The endless options that it has to offer far outweighs the amount of time that it took for me to construct, mind you little hands had a lot to play with the construction as well.

Helping with the ratcheting of the bolts, placement of the climbing wall rocks, bringing nails and screws to the construction site, it all brings back those memories that will last a lifetime. So now that it is finished, what’s next?

With any large construction project it is important to ensure that all bolts are kept tight and during the course of the construction the timbers have shrunk and expanded with the bolts loosening up to where they need to be cinched tight again. I had noticed that the swings had been slipping when in full flight with the tell-tale signs of wear around the hangers. I remember when I had tighted these bolts up initially and how difficult it was to wind them in to the full depth, probably because of the moisture content of the timber but now that it had dried out fully it was far easier to lock up tight again.

The first thing that I wanted to do was to tighten the swing hangers and this also meant greasing to eliminate any squeaks that had worked in during the period of play. All the bolts holding the main frames together would have to be checked as would the slide installation. The roof tarp had remained firm during the winter storms and all the high winds, not even popping any of the press studs which is quite impressive as the palm trees were banging against the side of the house at the height of the winds. The bolts holding the climbing wall rocks and the grab handles were all checked and the climbing rope will have to be knotted again to take up some of the slack gained through use. The picnic table cover need a quick wipe to remove dust but apart from that everything is still sturdy as a rock.

A couple of hours saw all the bolts checked and tightened, regreased hangers with swing seats and covers wiped. I had noticed a little of the redwood stain missing in some areas so I will touch up and refresh these areas. I had not coated the rungs of the monkey bars with any preserve or redwood stain but had noticed over the winter that a little mold has set in because of the dampness associated with the beach. To combat this I will have to coat with preserve and then cover with redwood stain. The redwood stain will eventually have to be rubbed down to remove the roughness so that it doesn’t tear little hands when in use.

With all this taken care of the Jungle Fort is once again ready for a full season of kid mania and that doesn’t mean just mine. Since the construction it has been a worthy competitor to the local park with school friends and pre-schoolers enjoying the construction and all in the safety of our own backyard.

So what’s next on the construction horizon, I think it’s time to make a work bench so I don’t have to keep working on the floor. The good thing is I have some timber left over so that will take care of the frame. If your interested, check back on a regular basis and see where I’m at, until then enjoy!

I found when fixing the grab handles the use of a pilot hole for the bolts and a little grease on the thread made it easier to ratchet the bolts into place and also prevented the timber from puckering up when winding them in tight. This ensured the handles ended up with a nice flush fit eliminating any rocking effect from ill fitted handles.

These handles from Detailed Play Systems are made from a high quality plastic and seem to be able to take plenty of abuse from the children, even though they are very smooth they offer plenty of grip with finger ridges inside. I would imagine that they have been tried and tested for being outside in the elements but only time will tell if they will crack or become brittle. I have tried pulling on them and they have been very secure but they are very slick so any moisture on them will increase the slipperiness of the surface so I have made a mental note to warn the children to be extra careful on those damp days.

All in all I have fitted a total of four sets of grab handles to all the openings and I’m glad I did as they hang out of the entrances calling to each other, much to my anxiety!

An additional item that I forgot to mention during the construction of the ramp was adding an assist rope. I didn’t anticipate that this would be so integral to the ramp but to my surprise this turned out to be a very important item. The ramp was quite steep and the rope is a must for young children who want to climb up and with the addition of the grab handles at the top it completed the overall safety for this item.

My children straddle the rope and haul themselves to the top where they then hold onto the grab handle while they lift their leg back over the rope and step onto the decking, all in one seamless motion.

With all the grab handles taken care of and all ropes in position the roof tarp was the one item that would keep the intensity of the sun off the children during the summer months and reduce the wind and drizzle during the winter. I had opted for the mega size roof tarp purely for this reason and I wasn’t disappointed with the choice. The material was marine grade and I had gone for a solid green color so that it would blend in with the surrounding foliage. I didn’t particularly want to draw attention to the structure just incase it would offend anyone, if it were a candy stripped top there would be no hiding the fact that this was a big Jungle Gym.

The roof tarp was a large 59 inches by 160 inches and would be held on with stainless steel snaps. The female part of the snap was already incorporated into the fabric of the top which left the male portion of the snap to be fitted to the rails that had already been installed for the roof. The first task was to place the roof tarp over the ridge of the roof and equally space it along the length as there would be approximately a gap of one inch per end.

The tarp then being stretched over the outer rails and clamped into position while the same procedure was used for the other side. This allowed for adjustment without any of the snaps being put in place. I needed to keep an equal amount of overhang per side and I knew there would be a little stretching involved when I started fitting the snaps. With the roof tarp finally dry fitted I clamped the tarp to the ridge rail so there wouldn’t be any sliding while I fitted the first side of snaps.

To find the position where to drill the pilot hole for the screw I stretched the roof tarp and pushed the attached snap to make an indentation on the outer rail leaving a perfect circle. This would provide the guide for the pilot hole and a simple one screw operation to fix the first snap into position.

I continued to use the same procedure for all the snaps on the first side and kept the tarp parallel to the bottom edge of the outer rail. I didn’t want to over stretch and have the tarp snapping askew on the rail. I was estimating that when I started to fix the second side down the tarp would line up parallel to the outer rail as well. I knew that the lengths cut for the roof rails were all correct and had been assembled correctly so there was no reason not to line up.

With the one side now snapped in place I could undo the clamps holding the tarp to the ridge rail and give an extra pull to release any wrinkles in the roof tarp before lightly clamping again. I again marked the position of the snap by indenting the outer rail but made sure to pull the tarp down as far as I could. I was hoping that they’d still be enough slack so that I’ll be able to snap both parts of the snap together. It was important to have a taut canopy but not that the snaps would come undone at the slightest pressure. With all the snaps in place the roof tarp ended slightly higher up the outer rail on the second side but parallel and the canopy had good tension. The real test would be during the winter when the storms start blowing in off the ocean, then I would find out if it would hold securely.

With a few minor elements to put in place, trapeze swing, disc swing and rope ladder this major construction project will come to a close and all that will be required is the annual maintenance of checking the bolts and an occasional coat of redwood stain, an amazing job when I look back at the photographs of the original pile of timber.

I had decided to split the vertical rock wall so that it had a high section and a lower section, by doing this it would satisfy both my childrens skill levels and also provide an easy access to the back of the fort platform. The plans had provided both a vertical wall and a sloped climbing wall but as our space was just with six feet of clearance from the vertical wall, an angled alterative was out of the question.

