The first problem came with how could we safely bolt the panel to the tree providing support, but also allowing us to remove it when we go to move. After much deliberation with the folks at Lowes we came up with the following Idea. We used lag bolts, drilled them into the tree attached to a starter board. Now I was worried about drilling into the trees that it might kill the trees.We recently had to pay a company to come remove a very tall pine that had died in our backyard, and it created a great inconvenience. After talking to the plant people and the carpentry people we agreed that 2 lag bolts per tree, spaced more then 3 feet a part should not harm the tree.
We installed the lag bolts and starter boards and framed a 4x8 panel of 3/4 plywood.
Then we attached the panel to the two starter boards using decking brackets on the backside of the panel. on the right side of the panel we attached the brackets to the outside of the 2x4 frame, but since the left side of the panel extended past the tree we put in an extra cross support and used this to attach to the starter board using the same decking brackets. We went ahead and installed the whole panel and starter boards roughly 2 feet from the ground.
The first panel was the hardest to set up and get in the right spot. At the same time we started framing the second panel, drilling the 6x6in grid for the holds in both panels and attaching the relevant hardware. Although I should have drilled holes in the first panel before I mounted it, I am glad I didn't, especially since we had to make a few minor adjustments with the starter board support on the back of the panel that would have interfered with a few of the bolt holes. At the same time we should have installed the T-nuts, but alas, hindsight is 20/20. While building the second panel we installed 2 eye bolts with locking nuts into the top corners of the panel, with the eye on the backside of the panel, and attached a non locking carabiner clip to the eye bolt. 
We then installed 3 heavy duty door hinges on to the bottom side of the panel so that the pin was resting on the outside of the panel. We wanted it to eventually angle down when the top panel was opened up.
Approximatetly 4 feet up from the top of the bottom panel I drilled a hole in the side of both of the trees, attached an eye bolt, and looped the chain around the tree and used the eye bolt as a catch to prevent the chain from slipping down the tree. We secured the chain at it's tightest with a locking chain clasp/closure. we then used the chains and their supports, attached some tow straps, and hoisted the second panel into place. This is where it definitely was helpful to have two extra sets of hands. Due to the angle of the top panel we needed it to lay nearly flat so that I could access the hinges and screw them in to the bottom panel. This completed we attached the chains to the carabiners on the back of the panel.
This completed, we started to install the holds. A long and tedious process, especially due to the fact that some of the holds used hex wrenches to tighten others used various other tools. Which we just happened to have hiding in Tom's Bike tool kit. It took almost 2 hours for us to install the holds, which we didn't put all 50 of them in. But come nightfall, we hung a lantern behind us and proceeded to test out our new woody!!
Here is a picture of the finished product! We purposely built it where we did because of the possibility of expanding it. 
There just happens to be a set of 3 trees in an L shape in this corner, two of which we used to build this section. The third is in the corner where the two fences meet, which happens to be blocked out by the woody.
At the same time, Tom also built a canted campus board and hung it off the deck so now we have a great training board that we can use whenever we feel like. This was also designed to be portable, and we can chuck it into the moving wagon when we go to move. If anyone would like some help designing or building their own woody feel free to contact me at mtthumper@gmail.com.
2 comments:
The lag bolts won't likely hurt the trees now but please remember that trees grow. I've seen some pretty nasty pictures of trees that have been girdled or wrecked by growing around foreign objects... maybe loosenteh bold slightly every year to accomodate the growth.
Yes that was definetly one of our concerns. We will be removing the whole contraption around November, and we will seal the holes where the lag bolts were. To help prevent termites and other bugs and what have you. I definelty agree though that people need to be completely aware of how all of their hardware is effecting the environment around them.
Happy climbing!!!
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