Quick Guide to Building a Pirate Ship Themed Treehouse! 2026

Quick Guide to Building a Pirate Ship Themed Treehouse, When my youngest stepdaughter mentioned that they would like to have a treehouse in their yard, I jumped at the idea. I don't remember whose idea it was to make a pirate ship, but they always loved the pirate theme and the decision was a natural one.

I looked on the web to see tree houses, pirate ships, and pirate ship tree houses.

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The site for us was limited by the relatively small size of the two redwood trees and the proximity to the fence lines at the corner of the lot.

So it would have to be a small treehouse, kept away from fences as much as possible.

I drew a rough design in Sketchup and got approval from my daughter and son-in-law.

Step 1: Attach it to the trees

There is information on the Internet about how to hang weight on a tree while doing minimal damage. The best idea was floating supports hanging from large screws.

A few large holes seem to cause less damage than many small holes.

And floating supports prevent the structure from securing to the tree, which would promote rot and create stresses on the structure when the trees move and grow.

To avoid this, they sell some very expensive screws called Garnier Limbs.

These are long screws and their advantage is that they have a large diameter collar where the weight of the structure rests on the tree, thus spreading the force downwards over a larger area.

I decided to use this approach, but to make my own design with 1-inch lag screws, 2 ½-inch diameter washers, and tubing for spacers.

I copied the floating brackets I saw and welded them from a ¼ inch steel plate and a rectangular tube.

Step 2: The framework

The treehouse was basically to be a freestanding suspended platform in the trees with the ship frames as the deck rails.

At this point, I wasn't sure how or whether to plank (cover) the boat frames.

Everything had to be built around two main joists that rest on four flat supports. I hung fake "joists" below the joists with galvanized brackets and placed the other deck joists on top of them.

The platform would be mostly on the side of the trees away from the fence and would also be supported by two diagonals, mounted on diagonal supports.

To allow for the shape of a boat, the platform had to project quite far beyond the natural support of the supports.

This made it necessary to have a cable that supports the arch (front) of the platform. For this bracket, I used 3/16" tall, plastic-coated aircraft cable, mounted on a standard screw.

The cable became the "cord" of the ship (the trees are the masts of the ship). The wood structure at this point was new pressure-treated spruce, typical for decks.

Step 3: Deck and keel

Daughter and son-in-law had replaced a large section of the old fence and saved the old fence boards. Some were rotted to the point of being unusable, but I was able to clean most of them and had enough for all the decks (floor).

I also cut some into narrower pieces to use inside the treehouse.

For the keel of the boat (below) I used a 2x6 redwood mounted on the diagonals roughly on the centerline of the deck.

To this I would attach frames for the hull of the ship. I wanted exaggerated curves for the boat based on examples I saw on the web.

I drew a lot of curves (Bezier curves) using Sketchup and found that I could get quite curvy using 2x6.

My original idea was to design each frame and give the ship curves not only up and down, but also forward and backward. This turned out to be too complicated.

So all the frames were basically the same except for the front of the boat. And I was very lucky in that when I cut the hull chassis, the caida (falling wood) was quite suitable for the above deck rail.

So very little wood was wasted. I used cheap spruce for the frames.

Step 4: The helmet

Then the question was how to iron the helmet. My initial thought was some sort of thin, flexible plastic strips.

But I decided on a redwood bending board, used for garden paths, etc.

It's 4″ wide and ¼” thick and I bought 12 feet long, lots and lots. I attached them to the frames with my pneumatic staple gun using long staples.

Trimming the protruding pieces required the oscillating saw, since any other type of saw would shake everything.

It was a little challenging to get the flexible part on the bow to stay together.

Step 5: Top

I wanted the top of the stern to be higher at the stern (back) to simulate a galleon stern deck.

I simulated this with an iron railing (the bed base is no longer in use) mounted on top of the stern frames. Tilting it back improved the curved appearance.

We had to have cannon ports, of course. My original attempt was to have boxes on both sides of the planking.

It turned out that the outer boxes looked too dated, so I decided on inner boxes only.

The boxes were needed to attach the planking around where I made the holes.

Step 6: Entry

The entrance to the treehouse itself was designed. I left a portion without boards on the side of the fence between the two trees.

Here I hung a "rope ladder" made of 2x4s hanging from a rope and secured at the bottom.

The ladder discourages all but determined adults, but children do well.

I welded grab bars to the top of the ladder from the ¾” steel pipe.

The inside of the grab bars also serves to hang a self-closing gate/door.

Step 7: Lane

I stretched a synthetic manila rope to protect it across the top of the top, which was cut amidships and under the rail.

I built a small decorative railing to connect the iron stern railing to continue the curve of the cut part.

On the entrance side (the back) I gave the door a similar shape with the idea of continuing the curve here as well. This works if you look at the right angle.

Step 8: Decoration

Solar-powered lanterns hanging from the stern, salvaged Plexiglas stern windows, etc...

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