The first place that I decided to board in was the still partially open face of the rear platform wall. I would fill in the gaps between the cross member and the vertical post that supports the slats for the opening of the lower climbing wall. I started off by fixing two boards to the vertical supports with two and a half inch drywall screws flush with the decking. This would leave me with a small custom width section that I would split on my table saw to bring the wall up to the first cross member.

Next I placed a full board on top of the first cross member, again fixing with drywall screws. The second full board had to be placed at the top of the structure rather than on top of the former board because I would have a custom width piece to fill the resulting gap. This custom width piece could not be placed at the top as I had a brace in place to eliminate any lateral flex and the width of the custom piece did not support being trimmed around the brace. If I placed the full board against the upper cross member I could custom cut around the brace and still ensure integrity of the board. The small gap then being filled with a custom piece.

With the upper part of the climbing wall complete it also filled in the one remaining opening to the Jungle Fort deck. Any openings now were purposeful, supporting the slide, climbing wall, monkey bars and ramp.

The opening for the small climbing wall stood at just over fourteen inches, sufficient room for both children to pull themselves onto the decking but also safe enough where they would not accidently fall out if they were to step backwards.

With the upper section of the rock wall complete I could fill in the lower section with full width boards. The first board would have to be a custom fit around the corner seats that had been left in place. Even though I had opted for the picnic bench, making these seats obsolete, they still provide a solution for keeping the framework rigid at the base level and cover the protruding heads of the anchoring system.

The bottom board was placed over the corner seat positions aligning with the outside of the Jungle Fort, clamping the board firmly I could mark each seat position by scribing with a pencil along the seat and tranferring the shape to the board. Simply square the lines down with a combination square and scribe the thickness of the board with a marking gauge giving the overall outline of the material to be removed. I then opted to cut the angled line with a hand saw then knock out the material with a large chisel and mallet. This was a rather crude method but it was quick and easy to remove the waste without elaborate table saw set-ups even though it wasn’t the cleanest solution. The raw face then being recoated with preserve to ensure that any wood eating insects would not get a free lunch.

The remainder of the boards were clamped into position and drywall screwed down using my three drill gun setup. I was able to use several four inch width pieces rather than all six inch boards and this helped to fill the remaining gap exactly with only a small amount of hand planing needed to ease them into place.

With the rock wall now totally boarded in I also noticed that it also provided a welcome shade spot from the afternoon sun during the summer so not only did it provide a wind break but also a sun shade!

The next step was to fathom out the spacings for the actual rocks themselves and this I would need the help of my son. I would have to hold him while he would show me where he would need the rocks installed.

I had purchased two sets of the rocks, one set green and one set red with each set consisting of ten rocks of various shapes and thicknesses. The thin rocks would be used as the stepping stones with the thicker ones being used as they progressively went higher on the climbing wall, this would give better grip and safety as the children climbed higher. I had spaced out the first rocks so that it was a stretch then the intension was to fill in the spaces with any remaining rocks to give alternative ways to climb.

When I was placing the order for all the hardware, the climbing rocks came in two formats. There was the cast resin type that we eventually purchased which had a pumice stone finish and more resembled a true rock and gave a natural grip and a plastic type rock.

I decided on the resin rock with the pumice stone finish because I felt that the plastic type would always tend to be slippery, I didn’t want the children climbing with wet shoes and slidding off creating a potentially dangerous situation. I haven’t seen the plastic type rocks so I can’t really say for sure but I’m just going on my own gut feeling, most plastics that I have dealt with always have a self lubricating property as such even if there are ridges placed in the overall design. Also if the plastic gets scarred during the course of play there can be some nasty burrs left behind that could cut anyone brushing against it so I would rather be over cautious and have a clear conscience. The one thing that would have been better for the plastic rock is that they were oversize making it easier for smaller children to grasp and climb.

Eventually when the hardware arrived I was convinced I had made the right choice, the rocks had a texture exactly like a pumice stone what they call in the catalog, composite/sand rock holds, that would provide plenty of grip and as my son enjoys climbing bare foot it should work out very well. The rocks all had provision for two fixings, a large 3/8 inch by 1 1/2 inch lag bolt and a smaller 1 1/2 inch washer head slotted sheet metal screw that could be driven in with a nut drive, screw driver or socket set.

Setting the composite rocks entailed loading the drill guns with the correct pilot hole drill for each of the lag bolts. I had to try not to drill completely through the board, although on several occasions I had no such luck.

It wasn’t a problem but I didn’t want it to look like I had large woodworm on the backside of the climbing wall. The first fix was to secure the rock with the smallest lag screw purely because it was the easiest to ratchet in. The ratchet would drive the bolt up to the face of the rock where a large screwdriver would take it the rest of the way until completely submerged below the surface, leaving no chance of metal becoming a potential hazard. Once secured the large lag could be bolted in place and this could be driven all the way with the ratchet. I had manage to use all twenty rock holds and probably could have used a couple of extra but the areas that were critical were all well covered and if I have to I can always purchase extra at a later date.

Watching my son climb the initial wall was a little scary for me but he was very competent in his approach but at that point I had decided to add an extra climbing rope incase of any mishap. This would at least offer some chance to correct any slip and possibly avoid any bad falls.

I had purchased additional 3/4 inch nylon rope from Home Depot and decided to fix it centrally to the rock wall so that it could be used for both the low and high wall. The first hole for the rope was placed at about two feet from the base but so that it was below the top of the picnic table. I didn’t want to be tying the knot above the table face and have an eyesore. The second hole for the rope was placed on the central vertical for the roof at six inches above the horizontal crossmember. Each hole was drill with a 3/4 inch spade bit, making it easy to insert the rope, then the edges of the hole were sanded to reduce the amount of fraying from possible rubbing. When the rope is in use it will have to be regularly inspected to ensure that there is no wear that could lead to possible failure at a later date.

The rope was placed through the bottom hole and a double knot tied as there would be a certain amount of stretch when everything was pulled tight. From then on up until the top hole, knots were tied every twelve inches to provide a good grip. Once the rope was threaded through the top hole a knot was put in place as close to the hole as possible then a second knot added. I then made sure to pull the rope as tight as I could and work the double knot as close to the hole as possible, this provided a very taut line and even when my son was climbing the rope it did not flex more than a couple of inches. This may stretch a little more as it gets used and additional weight is placed on it but by shifting the knot it can be made snug again.

The completed structure is now in operation and only a few finishing touches need to be made, a few handles, the roof tarp fixed firmly and a little touch up with the redwood stain. I might add the rope ladder and disc swing but for now all is good and my family is having a blast!

