Ameristep alternative? Feasible?

[beej32]

This is a VERY rough model of an idea I had (made in about 15 minutes using what I could find handy), and I wanted to get thoughts on its feasibility as essentially a diy ameristep.

The pvc is standing in for a length of 1” square aluminum tubing cut lengthwise (like the small aluminum piece in the pic), which would go against the tree. The paint stirrer is standing in for an aluminum strip, mainly there so there’s something to thread the strap through. The bottom bolt would be the step, essentially using a tree bolt (much longer than what’s shown). The top fastener would also be a bolt with some sort of “spacer” between the two aluminum pieces (like the nut on the bottom bolt), rather than the small screw I used here.

I’m nearly certain those would be stable like ameristeps. But I have no idea if the aluminum would hold up to the force from standing on the step bolt or the pressure of the “wings” pressed against the tree by the strap. Or if they’d damage the tree. I also don’t know how heavy this would wind up being.

I figure there are some folks smarter than me that’d be able to weigh in, so I’m hoping to get any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[beej32]

Here’s a closer representation of what I’m thinking. The forward piece of aluminum will be a smaller flat, and it’ll have a second, smaller bolt and spacer above the strap. Hope to get the time to get the full thing together tomorrow. The version below weighed 4.9oz, and I think that’ll be pretty close to the final version’s weight.

 

[ImThere]

I tried it. Very similar. It will work but I couldn’t really get them tight enough to the tree for my liking
I used 1.5” aluminum channel, curb the sides down to 3/4” and cut a slot in each side for a strap and put the 3/8-16 x 6 bolt through it with a nut on each side.


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[beej32]

Here’s my attempt. I’ll probably knock out a couple more tomorrow and see how tightly they’ll hold to a tree, but I’m optimistic.

 

[ImThere]

Looks good. Real close to what I did.


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[beej32]

Do you use ameristeps otherwise? I only have the bullman steps to compare against, so I'm hoping these won't have to be cinched down quite as much as those.

 

[beej32]

Tried these in a tree briefly this morning, with so-so results. They handled side pressure really well, but were very spongy vertically when I put my full body weight on them (top of step pulls away from the tree). I suspect having a longer piece of aluminum with the strap further away from the bolt would help. No doubt it'd be less of an issue with a saddle bearing most of my weight too.

I'll probably finish a set of 6 of these, but as currently built, it's not a huge upgrade over the bullmans. The pros are the cost, the ability to handle side pressure, and bulk reduction (rectangular and half the width of bullman steps). The cons are weight (4.7oz each) and the handling of vertical weight. They still required getting the strap really tight.

 

[Nutterbuster]

It's really sad how perfect ameristeps are. Nothing has really filled that void in my mind. Kind of hoping that Tethrd will consider adding cast aluminum strap on steps in the future.

 

[ricky racer]

I tried this....
https://saddlehunter.com/community/index.php?threads/new-life-for-old-steps.6203/

 

[ImThere]

Denots started some nice aluminum ameristeps. Search them.


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[beej32]

Been doing some more tinkering with this and think I may have a winner. My biggest issue originally was the steps “sagging” under weight. I added a small 3/4” corner brace at the very bottom to give a little more leverage. I also got rid of the small aluminum plate for threading the strap and just have a bolt with a nylon spacer, rubber washer, and cap nut that lets you freely insert the step under the strap. Tested this morning and worked great, handling both vertical and horizontal force. That was with a ratchet strap, and now I’m really curious to see how they’d do with a boat buckle.