wind is 341lbs of force. From memory its a little mre than sqaure of the velocity. So double the velocity lit's going to be a bit more than 4 times the force.

That angle the base spreads looks like 8 degrees. A anchor pulled at 8 degrees from vertical makes 7 times the tension to hold a force back horizontally. So at 50mph that can be 535lbs of force on each of the 2 upwind anchors. Downwind is in compression, so no force is used there. Let's say your at your anchor limit at 535lbs and your stand tipped over.

Let's use those same anchors and assume they pull out at 535lbs. But put them at 45 degrees cable anlge stick out from each corner. Radiating out at each corner they're really about 40 degree in relation to that horizontal wind force. sin of 40 degrees is 65%. at 8 degrees our poor little anchors were tugging 535lbs, but at 45 from the corners were holding back that same wind with only 117 lbs of cabel tension. Assuming our anchors are installed inline with the angle of the cable here, those 535lb to fail anchors now can hold back 105mph of wind.

Best way to anchor to the structure is the top of the tower. Some pretension, but not nutty like maybe 30-50 lbs would be ok with steel cable.

So, you don't want your cable sticking out 10 feet at a 45 deg angle. Take it back to 30 at the corners, which really is 22 degrees. Our (2) 535lb to fail upwind anchor is able to hold back 400lbs of wind before pulling out. That same anchor at 30 degrees will fail at 81mph wind instead of our original 50mph.

Instead of anchors, your use weights, bury the weights in the ground, they can handle alot more horizontal force if buried, even if shallow or partial.

 

[T-Max]

a 4x6 surface at 90 degrees to the wind at 50mph is 153 lbs of force pushing against it. at 75mph wind is 341lbs of force. From memory its a little mre than sqaure of the velocity. So double the velocity lit's going to be a bit more than 4 times the force.

That angle the base spreads looks like 8 degrees. A anchor pulled at 8 degrees from vertical makes 7 times the tension to hold a force back horizontally. So at 50mph that can be 535lbs of force on each of the 2 upwind anchors. Downwind is in compression, so no force is used there. Let's say your at your anchor limit at 535lbs and your stand tipped over.

Let's use those same anchors and assume they pull out at 535lbs. But put them at 45 degrees cable anlge stick out from each corner. Radiating out at each corner they're really about 40 degree in relation to that horizontal wind force. sin of 40 degrees is 65%. at 8 degrees our poor little anchors were tugging 535lbs, but at 45 from the corners were holding back that same wind with only 117 lbs of cabel tension. Assuming our anchors are installed inline with the angle of the cable here, those 535lb to fail anchors now can hold back 105mph of wind.

Best way to anchor to the structure is the top of the tower. Some pretension, but not nutty like maybe 30-50 lbs would be ok with steel cable.

So, you don't want your cable sticking out 10 feet at a 45 deg angle. Take it back to 30 at the corners, which really is 22 degrees. Our (2) 535lb to fail upwind anchor is able to hold back 400lbs of wind before pulling out. That same anchor at 30 degrees will fail at 81mph wind instead of our original 50mph.

Instead of anchors, your use weights, bury the weights in the ground, they can handle alot more horizontal force if buried, even if shallow or partial.

This is the smartest thing I have ever read in my life!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[356]

a 4x6 surface at 90 degrees to the wind at 50mph is 153 lbs of force pushing against it. at 75mph wind is 341lbs of force. From memory its a little mre than sqaure of the velocity. So double the velocity lit's going to be a bit more than 4 times the force.

That angle the base spreads looks like 8 degrees. A anchor pulled at 8 degrees from vertical makes 7 times the tension to hold a force back horizontally. So at 50mph that can be 535lbs of force on each of the 2 upwind anchors. Downwind is in compression, so no force is used there. Let's say your at your anchor limit at 535lbs and your stand tipped over.

Let's use those same anchors and assume they pull out at 535lbs. But put them at 45 degrees cable anlge stick out from each corner. Radiating out at each corner they're really about 40 degree in relation to that horizontal wind force. sin of 40 degrees is 65%. at 8 degrees our poor little anchors were tugging 535lbs, but at 45 from the corners were holding back that same wind with only 117 lbs of cabel tension. Assuming our anchors are installed inline with the angle of the cable here, those 535lb to fail anchors now can hold back 105mph of wind.

Best way to anchor to the structure is the top of the tower. Some pretension, but not nutty like maybe 30-50 lbs would be ok with steel cable.

So, you don't want your cable sticking out 10 feet at a 45 deg angle. Take it back to 30 at the corners, which really is 22 degrees. Our (2) 535lb to fail upwind anchor is able to hold back 400lbs of wind before pulling out. That same anchor at 30 degrees will fail at 81mph wind instead of our original 50mph.

Instead of anchors, your use weights, bury the weights in the ground, they can handle alot more horizontal force if buried, even if shallow or partial.

Interesting information. Thank you. The blind is definitely in a better location, with the tree line breakup up the straight line winds. I am using T-posts to help secure the blind to the ground along with augers. Once I get through another season and confirm this is the permanent location, I may add buried weights, as that really is the best option.

 

[Catscratch]

Oh hell... when I clicked on the "unbluilding something" thread I figured it would be about biden. Turns out it's about smart things. Way cooler!