I had already cut to size the pressure treated lumber rather than using the WPL (wood polymer lumber) so as to keep the look consistent. This would be used for the seats and the table top. The first phase of the installation would be to secure the supports for the seats and the table top to the uprights of the Jungle Fort. These supports would be secured by 5 inch by 3/8 inch galvanized lag bolts. I had decided to counterbore the position of these bolts so that the head would not be protruding from the material after tightening, even though it would only be by a small amount. The instuctions only called for the lag bolts to be fastened into position. I later found out why, with the counterbore the lag bolt would be tightened and it would burst through the other side of the upright. this would entail cutting off the offending point with a hacksaw and then filing flush with the timber. This was an unfortunate oversight by myself but the end result left no sharp edges, it was additional work but I was pleased with the result.

As you can see from the image the uprights show signs of scarring after the tips of the lag bolts had been cut off and filed flush. I wasn’t concerned as the one side would eventually be filled in by the rock wall but the otherside would have to be restained. Positioning of the supports was easy enough as I had the base surround to measure up from, there was little in way of variance from being horizontal so I didn’t have to adjust the positions by much but I still checked with a spirit level, just to make sure.

The bench seats consisted of two lengths of 6 inch by 2 inch by 64 1/2 inch pine that would be held together by three bottom supports. The supports were made up of 2 inch by 4 inch lengths with 45° chamfers on each end to eliminate the sharp edges to a certain degree. As you all well know, with children they are always crawling under the table and chairs so with this extra cut it will help to minimize the amount of bangs to the head from potentially sharp corners.

To align the supports for the bench seats, lines were scribed 5 1/8 inches from each end together with a centerline. This allowed for the supports at each end to be positioned up to the line and fixed to the seat tops by 2 1/2 inch drywall screws. For this I had set up my three drill gun rig with screw bit, drill and countersink. If I had been using the WPL material I would probably have burst through with the screw because of the thinner material but using the pine I could continue with confidence.

I made sure to align each end support directly on the scribed line as this overall dimension would in fact be the distance between the supports on the Jungle Fort, this would give a snug fit once placed into position. The last support to fix on was the center piece, each support would have a total of six drywall screws with three screws per board staggered along its length.

With the bench seats done and placed in position I would have to wait until I started to fit the rock wall to see if the one end would have to be trimmed. The bench seat would be a snug fit directly against the rock wall but if I have a slight twist in the frame I may have to remove a little of the material on the bench seat so that the rock wall doesn’t bulge out where they meet.

As you can see from the image the bench seat goes completely out to the edge of the main uprights.

In a similar fashion I would approached the table top. The six lengths of pine were placed face down on my driveway, this being the flattest available surface. I made sure to start the ends level with each other and square to the outer board checking with my framing square. The same dimension applied to the table top, a 5 1/8 inch scribe line from each end of the board. This would provide a snug fitment to the cross supports on the Jungle Fort.

When securing the the three supports to the underside of the table top I would have to start with one of the end supports first. I wanted to make sure that the boards remained as tight a fit as possible. This entailed driving one drywall screw per board, just to secure them into position.

Next I would place the other end support into position and repeat the sequence. With the boards snug together I could continue to secure each board with additional drywall screws, the last support was placed centrally and also screwed into position. The overall table top was extremely sturdy and heavy at the same time.

The one thing that you cannot adjust for is the twist in the boards. Even though the boards are secured with drywall screws they will not pull the board straight, the screw will just keep winding into the wood. This is the trade off between using pine boards and WPL, WPL will be very stable but more care has to be taken when securing to the supports where as wood boards are less stable but easier to secure.

Placing the table top on again resulted in a nice snug fit and the beauty of this is I will not have to drywall screw the table top or the bench seats down. By leaving them loose will enable me to remove them when it is time to trim the grass beneath but I am sure the grass will eventually die due to lack of water and sunlight.

The first thing that we did was to try out the bench seats and table and it was surprising how comfortable it was but then again how much comfort can you get out of a bench seat!

The end of the table that meets the rock wall will have to be assessed once the rock wall is under construction. The fact that the total length of the table top equates to the depth of the Jungle Fort will probably mean that I will have to trim the end with the jigsaw to make everything fit tight. Even a slight twist in the frame work will pull the table top into the path of the rock wall.

Just to satisfy my curiosity I offered up one of the boards that would make up the rock wall and I found that there was an interference of 1/4 inch tapering to zero. It would appear that I would have to trim the table end to prevent the rock wall from bowing out at that point, not a big deal and an easy fix.

The last item to finish off the pinic table was to install the cover. We had opted for a yellow and blue striped tarp and the installation consisted of screwing the snaps underneath the table top.

With one half of the snap already pre-installed on the cover itself I centralized the cover on the table top and folded the ends under, pushing each snap to the underneath of the table top and indenting the snap position. The second half of the snap then being screwed into each position, by completing one side first I was able to stretch the tarp to give a reasonably tight fit.

The amount of wrap under with the cover did interfere with the supports that held the table top together. I found that the positioning of the snaps would end up with some on the bottom of the table and some on the supports. This was not a problem but resulted with the cover being a little loose in a couple of areas where it would wrap around the support. I thought maybe I had installed the cover the wrong way around but after rechecking the length and width it was the only way it could be installed.

Now that the picnic table had been completed I could focus on the last major construction piece, but first my helpers need a Popsicle break!

The length of the Monkey Bars from the Jungle Fort is eight feet with a height of just over seven feet. This gives a good workout for my son who just loves the Monkey Bars, even though as a three year old he had an accident that resulted in eight staple stitches being used to close up a gash in his head. This accident was the result of him trying to do the Monkey Bars at his pre-school group, he would persist in trying to get across to the other side and slipped, hitting his head on the step. Fortunately my wife was at hand to take him to the closest emergency medical center. This mishap had not phased him at all, in fact he’s more determined than ever, the very next week he was back on the bars.

The extent of the Monkey Bars kit was the tenoned dowel rods, carriage bolts, lag bolts and washers. The tenoned dowel rods would slot into the morticed holes that had been created with a spade bit in the lumber that had already been precut. I had marked all the holes in the positions as per the plans and setup the drill press with the 7/8 inch spade bit. To make the task easier I set the depth gauge on the drill press so that all the holes would be drilled at the same depth. I added a little additional clearance so as the dowels would not bed out before the shoulder hit the main body of the beam, this would ensure that the widths would be constant along the whole length. The same system was applied to the uprights that would hold the dowels for climbing up to the overhead bars.

