Flat Bottom ugh ugh

I watched Fight Club with Man Night Eric and now all I want to do is kick my own ass! Well, I kinda did this morning. I have been having so many allergy attacks lately that I finally broke down and got some of that Zyrtech and it made my head spin the last few days. So I have been a bit off.




This morning when I got out to the ramp I climbed up to the top to measure the distance between the lip and the rafter. As I was climbing up I went to grab for the 2 x 4" on top and it was a 2 x 10" so I missed the grab and fell backwards. As I was decending in a panic, trying to run down the 2 x 4" surface I slipped my foot between two of them and immediately went into leg slap mode. SO luckily I kinda loosened up and pushed up with my arms and torso, trying to relieve the pressure my weight would have put on my leg. So, I did not hear a snap. But I was kinda jacked up from that one. I got some nice swelling and my ankle is all week now. Nice.

So after I got my shit back together, I climbed up again and telling myself to grab for a 2 x 10". My fears of yesterday and the past caught up with me. The ramp was too close to the joist. SHit. SO, the only thing to do was to wipe yesterday's work clean and move the ramp back. It is going to work a lot better though. I decided to move the quarter pipe section back enough to allow for 16' of flat. Which I really needed anyway. I was just trying to get more deck on that side and had to deal with the rails for the roll up door.



SO I am only gonna have 3' of deck on that side and will just cut off the rails all together. I'll weld them back up later. But now, the flat should be good and hopefully everything will line up.

I spent the rest of the morning re-leveling that whole side and getting it square. Then I had to extend the flat out 9 1/2". I decided to just take apart the whole thing and add longer rails to each flat bottom piece. I didn't want to risk adding a new smaller piece in and then have it shift or crack and later get a kink in the ramp. So I did the pain in the ass thing, but the better thing for the ramp.

I was able to level out half of the flat too so then I feel like I made a little progress today. I got a true 16' of flat, no future head smacks on the joists and a level ramp.

Tomorrow, I'll level off the rest of it and try to get the decks secured to the ramp.



Also, I started to get another pain in the ass allergy attack and decided it was time to quit for the day. I was trying to get a sesh going at Wilson. SO, I drove to Chi with one eye exploding and my head feeing like it was dipped in pepper. I got to the park and it was just as bad as when I left. Of course there was a rad sesh going on. I took one run and realized that I was about to die in there. Having blurred vision, disorienation, and histamine overload. sucks.

Flat Flat Flat

This week it is the Flat Bottom express. And not J-Lo.

I began building the Flatbottom on Thursday and got half of it done. I got the other half built by 11am Friday and spent the rest of today leveling the ramp off. It looks like I'll be leveling all day tomorrow as well. But things are going as planned. However, I will have to raise the ramp about 3" which will cut down on head room again.. Ugh!!



I am also starting to get an anxiety attack over the distance between the joist for the barn roof and the lip of the ramp. I checked it out before and should have room but I always get all spazzy. I let the cat out of the bag at Wilson the other night. I wanted to wait until I had the frame completely built. So hopefully, I'll be able to tie everything together tomorrow (Saturday) and then take some pics of the ramp in its skeletal state and then blow it out to Chicago!



I am not to worried about people randomly showing up here. I doubt that very many people will make the drive anyway. Even though I did it every day this summer!! The funny thing is that most will probably not like the ramp. But I am glad that I was finally able to build something that I wanted. I talked to Bill last night and he was totally stoked on the ramp. As soon as I explained the dimensions he said "Fuck thats an old school vert ramp!" "I used to ride that shit all the time!" So if he is in agreement then I have nothing to worry about!!



I took a bunch of pics some step by step stuff but it is self explanatory.

More, more, MORE!

I got some more work done this morning before work! Sometimes you can get so much done in a short period of time. It is like, where did my weekend go?? I was out of gas on Saturday for sure and Sunday just was making up for Saturday. Anyway, I did get some things done.



I built the frames for each deck which rules. So now when I am ready it is just prop them up and screw 'em in! Well, I am sure it will be more than just that, it always is. I have enough vertical posts to get that done too. I just have to think of a strategy to lift that shit up and prop it without busting a gut.



