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Beer Swing

Need someplace to put beer, wine, and I suppose soft drinks at your next BBQ or garden party? Build a beer swing!

I made this out of 4 2x4s, about 4 or 5 feet long. Screw them into a square with big ol' drywall screws at the corner. Then tie two ropes across the centers in a cross and put a tarp over the top: the ropes mean your tarp divides into four "buckets". Use zip ties to hold your tarp in place. Tie some long ropes to opposite corners, and suspend from a tree and you're nearly done. The all important final touch is hanging a beer opener on a bungee off the middle. Fill with ice 'n' beer and away you go.

9 comments

Sep 7, 2009. 12:39 PMtwokman says:

142

Jul 28, 2008. 4:53 AM

Kiteman says:

That is so American. But in a good way.

I can't believe nobody tried to climb it - I'm guessing they didn't get totally drunk?

141

Jul 29, 2008. 12:25 PM

canida says:

Believe it or not, this one's from a Brit. Expat, yes, but I still find this absolutely hilarious. ;)

142

Jul 29, 2008. 12:44 PM

Kiteman says:

Expat? Then he's either a Geordie or from Essex...

Jul 28, 2008. 8:23 AM

crapflinger says:

sounds great untill some chucklehead decides to send the whole thing into a fizz creating death spiral hehe...

141

Jul 27, 2008. 3:39 PM

canida says:

So how much ice'n'beer can your tarp contraption handle? And how well does it accommodate over-enthusiastic climbers? It would be sad to see it all go smash during the party.

Jul 27, 2008. 9:11 PM

jofish (author) says:

The tree support itself can hold 222 lbs, as tested by both myself and Perlick. The swing probably comes in at about 22lbs max. I put something like 3 bags of ice in each quadrant, at 7lbs/bag, so that's well under 222lbs, even with a bunch more ice in it. The nice thing about the current setup is that the corner-to-corner ropes are not held at the center other than with a zip tie to give it a bit of friction, so were people to climb on it a) they'd fall off as it instantly tipped towards them and b) they'd get covered with ice, water, and beer. Which is a plus, but despite a good 50-odd people showing up, nobody actually tried, because it's clear that b) would happen. A good incentive, that.

Jul 27, 2008. 1:34 PM

Weissensteinburg says:

Interesting idea, did you think of it yourself?

Jul 27, 2008. 2:21 PM

jofish (author) says:

Uh... yup. I knew I needed someplace to put beer for a big upcoming party and got up in the morning and put this together. I had been thinking about building a big V-shaped beer-trough out of tarps and pieces of ply, but this is about a thousand times better. Glad you like it.