To secure the upright beams to the overhead beams 5/8 inch holes plus counterbores were also drilled in place ready for the assembly. I had used the pre-pregnated lumber for this construction so I didn’t have to coat with the green preserve before coating with the redwood stain, this saved a day in time so I was able to start assembly on the Sunday.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day in Southern California so I made sure to setup as soon as I could to get the most benefit from the day. I had set my goals on completing the Monkey Bars this weekend and so far I had made a good dent in the task of getting there. The redwood stain had completely dried over night so I started off by inserting the dowel rods that would make up the ladder frame for the overhead portion of the Monkey Bars. The counterbores had been made deep enough so that the shoulders would hit firm on the main rails which always makes life easier. I didn’t want to have to redrill for the sake of a couple of millimeters so it was wise to go a little bit deeper.

The 7/8 inch counterbores were really tight for the dowel rods so the use of a mallet with a scrape piece of wood on top helped to drive the rung home. Everyone of the rungs where fixed into position this way and placed as close to square as possible, the task of aligning the top rail into position with these six rungs in place and having to position all six required more than a couple of hands. I also found that with the second rail on top of the dowels it would require something more substantial than a mallet to drive the dowels into position. With this I had to enlist the help of my son. His job was to help position all the dowel rods so that they could be tapped in with a ten pound hammer. Once they were started, systematic tapping along the length of the beam over the dowel rods drove them to their full depth. With this ladder frame now assembled I could secure each dowel with a deck screw to prevent any turning of the dowel while in use. For this I used my steady three drill combo, this is a real time saver and also saves my sanity from the constant drill, countersink and screw bit attachment changes that I had before.

With the top section of the Monkey Bars complete I set it aside making sure the direction was correct for installing to the Jungle Fort. The rungs were not completely symetrical from each end so it was important to have the first rung closest to the Jungle Fort at the fifteen inch spacing. The first rung by the ladder section of the Monkey Bars was set at eleven inches from the end.

The ladder section of the Monkey Bars consisted of four dowels of 23 inches in length. When assembled the upper section would sit inside the uprights and carriage bolt through. I used the same method of construction by fixing the four dowels in one side first then tapping the second into place then securing the dowels with deck screws. This section would have an additional base plate to sit on which was simply attached by deck screws.

With the basis of the ladder assembled, the first set of bolts would be to loosely attach the ladder section to the overhead section. I had to make sure to tighten the bolts enough so that the assembly would not rotate on itself, I had to hoist the stucture up and secure it to the Jungle Fort, I didn’t want the framework to fold in on itself as I lifted. The frame work was positioned close enough to the Jungle Fort in an “A” position, the object was to lift the end that would attach to the Jungle Fort so that it would be possible to slide at least one of the 1/2 inch by 7 inch carriage bolts into the upright of the Jungle Fort.

With the first carriage bolt pushed into position from the outside of the upright on the Jungle Fort I could then add the washer, spring washer and nut to the bolt eliminating any possibility of the structure collapsing onto my head. The second carriage bolt proved to be a little more difficult, this had to be inserted from the inside against the fence that was the safety barrier for the decking. The bolt hole position happens to be partially blocked by the vertical slats and with the size of the carriage bolt head it would start to bind up with the last slat before fully being pushed in. This left no alternative but to hammer the bolt into place marring up the surface of the slat on its way in. I was a little disappointed but I couldn’t see any other way to resolve the issue. I would have to remove the slats to insert the bolt then replace the slats, that would be the only alternative.

Now with it loosely secured, the framework was adjusted to a horizontal position checking with a spirit level both length wise and across the top of the frame. I found that the ground was slooping away towards the drainage hole which meant an additional piece of preserved timber would be placed underneath the base plate of the ladder section on that one end. The ladder section then being checked for vertical, again with a spirit level.

Once I was happy with the alignment, the bolts were tightened to prevent any movement. This left me with installing the brace work to the upper section between the cross ladder and the vertical ladder.

To double check the horizontal and vertical alignment I further checked with a large framing square, this would allow me then to adjust the angles on the brace pieces that would be lag bolted to the two sections. Fixing the brace required one lag bolt each end with no specific position for each. I just made sure to allow enough material around each lag bolt to avoid any split out of the material.

Once the lag bolts had been tightened the structure became very rigid. The final structural pieces to put in place were the two side braces securing the ladder section.

These side braces would eliminate any sideward sway, again I would check the structure with my framing square. The base plate that had been placed at the bottom of the ladder section had a slight curl that could be corrected with downward pressure. I decided to place the brace in position, pushing down so that the pre-cut angles would fit the base and the vertical face of the ladder section. While holding this in position I was able to toenail a deck screw top and bottom to hold the brace into place. The lag bolt positions for the brace were best to drill in situ, simply because I could direct the drill so that it gave the best bolting solution.

I first counterbored each position to the depth of the lag bolt head so that there would be zero sharp edges protruding, next was a simple drilling with a 1/4 inch spade bit in each position to provide the pilot hole for the 5 inch by 3/8 inch lag bolts.

Once the lag bolts had been ratcheted to the full depth, the Monkey Bars became totally rigid with no play in any direction. A simple end cap was placed on the ends of the upper rails at the ladder end just to tie the two sections together, I’m sure it’s a safety precaution just incase the screws holding the rungs in on the top should fail or it’s just an aesthetic piece. Either way this piece was held on with 2 1/2 inch by 3/8 inch lag bolts, a substantial fixing for a piece of eye candy so I think it’s for part of the structural integrity of the frame.

To complete the set up for the Monkey Bars a couple of grab handles were installed to help in entering the Jungle Fort.

With this section of the construction complete the next stage is to install the picnic table before the rock wall which are the last two major sections to our swing set. Little did I know on how long this project would take but looking at it now it has certainly been fun and something I would do again. Right now I better get geared up to install the picnic table!

I didn’t think too much about the difference in the price of the two slides some $100.00 because the time lapse has been so long but I still would check my emails daily just incase. To my surprise I find this reply in my inbox today September 21st 2007.

Steve,
We’ve credited your card acct in amt of $100.00 please accept our apology for the
discrepancy thank you for your understanding and for your business.”

Now that’s what I call service, not only is the quality of the parts first rate but there was never any questioning about the time lapse just a straight payment of the difference. If I had been more attentive in the first place I would have caught it sooner but even so the issue was resolved in less than three whole days.

So there you have it, another satisfied customer who will no doubt give a double thumbs up when speaking to friends and relatives about the swingset and the good customer service from Detail Play Systems.

The ramp material had already been precut, sanded, coated with green preserve and then coated with redwood stain. The first test for me was to collect all the labeled parts for the ramp from the remaining pile of lumber. There had been a vast change in the size of the pile because a good deal of the material had already been assembled but there was still enough left to make it awkward. The two main rails were laid out on the lawn as this was the only place that was free enough to maneuver the length, together with the slats that would line the inside of rails and act as a support for the boards that would be the gangplank.