Maybe some help would do me good>?? It is hard to get people to come out to the south country like this. Calabro is away for the month and others well?? What is the point!!!! The point is that I am having a blast building this thing. I wish I could do more!! Maybe I can do it as a side job this summer! What a dream.



I also bit the bullet and finally did some double boards on the 8' transitions. I will sleep much better knowing that I put the beef where it counts. The 6' wide transitions should be stable enough and now the 8' Ts are ready for anything. I hope!!!

So more to come this weekend!! Lots of leveling and flat bottom construction. Yes!!

Transitions - done!

This week was finish the transition week. I had false dreams of getting the flat built and getting to tie it all together by Sunday. I was actually worried that I would get ahead of schedule and not be able to afford the plywood. Well thank goodness I am on schedule!! I spent the week getting everything together on the 6 transitions. The bracing, the coping setup, is all done!!



I am proud to say that they are really beefy and should hold up. I am still being cheap about putting in the double braces but I will probably do that on Tuesday. At least for the two 8' Q-pipes. I'll probably do it in the lower transition area. Some people double up every two 2 x 4's. This is great when you are on a limitless budget and are building a 15' vert ramp that Danny Way is gonna shred. But I think that gettin' it in where it counts will work fine for me.




I am also concerned with the bounce factor. I rode a rad vert ramp that had a metal frame and less beef and it bounced!! So slams were not as horrific and painful and it was still very fast. I rode two other vert ramps that were built so well that it was like falling on concrete!! I rode a few other outdoor vert ramps that were mushy with rot and rain damage. So somewhere in between will do fine for me!!




I spent most of Sunday building the coping supports. I had a few bastard screws that stripped at the last second. I switched out drill keys and I had to cut off the head of the stripped ass screw!! I was so ticked! Then the drill fell off the top of the transition and bent the nice bit extender so I need to get one of those pronto. It seems to balance my drill very well - I gouged the shit out of my fingers three times after loosing that thing.



I decided to use 2 x 10 x 6' @ 8' to mount my concrete coping. So that required a little extra prep. I had to cut the top of the transitions in order to make a bed for the concrete coping. This was like cutting off one of my toes. It felt really bad to take away some of my vert!! But I wanted both sides to be even and the concrete is gonna be 2 3/8" thick so it should feel balanced with the 2 3/8" metal coping on the opposite side.



My reasoning for this is that I need to get good at both metal and concrete coping on big shit. I may eventually just put concrete coping on both sides. But I just wanted to have the steel there for now... I really hate metal coping and would rather just do all concrete but I need to get proficient at both because there is so much shit out there today and I need to really shred Kokomo next year!!

So for next week:

-Build/prep the deck frames (put 'em aside for later)

-Mock up the flat bottom and level everything out and get it all square

-Build flat bottom and tie everything together

-Get it all level and square

If things go well:

-Pour coping on Sunday

-Then raise some $$ for plywood, ugh

Gettin' things going

Yes, I worked all week on the ramp and got more stuff done!! I have been spending an hour or two after work and working for about 5-6 hours on the days off before night sessions at Wilson. So things have been going well.





I was freaking out earlier in the week. I thought that I grossly miscalculated my wood supply. But I did not do too bad. I will have to go and get more 2 x 4s but it could be worse!!



I got the quarter pipes all built now. I just have to add in a few boards here and there when I get more. I also wanted to leave them open so I can get in there and level it all off. That seems to be the deal here.

I am starting to get exited about it all again!!

More More More!

So while I was waiting to hear from Calabro I figured I would get some more work done. He didn't call me back until 2 so I got some good work done again on Sunday. I keep messing up the numbers. I was missing about 42 joist hangers and about 6 boxes of #8 screws. I got to a stopping point with the transition template prep and had to move on.



I am now realizing that I still have some shuffling to do in the barn. I never would have thought that I would be using the entire space so soon. SO, I have to move the wood pile and get the 100 year old sleigh in a safe spot. I have all of these paintings from my MA degree (1999) that are too big to store in the house. You may see some in the background. Yep, strange - i was all into Blues and Jazz music at that time, kinda obsessed with New Orleans as well. So my work was a lot about music, voodoo culture, folklore and outer space.





I should also add that I would like to offer some art up for a cheap price. I need to pay for this thing some how!! more on that..

