My Handy-Dandy Homemade Tripod Base

After our first, short camping trip with our new Starchoice satellite dish and tripod a few years ago, I decided I needed something a bit more sturdy to keep it from blowing over in the wind. This would be especially true in the US southwest where the desert winds can really howl – for days on end sometimes.

My tripod setup - legs secured to base with nuts & bolts and cement block for weight

In our travels, I had noticed a lot of RV’ers using the ‘hanging water jug’ method to stabilize their tripods. For me? I just thought I’d probably end up with water everywhere, the jugs full of holes and my satellite dish strewn all over our campsite. Water and me just don’t get along all that well.

To secure tripod to base, just fit tripod leg mounting holes over bolts and tighten

So, instead, I decided to make a solid base that I would attach the tripod to with bolts. I found an old scrap piece of 5/8” plywood that was just the perfect size. I placed the tripod on the plywood and positioned it so it was fully extended. After marking the exact location of the tripod legs’ mounting holes, I drilled holes for the small bolts.

I then got a long straight-edge, and with the tripod still positioned properly on the plywood, I drew a triangle shape outline around the tripod – I didn’t really care if it was symmetrical or not – as long as I cut away as much excess plywood as I could, I was happy.

Front leg is securely attached to base with nuts and bolts – repeat for remaining 2

Once the holes were drilled in the plywood, and the bolts put through the holes in the bottom, I was ready to place the tripod feet over the bolts, attach the nuts and tighten it down. Everything fit just right.

The final step was putting some weight on the plywood base to hold it down in strong winds. To do this, I just use a big old cement block which is far heavier than 2 jugs of water.

At the Sands RV Resort, where we spend 3 months each winter, I happened to find 2 of these just lying around. There were lots of big rocks I could have used as well. With 2 of these cement blocks sitting on the plywood, our satellite dish didn’t budge – even in the strongest desert winds.

The reason I cut the plywood into a triangle shape is to make it fit perfectly under the 5’er hitch in the back of our truck. To store the base, all I have to do is just undo 6 nuts, take off the tripod, thread the nuts back on so I don’t lose them, then slide the plywood base into the back of my truck and we’re all set until the next stop.

After removing nuts and tripod, the base stores neatly under the hitch

I want to say thanks to Margie, Bruce and Margie's Fulltime Journey, for her tip about the online RV Bookstore – what a great place to find any kind of book related to RV’ing. Somehow, in all my Internet browsing, I missed that one – they even sell eBooks that I can download to my Sony eBook Reader. Thanks, Margie!

Have a great Wednesday, and thanks again for visiting!