I had to mark out the position of the three ties that would hold the rails together before attaching any of the support slats, these positions were 18 inches from the top and bottom and an additional 60 inches from the bottom. From each of these central marks an additional dimension of 1 3/4 inches was marked either side of that centerline, giving three positions for the deck screws to attach the ties to the outer rails. For the center point I set my combination square to 1 1/4 inches so I could run it along the bottom edge of the rail and mark the intersect point for the screw positions.This would mark the central position for the ties, each tie would be held in place by three 2 1/2 inch deck screws per side.

To hide the ties and support slats, they had to be lifted 1/2 an inch from the bottom of the rails and seeing that I had no available flat surface I again set the combination square to 1/2 an inch and marked this line along the total length of the rail on the inside surface. This allows for visual positioning rather than spacing with 1/2 inch plywood to gain the correct position. Now before I attached the ties to the rails the support slats had to be fitted first and this can only be done with the rails apart so that I have easy access with the screw gun. With all the slats drill and countersunk I could position the various lengths between the tie positions and fix in with the 2 1/2 inch deck screws. With all the slats positioned and fitted the ties could then be screwed to the rails tying the two rails together giving a ladder frame ready to accept the flooring.

I think that if I were to do something different I would have marked the top dimension of the slats rather than the clearance from the bottom. The 1/2 inch from the bottom of the rail lines up the bottom so they are all straight but what if the thicknesses of the cross ties and slats are different. The flooring will be uneven when fitted especially if the joint hits midway on a tie and the support slat. If the dimension had been marked for the top of the slat and cross tie, thicknesses would not matter, the flooring would still remain flat and the difference would be in an area that did not matter.

At this stage I had to fit the ramp frame to the Jungle Fort but before doing that I had to place the fill in piece on the front edge of the Jungle Fort because of an earlier mistake. That was an easy enough task and once fitted I could place the ramp frame in the opening and centralize it. The angles that had been cut to notch over the edge of the Jungle Fort fitted pretty well but could have been a little tighter and I decided to mark the wood directly from the Jungle Fort. With the ramp placed in position I just ran a pencil off the cross member of the fort marking the area that was touching, bringing the notch parallel to the board, once removed with a jigsaw the ramp fitted snug and a quick coat of preserve on the bare wood made it weather and bug proof again.

The opening for the ramp to fit into was 22 1/4 inches and the overall width of the ramp was 22 inches so it didn’t leave much room for maneuvering and with it being this snug of a fit I just visually centered it to the opening. With it positioned I then marked around the rails where they would fit to the cross member and decking giving me a good indication on where the lag bolts should be used to hold the ramp in place.

Taking the ramp frame away I then drilled two pilot holes of 1/8 inch through the cross member for the position of the lag bolts. I had decided that I would counterbore the cross member where the lag bolts would fit even though the plans did not indicate that you should do so. My thoughts were that I wanted all heads of hardware beneath the surface to eliminate any chance of cuts from bolt heads and such. The 1/8 inch pilot hole was not big enough to throw the spade bit off track so once the surface was counterbored I could place the ramp back into position and drill through with the 1/4 inch spade bit to provide the pilot hole for the lag bolts.

The one thing that I did notice during this procedure was the close proximity of the corner upright, this was a very tight situation for drilling and when tightening the lag bolt it left little room to get good purchase. The second lag bolt was none the easier being firmly planted close to the floor joist. Once they were tightened the ramp was held firmly ready for me to start installing the floorboards.

The installation for the floor should start at the very top and I had decided that the material wood be pine rather than the Wood Polymer Lumber which meant that the thickness was greater than the WPL. With the placement of the first board close to the cross member of the Jungle Fort, the edge of the board was sticking up beyond the level of the decking. The first thing that had to be done was to mark the line level with the upper decking and plane the offending material off.

I decided that I might as well make the edge totally flush with the side cross member as well so I had to plane that edge square to the cross member face. After each fitting and numerous adjustments with the wood plane the first board eventually fit snug and could be attached to the side slats or joists of the ramp rails with 2 1/2 inch deck screws. Once again I had the three drill gun setup to speed the process, I remember when I first started to assembly the Jungle Fort and the time involved in changing out each bit for the task at hand. The additional purchase of the extra drills has certainly paid for themselves in time saved.

With the most important ramp board in place the following boards quickly followed suit, they were a snug fit so just to make sure they were fully in position a few gentle taps with a mallet confirmed they were there.

Like I said earlier I wish I had lined up the slats on an upper marked position, I was finding a mismatch in the boards when straddling the cross ties so I had to make sure that the first screw to hold the board down was on the side slats before fixing to the cross tie. This prevented the board from pulling fully down onto the cross tie, keeping the board flush with the next.

Fitting the twenty ramp boards flowed over to the Sunday which was a much better day weather wise, Saturday had been overcast all day making for less than desirable photographs but I still had a record of the progress. With all the boards fitted there had to be three top boards spaced along the length of the ramp. These boards are to give an extra foothold if a child should start to slide down from the steep incline, even though there will be a rope to hold onto when climbing the ramp.

The next stage was to install the hand rail for the last third of the ramp, at this height it would be three to five feet from the floor, more than enough to cause an injury if a child should fall. These 2 inch by 4 inch rails had already had the angles cut and now placing them into position enabled me to fine tune them before screwing down permanently. As in the previous section where I fitted the ramp to the decking I used the same method and penciled off of the boards where the rail would fit so as to get an exact match. It may have only been a 1/16th of an inch but having a snug fit will keep the hand rail rigid. After fitting, a recoat of preservative then screwed down with 2 1/2 inch deck screws. I used two screws from the topside on each end then one screw toenailed from the outside of the rail. It wasn’t recommended to “toenail” from the inside, I guess this would have no structual purpose if a child should fall against the rail.

With the hand rail installed the vertical slats were the next inline to be fitted. These slats varied in length to suit the drop of the hand rail. I had made these from 2 inch by 2 inch batten material from Home Depot rather than strip off the lengths from one of the boards. These slats had to be hand finished as they were rough cut, although this was an easy enough job I had no power planer, I had to resort to my hand plane but the trade off was I did get to get a workout while smoothing the timber.

I made sure there were plenty of rounded corners as these would be used as the grips to assist in climbing the ramp. While installing the vertical slats I noticed that the lengths could have been a little longer, I had chamfered the ends as the instructions suggested and when I was fitting them there was very little room to screw through the meat of the timber before encroaching on the chamfer itself. I had made sure there was no more than the recommended 3 1/4 inch space before the next slat which left little room for maneuver, I felt that the length could have been an extra 2 inches for optimal performance. I was thinking that maybe the slats were not vertical but I had checked this with my spirit level but maybe along the way something had gone adrift but I’m yet to find out where.

