Day 19: Still Working on the Roll-in

Documented: April 19, 2009

Today was the day to finish the roll-in. But it didn’t happen. How many days are we going to spend on this roll-in! Well recapping on the day it was Dan, Dylan, Cesar, and myself(John wasn't available today). Man we filmed a pretty funny and bad intro for the day all due to myself not talking correctly for a short time haha. You’ll see it in the video update……..maybe.

So we got to work, the plan was too widen the roll-in out and add 2, 2ft sections to the side and secure them down then add there curved counter parts which makes for our smooth transition to the bank. We began hauling the sections up the ramp by the small 16ft ladder we had piling them up. Cesar was hanging partially hanging off the side of the ramp. haha The poor guy is afraid of heights so he was sorta freakin out with nothing under his feet but a 15ft drop. We started with the roll section first and I pounded them full of screws to make sure they were secured.

After those two were finished came the hard part. Dylan came up to the top and both of them were hanging off the sides. I was going to slowly push the 2x8ft section off the side of the roll-in and they were going to hold it against the side of the roll-in. I was laying on top of the bones of it making sure everything lined up. I quickly layed 2 clamps in place to hold it down and gave them a break while I threw in about 30 screws then moved over to the next side and did it all over again. Pretty much like clockwork.

Now that everything was secured I started taking measurements for the plywood that would be sitting on top of it. One was going to simply be screwed in but the other I had to make cuts for. At the backside of the roll-in we have a hole for you to climb through to the deck. A few cuts later I was trekked back to the ramp and we started getting the first full ply sheet up. But for some reason why. (That’s what I get for taking 2 weeks to write these) The builders had to leave early and so we called it a day and only got a few screws in before the ply before everyone cleaned up and headed out….

Day 18: We have gone Astray

The plan for the day was to finally finish the roll-in. I pre-cut a lot of wood the day before and did a good 6hrs of prep work trying to make sure I had the majority of everything set and ready. Truth is, I should know by now when I think we can finish something by a due date it isn’t going to happen according to plan.

We started off the day installing the cross braces for the new roll-in and while I was finishing up the last of them I had Dylan and Cesar go work on getting few new pieces cut top off the structure. Next we all got up on the top section of the roll-in and hoisted the roll section up and started putting it into its correct spot. See it was a bit difficult getting this piece into place not because of it having to be leveled but this was a critical section for the roll-in and had to be perfect installed in every way. Took us a good 30mins to get it set up and installed and then mounting the last runway piece to the new roll-section seemed to be where the majority of our time was spent today.

See the runway is off to the side about 5inches once the front of the roll-out was installed it gave a legit top marker to align everything with. So then over the next few hours on that one runway section along we experimented taking out screws of certain tension 2x4s(lumber that keeps the runway piece from swaying and falling apart) and even disconnected the support braces to so the only thing holding it together was the roll-in it was screwed to! It was becoming extremely frustrating. We had almost everything disconnected from the top runway and it needed to be moved over another inch or two, but it was magically staying in place with nothing holding it in. Eventually I moved myself on top of the second runway section and lifted up the one we were trying to move. It finally budged! Apparently there was a 2x4 that was just blocked and jammed against the runway.

Now with that being out of the way it was actually sitting on top of the next runway piece. That was unexpected. So I’m thinking we will have to unhinge all the other sections and scoot them down on top of shifting them over till they are straight. *sigh* seriously this aligning is a large pain in the ass. It’s the most importantt work though.

It was pretty awesome while we were moving a section of the ramp over. The lowest section actually a white tailed bunny rabbit came bolting from underneath the ramp! Oh snaps! Dan grab the camera! But it was too late. About 2hrs later Dan was shooting me doing some work when we saw our neighbors dog catch and kill the rabbit on my property and carry it over to their side haha Felt bad for the rabbit, but it was pretty cool at the same time. So Dan was on a schedule and had to leave practically as we were finishing up with re-aligning/ checking the sections. Plus his battery was just about out.

I did the end of day speech and closed it off but I insisted that we at least get the main roll-out platform up and in place. Cesar came and sawed part of the top 4x4 posts so that the 4x8ft piece would slide on nicely. Next was a fun operation, you see in the photos we have a large wooden ladder that our neighbor kindly gave to us to use. I stood halfway up that while Dylan was going to push the piece up to me and I would carry it above my head and hand it to Cesar who was a few feet above me. Then I quickly crawled to the top and Dylan and Cesar pushed it up to me. After we got the most of it over the post we started shoving it into place until it butted against the other piece. We threw a few screws in and called it a day. It was a good 6.5hr build day that day. Everyone was craving some Qdoba after that and we met up after at the skatepark to finish the day.

Check out the FLICKR SITE to view all photos from DAY 18

Day 17: The Last Piece is Always the Hardest

View all photos from today at our Flickr site!

