A great adventure

As I looked at our recent project, just transported to it's destination I was struck by how far we've come through the years. The latest project is a massive piece, prefabricated in our shop, and readied for a quick installation onsite tomorrow. Everything will fit like a glove I'm sure.

Back when we started, so many years ago, the process was much more cumbersome. One of the first pieces, a space ship, was built in our garage in the basement of our home. I had only the most basic of tools to work with. The fumes from the welding and fibreglass construction went into the house. My family also bravely put up with the considerable noise and dust of construction. When we were complete the piece was dragged from the garage and somehow manhandled onto a homebuilt trailer for transport. The load was definitely well over the trailer's load limit and I vividly remember two very scary tire blowouts on the hundred mile journey to our customer. (I carried two spares - just in case.) Thankfully, we managed to get there in one piece. We do things a lot differently these days and have definitely learned a great deal from our considerable experience and many adventures.

Turning Turtle

Telling a story visually is both a challenge and a whole lot of fun. In the case of Skallywag Bay there was a lot to tell. The characters are visible on some of the rides, signs and other features. Sometimes it is done in a more subtle manner. There are three 'houses' in the adventure golf area, built from found maritime objects. The twins live in an upturned boat, aptly named 'Turtle'. Their house is identified on the mailbox.

Last piece in place

Three and a half years ago I designed the primary sign for Skallywag Bay. A year later we built two copies of the detailed design for the park. They along with eighteen containers full of other features were shipped down through the Panama Canal two years ago. Yesterday, one of these signs was the last piece to be set into position at Skallywag Bay. It has been an exciting and incredible journey to get the park to this stage. In the next weeks the last finishing construction will happen along with the planting of the landscape and a thousand other important tasks. We will return early in the New Year to do our last minute touchups and see the park complete at long last!