With the ramp safely installed I could fill the remaining gap with a ten foot slide. We had decided earlier to purchase a combo slide, this had a double feature of a wave plus a scoop but on arrival it would appear that it was the wave slide. I’ve only come to notice this since the installation but thinking back I did intend to check it against the image on the website but as things go I got side tracked and forgot about it. It is only now while writing this that I’ve remembered. It’s not that I’m disappointed with the slide but the cost of the combo was an additional $100.00 so needless to say I have emailed the company to find out the best solution. I wouldn’t be surprised if they said it was too late but I do still have the original order online with images to support my claim.

The surprising thing now that I remember is the box never mentioned what type of slide was enclosed and that was why I was going to check against the website. Anyway, placing the slide into position was easy enough, the gap for the slide each side was about 1 1/2 inches. Once I had pulled the slide back enough to seat it level I fixed it down with 1 1/4 inch galvanized deck screws. These recessed nicely into the countersunk plastic giving a flush condition that would not snag skin or clothing. That was the easiest part of the whole build so far and the most pleasing to the children as they tried out the ramp and slide.

The task for the weekend was to progress the safety of the decking by erecting the walls. Even though there would be numerous openings for the Monkey Bars, Rock Wall, Slide and Ramp, the remaining openings would have to be filled. The most difficult aspect was to reconfigure the upright supports that would provide support for the cross members. The back wall would be split between a high and a low Rock Wall, I would have to start there with a cross member first. The cross member would span across the back face with a gap of 14 inches between the decking and the bottom of the rail allowing enough room to crawl in from the lower Rock Wall with a hand grip providing additional safety. This part had already been cut, predrilled and coated with redwood stain making it an easy installation. I had also cut enough upright rails that would span the whole back face but as I had decided to do a split level Rock Wall I would also need to install a fixed upright at the center point of the decking to support the boards that would make up the higher Rock Wall.

My first task was to mark the midway point on the decking and from that centerline, mark either side for the width of board I would use. As I was using a 2 inch by 4 inch board the slot would end up 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches due to the finished nature of the wood. The overall length would be enough so that it would pass through the decking and fix to the inside face of the cross member that supports the joist bracing. This upright support would have a chamfer on the bottom face and the upper edge would be square so as to match in with the roof supports.

With the position marked out for the additional upright a 3/8 inch hole drilled in each corner helped to prevent binding on the jigsaw while removing the waste material. This was an easy task as the one face was open because of a previous mishap while installing the decking. With the additional cutout I could now slide the board through this hole and position it square to the decking while keeping it below the roof support position. Once I was happy with the setup I could clamp tight and use my three drill gun setup to fix the upright in place. Now that this additional step had been done I only needed to install half the allocated pieces for the wall fence as the higher Rock Wall would blank in the rest. The fact that the cross member was lifted to allow for an entrance for the lower Rock Wall would provide a small safety barrier until the higher Rock Wall was installed.

To complete this one task took some time even though it was an easy fix, the trouble was deciding on the overall layout that we would use for the Rock Wall. Both our children like to climb but having just a low Rock Wall would have been too small for our eldest son but the large Rock Wall would have been too much for our youngest daughter even though I’m sure she would have made it to the top. With having the two variants it satisfies both until they both can climb the larger Rock Wall. With that issue now under my belt I could move forward and deal with the wall on the Monkey Bar side.

On the left side of the Jungle Fort I had decided to place the Monkey Bars which was a 180 degree change from the original plans. During the “cut to size” weekend I had left out all cut outs for extra activities until I reached that part of the configuration so that I would have less holes to fill-in in the event that I should make any mistakes.

Knowing that, I had to now remove from the decking a section that would allow one of the main upright supports for the Monkey Bars to pass through plus a support for the fencing that encloses the rest of the side. The Monkey Bar support was made up of a large 4 inch by 4 inch timber and the off-set from the corner post was 21 inches. Once the position was marked out on the decking I could drill each corner so that the jigsaw would easily maneuver and remove the unwanted material. With the slot now in the floor I had to mark out the bolting positions on each of the cross members of the Jungle Fort and drill the clearance hole through.

The next task before I bolted in the Monkey Bar support was to provide a support for the rest of the safety wall that would fill in the remaining distance to the Ramp entrance. I had enough room for four slats and the main upright support and to try and keep it similar to the opposite side I went with a 3 inch spacing. This ended up leaving a 1 1/4 inch gap between the Monkey Bar support and the main support for the safety wall, likewise a 1 1/4 inch gap between the main support and the first slat. With that all worked out I cut in the additional slot for the wall upright. I fixed in the wall support first using three deck screws then continued on and fixed the Monkey Bars support with 5 inch by 1/2 inch carriage bolts.

With both the structural parts in place I could reduce the original cross member that had been cut for that side to suit the new configuration and redrill to accommodate the carriage bolts. Additional clearance holes had to be marked onto the corner Jungle Fort upright and the main wall support. I used the same clearance to the decking as used on the swing side to give a common look. Now that I had redrilled and counterbored those parts in the appropriate places I could place the lower rail in position and bolt down secure.

The remaining four slats to fill in the open wall were positioned individually, making sure to line up the bottom edge of the slat with the cross member first then checking for square with the framing square before clamping into position. Once set, the three drill combo completed the fitting. The same procedure completed the fill in of the Monkey Bar side leaving just the front of the Jungle Fort to fill, between the slide and the ramp.

For our configuration we decided to have the slide and the ramp on the front of the Jungle Fort. The plans made recommendations for safety reasons that you should have a minimum of 21 inches between a configuration such as this. When I actually marked out for the additional uprights I ended up with a clearance of 19 1/2 inches between the slide and the ramp. I felt that it would be sufficient even though it was 1 1/2 inches shy of the recommended number. I didn’t have much option for a redesign and if I had fully understood at the onset of the build I may have increased the front overall width be 3 inches to guarantee the clearance but now I’m here I don’t think it will be a problem.

On the opposite side to the ramp, a dimension of 22 1/4 inches was marked from the inside of the upright onto the decking. This is the minimum dimension needed for placing the slide into position. This upright would be a 2 inch by 4 inch prepared timber meaning I had to cut out a slot 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches to fit it in. The left over dimension between the two uprights was 10 1/2 inches and by allowing a gap of 3 1/4 inches per side the central upright would have to be a custom piece of 4 inches, fortunately I had plenty of six inch boards that could be cut down to accommodate the new dimension. Once again cutting in these extra slots was easier due to the earlier mishap leaving an open face to start the cut from but I will have to place in the filler piece before placing the ramp or slide into position.

