Below is the top view of the proposed treehouse platform. It's 8' X 16', and will be nestled between 5 trunks.
How can I suspend the platform via chain by four connection points, and have it "float" between the trunks, without touching any of them? The four chains will connect to the platform via one of the bolts that connect the cross members. The four connection points will not be a constant distance from the trunks, due to the trunk placement. The other end of the chain will be attached to the tree at any necessary angle.
The simplest solution would seem to be to have the chains run almost parallel to the ground. Then it seems to me that it would only be a matter of tightening and loosening the turnbuckles to get the desired orientation of the frame. However, trees are going to be a lot stronger in the vertical direction, so I'm nervous that this could pull the trunks together as the treehouse gets built and becomes heavier. Plus, I'll need a little vertical slack, so that as the tree trunks move independently in the wind, the treehouse can raise or lower to take up the slack. If all trunks moved outward at the same time, the treehouse would need to be able to rise a bit.
At the other extreme, I could hang all chains nearly vertically. I think this would make centering the frame between the trunks a lot more complicated, since all chains would be at slightly different angles, which I believe would cause the frame to want to twist unpredictably. Also, this would allow the treehouse to swing back and forth a lot more easily, which doesn't seem preferable.
Any ideas? I suspect that this is a non trivial problem, especially given the organic nature of the tree trunk spacing. If they were all equal distance apart, and I used the exact same angle for all four chains in both dimensions, it would work. Is this a hopeless problem to solve? Should I just moor one corner of the platform to the trunk, and let the other three corners float?
Any suggestions or comments are welcome!
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