Sorry for the late post guys. 2 weeks late, not good! Today was a crazy day! Most certainly the most dangerous day for myself and difficult for the both of us. Rhett was out late in the mountains the night before and Cesar refused to wake up early (8am) so it was just Dylan and myself today with Dan rockin the Canon, but John (the photographer) made prior arrangements and had to be somewhere else. So all the photos you see in this post is the day after our progress.

Well mainly today we were going to finish the runway and add the last 6ft piece. Sounds easy right? Well we tried walking it up the existing runway…didn’t work. We kept sliding backwards and we were thinking how the hell we were going to get it up 15ft to its new home. The rope we had was too thin, ok then, our last option…. heave it up the side of the structure. Yep this 6x4ft 40lbs chunk was going to be heaved upward. With Dylan on the bottom he pumps it up and starts pushing it against the structure till it get up to my hands and I was pulling with practically all my back could handle. It was not an easy task I finally took all it into my hands and pulled it the rest of the way up.

Whew! Ok great it’s up. Now let’s get it in place. I was going to have to butt it against the other piece and rest it on the back supporting 2x4s. Another problem now I’m 5’9” and the piece it needs to butt against is 7ft tall. Crap! and it was rotated the wrong way. What we were about to do could have been done a much easier way, but no, blindly chose the more difficult and fastest to pursue route.

Dylan managed to get himself ontop the runway barley hold on. I was going to heave the piece up towards him and balance it halfway on the tip of the runway. Don’t forget Dylan is consistently fighting to hold his grip on the slope of the ramp. Once balanced on top we rotated it 180(flatspin) and then the most sketchy part of the day we had to flip it also (cause it was laying on its back) so we pushed it halfway over the edge and I put myself off the side of the ramp just standing on a few measly 2x4s 16ft above the ground with nothing underneath. I tried to find the most comfortable position I could.

Dylan and I were talking constantly throughout this making sure everything was fine and I was slightly yelling at him cause if he didn’t do what I instructed of him it put me in greater risk of falling or losing my grip. He was stubborn but I’m guessing it was because we didn’t feel to safe either trying to keep this piece of wood from slipping and sliding down towards him. So the plan was once I got on the side wear the piece was overhanging Dylan would hold down the edge on his end and I would push up forcing the piece to stand up and then we rotate it again once I and bring it down flat again. Wow! Easier said than done! Dylan wasn’t able to hold it in place while keeping his grip on the runway and kept sliding the piece kept on sliding back at an angle now and then it hit him. It was so obvious! Grab a freakin 2x4 and screw it down into the ramp to keep you from falling. But that left me in a tight spot.

When Dylan sled off he left the whole piece to me, hanging off the side. I was clasping onto the runway and holding the piece up with the one available hand I had while Dylan rushed around grabbin the screws, screw gun, and wood. It felt like a good 5 minutes went by before he got back up, my abs were sore and my body began to vibrate from holding the piece in place… it was slowly slipping. Dylan finally got the 2x4 in! Thank god we let it slide back a few inches to the 2x4 and began to roll it over again. It worked and Dylan wasn’t slipping anymore. Finally rotating it over we pushed it back up and heaved it up and over the back supporting studs. A few minutes later it was in place and needed to be screwed and secured. I was just happy to get that piece done with! Man sketchiest day ever on the project and I’m sure both Dan and Dylan would agree.

Simple enough next on the agenda for the day was to install the second main piece of the roll-in and mount it down into the existing 4x4. In about an hour we did that and added a set of horizontal braces to keep the width the same on both ends. All in all it was an exhausting 5hrs of work and I really wish John was there to catch the photos of it but you’ll see it when the DVD comes out of this documentary film. Till next week!

-Jason Huewe

Qdobe Mexican Grill feeds the Project

Yep that's correct, Qdoba is now making sure the builders, filmers, and photographers stomachs are all kept full! With there monstrous burritos, weighing nearly 3lbs(feels like it), its like eating 2 burgers! Check them out here at www.qdoba.com they just open a restruant here in Clovis at the corner of Herndon and Fowler for those of you locals reading the blog. But they have over 400 stores nationwide, so if you love hefty mexican food be shure to check them out.
- Thanks again for the food Qdoba, much apprecaited!

Giant Assembly

So basically today I assembled the giant support legs for the side of the rollin. Measuring 16ft long their like giant prongs, the purpose of these is to take stress off the back end where the majority of weight will be. I have 2 built for each side, I'm thinking I might need to get 2 in for the back end also.

They will connect to the 4x4 legs on the roll-in and then slant down and bolt into a 4x4 piece that's been concreted into the ground securing it all together.

More Building

So after the windy day I got back to doing more prep and built the next runway piece for the runway only 6ft long this time around. Again re-using some old 2x4s and scrap plywood it was assembled in no time. I also pre cut the support legs for the piece and the the bottom braces to fully mount the bottom of the rollin. I love these days just me and my tools, peace and quite, working out everything in my head without having to worry about other things...