While cutting in these additional slots I noticed that they would fall in line with the joist hangers underneath so I had to make sure to allow enough play for the board to push past but even so I still had to provide a groove in the surface where the joist nails protruded. I didn’t want to have a large gap in the upper decking so it was easy enough to carve the slots with my wood gouge. The center upright has a slightly different problem, this would straddle one of the joist members which meant the upright had to be slotted to slip over the joist. With the center upright the top was left square so as to match up with the roof construction, for the others, 45 degree chamfers helped to reduce the sharp edges.

With all the decking enclosed in the areas needed, apart from where the Rock Wall sits which will be enclosed by the wall itself, I could concentrate with assembling the frame for the roof. For this there were only seven pieces to the puzzle, two parts that would span the front and rear part of the Jungle Fort, being fixed to the main corner uprights with 2 1/2 inch deck screws. A further two parts that would be screwed to the ends of these front and rear pieces creating a rectangle that sits on top of the front and rear top boards of the Jungle Fort. This is the outer frame work that will fix the roof tarp in place.

The apex of the roof frame is made from three pieces, using galvanized metal corner brackets to hold the parts together. These were easily fixed in with galvanize joist hanger nails. It was important to make sure the counterbored holes that would accept the bolts were on the inside before fixing on the plates, I had a close shave with one being reversed, luckily I caught it before nailing the plate fully in. The one thing with this method is it becomes a very wobbily fixture until it’s secured in place. Trying to man handle the part into position proved to be quite a task, I found that once on top of the central support I could lift it until I could push the bolt through the hole and clamp into position. I did exactly the same for both front and rear until the bottom edge lined up with the pre marked height, once there I could check for square with the framing square before securing completely with the 3 inch by 3/8 inch carriage bolts, washer and lock washers.

I decided to install the actual roof canvas at a later stage, right now I had to think about constructing the ramp and installing the slide. Once I have these items install then I would add the Monkey Bars then install the roof canvas. I didn’t want to hinder my progress by having to duck everytime I was standing on the deck. The progress is slow but its getting there and with a bit of luck the following weekend will see the ramp and slide in place.

Each brace was individually marked for position, while the lag bolts, clearance hole and counterbore were drilled on the drill press. The only exception was counterboring the hole that is placed on the edge face of the brace. This will be done in-situ once the lag bolts have secured the brace to the cross member first.

To keep a common look to the fort I made sure to line the bottom edge of the brace to correspond with the height of the bottom edge of the outer brace, then I proceeded to pilot drill and bolt the brace to the cross member with 2 1/2 inch x 3/8 inch lag bolts. Once I had the brace secured to the cross member I found that the twist in the timber would either make the opposite end bend into the fort or bend out beyond the upright. I wanted the brace to remain flush to the 4 inch by 4 inch upright.

To correct this I either pulled the brace flush with a clamp and secured with a decking screw before locking it down tight with the lag bolt. If the brace was sprung inboard I would use a G-clamp placed on the outside of the upright and use this as a means to pull the brace into position with a second clamp, then again securing with a deck screw. Once in the correct position I could counterbore the hole to accept the lag bolt and ratchet down until tight, making sure that the head was sunk beneath surface.

I was now fully satisfied that the bracing would eliminate any twist associated with the swings being in full flight so I had to anchor the legs of the “A Frame” in the same manner as the Jungle Fort with the screw in type anchors with straps and lag bolts.

The fun part now is to install the swing hardware, providing all my dimensions are correct it shouldn’t prove to be much of a problem. I was going to have a three swing location so I started off by measuring the 15 inches from the Jungle Fort cross member to give the center of the first swing anchor. From there it was 16 inches between centers with a 12 inch spacing to the next set of swing anchors. When all is done there should be a 12 inch clearance space from the inboard “A Frame” leg, OK I ended up with 12 1/4 inches, good enough I would say. If I was going with the regular swing hangers it would have been a simple case of drilling through on the swing hanger centers, threading the hanger through, add washer and secure with the nut. In my case I had upgraded to the ductile iron hangers which meant I would have to measure 1 3/4 inches either side of the center of swing hanger to drill for the lag bolt location. Each hanger would then be secured by two 5 x 3/8 inch lag bolts.

When driving in the lag bolts with the socket set I found it easier if grease was applied to the thread, I also used a quick release clamp to hold the swing hanger in position so that I wasn’t fighting gravity while driving in the lag bolt. Each bolt had a washer and the washer size was large enough that if it dropped down to the head of the lag bolt that it proved difficult to get it back beyond the hinge bolt of the swing hanger. In this case it is important to keep the washer up against the bolting face of the swing hanger until the lag bolt is tightened far enough so the washer doesn’t get hung up. I found a little of the heavy duty grease will keep it in position until the lag bolt fixed it down firmly.

This process has to be conducted six times for the three swings that I have but I haven’t included the trapeze swing that will fit to the outside of the swing beam yet. My main aim is to have the first three swings functional first.

With the swings that we purchased I was very happy with the quality of the quick release clasps, chain and seats. The clasps were large 3 inches in length and I’m sure rated to 250 pounds each so I had no worries about them failing during the course of use. The chain was also heavy duty with a coating of plastic in the main grip area. The color corresponded to the seat color so it was easy to recognize each swing especially as each child had their own personal color.

The upper section of the chain was loose so that you could adjust the chain length from the swing hanger, this allows for adjustment as my children grow. Our previous set had coating all the way to the top of the chain which left no room for adjustment unless you peeled the coating off to reveal the links. For the three swings that I have I’ve adjusted the chain length to suit each child on their own personal swing and made the third midway, that way both could use the third be it a little on the tall side for our smallest and a little on the short side for our largest. It’s a compromise but it seemed to work out.

With each of the chain lengths adjusted I could place each seat now onto the hangers and to say the children were excited would be an under statement. I had to remove them a couple of times just to readjust the lengths but this was a simple task. I was very interested to see if there would be any movement in the Jungle Fort or the “A Frame” once the swings were in motion especially after the experiencing the last swing set. I must say much to my delight that the frame work stayed firm with zero movement and the swings were at maximum height.

Now that I’ve reached a stage where my children can now swing I can continue with installing the Jungle Fort walls and move on to the ramp and slide.

Now that I’ve got over that hurdle, I’ve made sure just to apply enough pressure to hold the part in place then use a framing square to check that they were square to the deck before drilling. I had a set up of three corded drills from a triple socket extension cord, this allowed me to arm each drill with the drill bit, countersink and the screw bit. You may be asking if it would be simplier to have cordless drills instead but the cost of the corded drills from Harbor Freight worked out at $13.00 a piece at sale price. Even at full price they’re under $20.00, so even if they just survived this one project, it’s cheaper than buying one cordless drill. There’s no concern about batteries running flat and consistent torque with the corded drill gives good results every time.

