My daughter, Sally Cochran, owns and operate the Equine Kingdom Riding Academy on their farm in Greensboro, North Carolina. In
two years they have transformed a run-down property with a couple dilapidated buildings into a
thriving horse riding school. Lots of hard work, re-use of existing materials, buying used parts on
Craig's List, and bartering has kept expenses to where they were able to pay cash for everything
except the house and property itself. Sally has been interested in horses since she was about 8
years old and she has a degree in Business Administration and a degree in Logistics. Rather than do
the normal thing and work for large corporations, they have opted to start and build their own
business.

Larry J.'s son's Boy Scout Troop 117
in Jasper, AL, built four sets of these 12'-long wooden bleachers using their own modified version of
my plans (see below). They will be used in a
equine therapy program. The project helped to earn
an Eagle Scout badge. Boy Scouts are an increasingly rare source of good works and high moral standards.
Congratulations!
|
Since Melanie and I live way up north in Erie, Pennsylvania, we try to do a major project when we
visit. This time, the project was building bleachers that can be used during the in-house riding events
that are held every few months. My degree is in engineering (electrical), but I've been a lifelong designer
and builder of models as well as residential structures, so I took on the task of designing plans. I
could not find anything close to what I was looking for on the Web - at least anything within my price
range - so I fired up Visio and made my own. The two main criteria were they needed to be sturdy so
they would last forever, and they had to be safe for all ages to use. Galvanized nuts, bolts, and washers
hold all the frame components together, and deck screws hold the planks. Pressure treated lumber was
used throughout. Safety rails are spaced closely enough they they should (no guarantee) prevent
small children from crawling through. A 10-foot length was chosen to be a convent size for modularity.
They can be stacked end-to-end and bolted together. We chose to eliminate the hand rails at the junction
to make one bleacher 20 feet long. Pressure treated landscaping ties serve as a footer to prevent any
of the structural members from contacting the ground - essential for longevity.
This is a photo of the completed wooden bleachers. A high-resolution PDF
wooden bleachers plans file
is available at no charge (see below), compliments of Equine Kingdom Riding Academy and the Airplanes
and Rockets website. If you find these plans useful (they took many hours to draw), please send a note
of thanks to Equine Kingdom.
 Wooden Bleachers Built at Equine Kingdom Riding Academy

Click here for high-resolution
Wooden Bleachers Plans PDF file.
Note: I
*do not*
have a detailed list of materials available.
Other Woodworking Tips & Projects:
Posted March 5, 2012
|