Bumpers

We've built and moved our pieces since we started decades ago. Some of the larger pieces have been very challenging to say the least. Through the process we have become good at designing structures, lift and tie down points. But with the Trinidad project things are at a whole new level. Instead of worryiong about highway regulations we are faced with the dimensions and maximum load weights of standard shipping containers. These limits control the design of our features but with some creative thinking we can piece and build in sections to allow anything imaginable.

The new challenge is how to get our pieces safely into the containers and keep them from shifting while in transit. The realities of movement on highways, railroads, ship and barge are real forces to be dealt with, not to mention the challenge of pushing the pieces into and pulling them back out of the containers. After some head scratching and tests we have come up with a solution. BUMPERS.

We will now fabricate bumpers around all of our pieces that will prevent them from shifting inside the containers. The front and back bumpers will be extra sturdy to allow the forklift to push and pull on them as required without fear of damage to the (relatively) brittle decorative concrete skins. The first piece to have the bumpers installed is the treehouse structure. These bumpers will be cut off just before the concrete is poured around the base of our features and the remnants will be hidden by the deck concrete..

Now we'll be fabricating similar custom bumpers to all of the pieces for transport.

-grampa dan