You are probably thinking why doesn’t he get some quality tools instead of the cheap stuff but what you have to realize is I have plenty of quality tools but as a one off. In this instance to save time I need multiples such as the drill guns but I must admit the quick release clamps were a mistake.

What I have in the image is a Craftsman drill on the left with two Harbor freight drills on the right, nearly the same in every way. So far I’ve had no problems with them, the variable speed works very well and there’s no slippage from the keyless chuck.

With the wall complete I decided to erect the Swing Set beam purely so the children could play, afterall it’s been several weeks without the old swing set and they are getting REALLY eager to try it out.

With the Swing Set wall in place and all the additional bracing locked in I could mark out for the additional coach/carriage bolts that would have to be put in place on the upper cross member. These bolts I found to be substantially bigger than the ones supplied for the Jungle Fort construction. These additional bolts would no doubt supply the safeguard needed to keep the upper cross member in place when all swings were in action.

During the drilling process on all the parts I was wondering why certain sections would have the bolt holes offset. I could understand the reason for the main uprights because of the cross members coming together but why offset the cross member holes themself. This was the answer I was looking for, they are off set in the event that should you want to add extra features to your Jungle fort at a later date. It was easy to mark out the location and drill through and then counterbore for the washer, lock washer and nut.

The difference in the bolt size meant the counterbore would be upgraded from the 1 1/8 inch used on the Jungle Fort to 1 1/2 inch on the Swing Set, certainly a larger upgrade.

With the cross member strengthened I could mark out for the bolts that would fix the Swing Set supports to the Jungle Fort. In this instance there can be a difference in gap where the main beam slips between the supports. The reason for this being, if a single piece 6 inch x 4 inch lumber is used or two pieces of 6 inch x 2 inch are used, the loss in thickness due to preparation will give different overall thicknesses. The width difference would be 1/2 inch, in my case I was going with a single beam so I used an off cut from the 4 inch x 4 inch lumber that I had, to space the two supports correctly. Not only does it give a snug fit but it also eliminates any extra stress on the bolting areas due to poor fitting.

With the supports attached to the Jungle Fort side I could continue constructing the “A Frame” that would support the main swing beam. This was an easy process because all the preliminary work had been done, it was a simple case of bolting each of the parts together following the installation instructions.

During this part of the process I found that the bolts would appear to be too short so it was important to hammer the carriage bolt head into the beam to get as much thread as possible to attach to, even so I had to add an additional counterbore to the “A Frame.” As you can see from the image there is minimal thread showing beyond the timber line even after everything had been tightened.

The upper support of the “A frame” has to be horizontal to take the main swing beam. I found that I had to tighten the bolts just enough so that I could maneuver the parts to get the correct dimension. The main spread of the legs ended up close to the 9 foot dimension as suggested in the plans with the cross brace adjusted horizontal as well. I had to use my six foot step ladder to prop the “A Frame” up and this barely took the weight but it was enough to check for level. Once I was happy with this part of the Swing Set the next trick was how would I place the twelve foot beam into place.

Looking at the set up I had I decided that placing the “A Frame” closer to the Jungle Fort would allow me to place the beam onto the Jungle Fort first then lift the opposite end up above the “A Frame” and onto the upper cross member of the “A Frame” without the beam coming off the Jungle Fort. This would rely on the step ladder holding the “A Frame” sufficiently while I walked up the ladder a couple of steps just to lift the beam on top. In theory it should work and as I was the only person available I decided to give it a go.

The first thing to remember is it’s not a method I would endorse, two people are always better than one so as you can imagine my safety senses were heightened to the extreme ready to jump aside at the first moment of anything going wrong. I first placed the step ladder closer to the Jungle Fort and positioned it so that the mid cross beam of the “A Frame” leaned against the back of the step ladder leaving the steps clear so I could still walk up. I then placed the two 11 inch carriage bolts into the holes of the supports on the Jungle Fort ready for pushing them into the swing beam. I didn’t want to be trying to find them once I had the beam placed into position and I also had to make sure that I didn’t knock them out with too much vibration.

Lifting the beam onto the Jungle Fort was easy enough, then climbing up the steps with the beam on my shoulder needed a little extra care as I also had to stabilize the “A Frame” as well. Once the beam was placed on top it provided a lot of extra stability which was quite surprising but a big relief. The next stage was to pull the beam across the top of the Jungle Fort and against the “A Frame” until it was very close to the edge of the Jungle Fort side ready to slip between the supports. I decided I wouldn’t move the ladder supporting the “A Frame” as the swing beam had not been secured and braced yet. I had no option but to clamber up the side of the fort on to the fort platform, once there I could ease the swing beam out over the edge very carefully and between the supports. With the swing beam in position I could then push the carriage bolts at least some of the way into the beam and finalize with a large hammer to set them in firm, with washer, spring washer and nut slipped on the end to disperse any fear of it slipping down.

With the one end of the swing beam secured I could focus my attention to the “A Frame” end, here I had to mark the correct position to allow for three internal swing positions before fixing the swing beam to the “A Frame” with corner blocks and lag bolts. The internal dimension from the swing beam supports on the Jungle fort to the inner most leg of the “A Frame” for a three position swing is eight feet. To make things easier I marked on top of the swing beam the dimension and squared it down the face of the beam with my combination square, this would eliminate the need to keep double checking with a tape measure. With this known mark I could inch the “A Frame” back until it lined up with the mark and also check the “A Frame” for vertical with my long spirit level. Once I was satisfied with the “A Frame” being vertical and horizontal in position only then did I double check the internal dimension for enough swing clearance.

The corner blocks for the swing beam had already been pre-drilled on the drill press for the lag bolts so I clamped them into position before drilling the pilot holes into the swing beam. I also at this time counterbored the block so the head would sink below the surface. To ease the binding of the bolts during tightening I gave them a dip into heavy grease, petroleum jelly will do the same job, it just eases the amount of effort needed to wind them into position.

The last pieces to install on the “A Frame” were the extra bracing, these 45 degree brace pieces were installed on each side of the swing beam using three lag bolts per brace. Each one had to be individually drilled so that the holes would miss the bolts already installed during the “A Frame” construction. Positioning of the brace holes also had to be in the meat of the wood rather than a joint from the previous construction. The lag bolt connecting the brace to the swing beam proved to be no problem but the two connecting to the “A Frame” were in very close proximity of each other but seemed to hold firm once bolted in. I’m sure it will be fine but I will keep checking just incase the wood cracks in time and needs to be replaced.

I feel a sense of achievement as it finally starts to take shape and I know the next step is to actually place the swing hangers and swings in place.