74gtf100
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2019
- Messages
- 7
I bought the hawk hangout to use as a cheap platform. When I got it I put it together exactly as they designed it and used the seat pad as a knee pad strapped to the tree. Now with the factory brackets this thing was borderline dangerous up in the tree. With a little side pressure I would want to try to rotate on me. It never did but it wasnt stable thats for sure. I removed the factory brackets and took some angle iron and used an angle grinder and cut off wheel to cut teeth in the angle. This accomplished two things. It let the platform sit closer to the tree and it bites VERY well into the tree. I had it on a slick bark oak and it never once tried to move on me. I ended up welding the new brackets to the post because they wanted to rotate slightly when applying side pressure to the platform. It wasnt much but the platform would move slightly and I wanted it to be rock solid. I put the factory bolts back in after these pictures to take stress off the welds and use the welds just to keep the brackets from rotating and not hold the brack on. I plan to wrap the post in camo vet/stealth wrap to deaden any sounds and hopefully figure out a strap that's not a ratchet strap for quiet installation but still be as secure to the tree.