Go West Young Man, Part II

Memorial Day weekend was our time to actually start building the treehouse.  We had collected more lumber and pre-cut most of it so the job on site wouldn't be as difficult.  This of course meant we needed to transport all of it including some plywood we got for cheap on Craigslist.

I didn't want to use a trailer again if I could help it so I looked to using roof racks.  I also didn't want to spend money on commercial roof racks (around $300), so I decided to use some of the studs and rafters that I was going to use on the tree house as the roof racks.  Here is what I did:

I first used 5 studs that are going to be used on the shorter wall as the cross members.  I lashed each one to the existing roof racks that came with the van.

I then used what will become the roof rafters as the members that are going front to back.  I used deck screws to attach all the wood.

I spaced them about 11.5 inches apart so later in the day when we got the 2x12 beams, they will nestle down in.  Next came the plywood and a bunch of trucker's hitches back and forth, back and forth...

I added a few boards front, back and on the sides so the plywood didn't shift  It worked like a charm.

Of course the inside of the van was stacked to the gills too.  Here is the van with all the lumber, supplies and tools ... and we haven't even packed our clothes and food yet!

After we packed up all the supplies, I took this next picture.  Try and find where my 9 year old, Mia, is supposed to sit.

So once the Swagger Wagon was all loaded up it was a little low on the suspension, but not too bad.  Here we are ready to leave.

And after a 5 hour trip with minimal mishaps, we arrived at "the hut".

It is similar to our arrival last fall, isn't it?  Always bringing new supplies...