I have a bunch of turtles that my girlfriend and I care for in our pond. They are always struggling to find a place to sun themselves. One day I observed one trying to climb a floating log and barely floating, I knew I would take action.
Having previously attempted an elaborate floating island with dirt and plants that ended up being a failure, I decided on using the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle. I remember seeing a design of a wood platform here, I think it was Ken's, and I used what I remembered and came up with my own idea.
I apologize for not taking a photos of it during construction of the fished product on land, but here is an idea of it in the pond:
The turtles absolutely love it and will spend most of the day there. It only took a few hours to build and the main tools I used was a circular saw and my drill/driver.
I made it all with spare materials I had laying around. I cut a piece of t111 all weather siding to 2x2. Then I took some 2x4's and cut the ends at 45 degrees, making sure the length would match 24" for the insides of the cuts. I then cut another 2x2 piece of siding and cut it in half again so I would have 2 12" piece for the side ramps.
I screwed it all together with weatherproof deck screws so it would not rust. I attached furring strips on the ramps to aid the turtles in climbing up, making sure to grind off the screws that poked trough so as not to injure any pond residents. I took some pool noodles and cut them to size and lined the whole inside of the bottom with noodle pieces. I secured the pieces in with 3 3/4" nailing strips. Which also gave me a place to tie an archor rope.
I threw it in the pond and anchored in place. The next morning it was full of turtles. At some point I will probably stain it to look nice and so it doesn't rot too much, but we will see. I did not want to use anything pressure treated in the pond.
I hope you guys like the project. Build one for your turtles, they will enjoy it.
