This is the state its in now. Had it worked, I would have welded it up completely. Im outa time, so it will be thrown in the almost worked pile for now.
Im using these flat head bolts to hold the loops on a LW strap. They aren't a high grade, so had it worked I would have gotten some better grade bolts and used a couple xop buttons.
The problem as I see it seems to be the distance from the tree to the bolts is the same distance cammed as it is when tilted up to tighten the rope. That or the attachment for the bolts needs to be a lot lower than the upper contact points to allow that over center affect of the cam action. What I found with the ratchet strap was I crank it tight and step on it and the bottom contact points then dig in and the top isn't as tight any longer. Strange things are happening, maybe my bottom supports shouldn't be angled to dig in like that, but rather just rest against the tree. Lots of R&D goes into a good product, I just have to many other irons in the fire.
Current weight with no straps(as shown) is 5lbs. I don't think that's bad, but if I could get it to work and have an aluminum option made it would probably be in the 3.8lb range and that would be great. Its a big platform, 18" wide and 10" from the front to the deepest part of the V (12" from front to the outer points of the V).