Hanging Futon - Better Than A Hammock

We have a second home in the mountains we call "Willow Creek" where we go a couple of times a week to get away from it all.  It's an old pioneer farm home on a couple of acres and we mostly go there to work (strangely it turns out that most of what Linda and I do for fun involves working hard).  There is the huge vegetable garden, the watering turn every 9 days, trimming the trees, mowing the lawn, repairing the house, and the endless projects!  For instance, we have a couple of out-buildings.  One of them is a low-slung shed-type building that we euphemistically call the "Beach House" (we did fill it with 6 inches of sand for the grandkids to play in, decorated with shells and water scenes on the walls, and hung hammocks).

Linda decided that we should have something a bit more comfortable for our upcoming family reunion and asked me to build a hanging platform for one of the many futon mattresses we have kicking around.  It turned out to be easy to make and way more comfortable than a hammock.  It's not only flat and firm but much more stable than a hammock, although I actually liked the gentle swaying motions  you feel when you first get on.

Here's how to make your own Hanging Futon:

Materials needed:

• 1 - 4'X8' Sheet of Plywood (1/2" thick)
• 3 - 8' Studs (I used 2x3s but 2x4s would be fine--just make it heavier)
• 4 - 5' lengths of 5/16" Steel Chain 
• 8 - 2 1/2" long 1/4" Lag Screws
• 16 - 1/4" Flat Washers
• 36 - 2 1/2" long Deck Screws

Assembling the Deck:

Cut the sheet of plywood down to a 76" length (a futon mattress is about 48" wide and 76" long).  The cut one of the studs in half so you have two 48" pieces.  Cut the other two studs down to a 73" length.  Place one of the 48" stud lengths along the underside of the end of the sheet of plywood and screw it down with deck-screws.  Do the same on the other 48" stud at the other end of the plywood sheet.  Now screw on the 73" studs along the two sides.  This will create a very wide shallow "box" on the back of the sheet of plywood with edges 2 1/2" high all the way around.  Next put a screw from one stud into another to bind each of the corners together (see the photo in the upper-right side of the collage).  Cut the two left-over scrap pieces of the studs in half so you have four pieces.  Screw one of the pieces along the inside edge of each of the long studs at the corner.  The idea is to double the thickness in the corners for extra strength when you install the lag screws to attach the chains to the corner edges.

Attaching the Chains:

Drill a 2" hole into the side of the corners at each of the four ends of the long studs (where the thickness is doubled by the extra piece of stud screwed to the inside).  Put a flat-washer onto a lag-screw, stick it through the end link in the chain, put on another flat-washer, and screw it into the hole in on of the corners.  Do the same on each of the other corners.  Now attach the other ends of the four chains to the rafters/branches/cross-beams you'll use to hang them from.  In our case we drilled holes through the rafters of the Beach House and attached the chains with the remaining lag-bolts and washers.  Make sure to make the deck level by adjusting which links you screw the lag-bolts into.

Bring out the futon mattress and lay it on the deck along with a couple of pillows and relax!