keep plyin'

Wow! the ramp is getting closer and closer to completion!! I worked Saturday and Sunday this week. My usual Thursday and Friday time went to building furniture for my new place.. More on that on the other site.




A bunch of dudes were supposed to show but it was just me and Mike Callahan on Saturday. We got most of the second layer on. Not bad for just two people.



Sunday Dave Marevka and Pipefitter Mike came out early! And then Danny and Cappetto emerged and we had a good crew. Mike brought us some killer black pipe for the north end. Now I know some are not too happy with two different kinds of coping but if you want it a certain way - go build your own ramp... That is what I did!



SO anyway, Mike was dealing with my welder all day - it turns out that I had a spring missing on the spool and it was causing the mechanism to bind up while he was welding. SO what should have been an hour job took him all morning. Sorry Mike! But he did a great job!

Dave, Danny, Cappetto and I worked on finishing the second layer. Once we got all that done, it was time for a little second layer sesh. Of course, Dave did all the tricks that I'll be working on all winter! And this was with all of the beams and garage door supports still in the way!! Good stuff!



SO our next task was to remove all that stuff. Dave and I came up with a compromise on the center beam. We cut out the sections that lay above the lip of each ramp end. But to keep the barn from twisting in high winds we cut out notches at either end of a 2 x 6 and made a quick release support. So when I want to skate I pop it out and when I am done, I pop it back into place and that center tie beam serves the same purpose. I think this should be good! We also cut off those roll up door rails. So we all get to keep our foreheads now!



After that, it was time for Masonite!! I wanted to hang each piece from the coping down and then have the half sheet in the center of the ramp. This is a pain, you need at least 3 dudes to hang one sheet of masonite. I kept thinking I wonder what they do for a 15 footer! We ended up getting the south end of the ramp done and hope to finish it on Thursday or Friday!!








Mike got the coping ready and we also installed that at the very end of the day. He is a pipefitter so the job was done very well! He welded bolts on to one end and we bolted the coping into the ramp. This way there are no holes in the coping. sweet!! He did a great job on that one thanks again Mike!! And to all the dudes who came out again. This phase would be very difficult on my own.