I figured out a better way to attach the fill in pieces on the bottom of each template. I had to have a foot of vert so I did the pain in the ass thing and made an uneven height of 8' 6". This means that you can't use one entire 4' x 8" sheet. However, If I were to go with this size again, I think that I could have cut that section out as part of the lower transition?? Maybe. But now, I have to make it work. So I cut out the fill in pieces with a circular hand saw. I was not being too careful with the edges since I was cutting them form the scrap inside template left overs. So now I have some janky looking fill in pieces. Which are not true on the bottom. I figured out a way to fix this problem when I attach the frame.



I may just borrow a table saw and re-cut the fill in pieces. Although, I do not like table saws. They freak me out - I cut off three of my fingers when i was 18 at a cabinet shop... They had me ripping down boards all day and when you do anything repetitive like that it can get dangerous. Especially my spacey ass. No guards, barely a fence... scarey



So anyway, I mocked up the 8' sections just to see where I was with everything. My first instinct was ok, this might work?? I am still worried about the truss situation. But my father seems to be really cool about it all. I think he is glad that I am using the barn for something for once. It was really just a graveyard for local animals to freeze to death during winter. I did use it in the past as an art studio (hence the big ass art works), a shop (when i raced motocross) and a private place to work out music/songs.

So, I have had a relationship with this barn for a long time. I guess I always come up with some kind of kooky idea to use it. I built a 12' wide mini behind it about 18 years ago. At that time no one out here skated and it rotted away. I actually have a few of the boards that I may use in this ramp for vibe points.

Moving on, I went out and picked up more joist hangers and screws and rigged up some lighting last night. I got to prep 4 more transition templates and then I realized I did not get enough screws... SO, I am gonna run out and get some today on my lunch break. I am either hitting up the carwash after work tonight or I may just get back to the barn. Who knows!

I also realized I really F'd up on the wood calculation. I am short on 2 x 4's. Bummer - this means more $$$. I had enough set aside for plywood but now it may be pretty tight. Got to check craigslist of free wood!!!

Tranny part 2

So I got up early this morning and got some work done in the barn. Had a rad sesh at Wilson last night and then watched the debate with Man-Night Eric. I really need to stop eating so much bad shit. I'll save that for the other blog.



So transitions. I got the sander out and smoothed out the waves on the curved edge. Then marked out across all 12 templates every 8". I started attaching the joist hangers and once I got to the end of template #1 I realized that I made a miscalculation. I am gonna need more 2 x 4s. Well, win some lose some.



I rigged up a cardboard template to connect the two transition pieces together. This was loosely based on Brendan's idea from Whitefish Skate Ramp CO. I decided to go with this idea because it was the least involved. Some other things I have seen require some masterful angles and I do not have a decent chop saw to do that stuff. Nor do I have the mindset. I guess I better get it if I ever want to build a bowl!



SO I spent an hour cutting those out and it worked well. I finally found a use for the scrap wood between each transition piece. I will also cut out the filler piece for the bottom of each transition template. The cuts are not pretty but it is all about using the waste material for something useful.



So after I got all of that stuff done, I put transition template #1 together and began checking the truss clearance again. This has been a major concern since the beginning. I actually started measuring at the beginning of the summer. I must have went out and measured that barn 10 times. I kept seeing the problem and trying to make things work. I finally made a mock transition and measured everything and came to the conclusion that it would work.



However, now that I have the real thing in there it looks a bit sketchy. The truss runs horizontal to the lip of the ramp. It is 6' from the lip and about 1.5' higher. When you look from one angle it appears that the skater would hit his or her head on the truss during drop in. But I also originally thought that we crouch a bit when we drop in and that it wouldn't be a problem. But of course I began to worry about Calabro. He often times catipult himself out to flatbottom and one may hit the truss when they do something like that.



So my intitial reaction to that today was fuck, I'm done. I went in and spoke with he who makes all decisions and is the final word was really laid back about it and said cut the truss out of try to make it work somehow. The neighbor did something like that to his barn where he increased the overhead height. SO, this will be another project to research the best and safest way to raise the truss up at least 2'. I guess I'll just keep building the ramp until I figure that part out. Then I have to get electric out to the barn too. Lots of extra shit!