A little weather protection...

We were playing on the wooden wheel last night in the cool full moon light.  Invented a new game - anyone with less than 10.5" rib cage and lie down and get run over!  Faith loved it.  Sarah made it.  Armando was to thick.

Today we beat the rain and used up the rest of the bright green paint.  Froze but got it covered up before the rain started!

Alexanna and Sarah gave out first - then Marshall.  Jami is such a trooper!

Award Winning Finale!

Starting to lose some stability... Getting more rain from above.

After a pause for the race start, we had a hard time starting forward - the wheel wouldn't turn. Then I noticed it was more oval shaped, then the roof was coming in - time to bail out. Got Marshall clear, then Jami and I bailed out quick! Too fast for photos.

Look at how well our boxes held together! It was just the part holding them in a circle.

Here's another source - partial collapse.

Stretching out for the award - this time I made the cover of the newspaper instead of Marshall (who's still there, just off to the right). Jami's hand does show.

We didn't get many photos after this - just had to get cleaned up and start hauling boxes out to the recycling point. Next year I need to make it farther around the course so there's less distance to carry the cardboard.

Race time!

Waiting for our turn.

Some last-minute reinforcing.

Cool other boat - the Copter but they raced mean!

Those covetted trophies.

Still waiting...

Rolling down to the launch.

This one's out of order but we're practicing our turns by shifting mass.

Just in the water here.

Starting out.

Look at our nice wake!

Off to the Regatta!

Neighbor Rob insisted we christen the wheel - and provided the bottle (which was pre-scored).

Did we mention it's green?

Note: this circular shape is not in any way associated with the letter "O" - at least as it might relate to college sports.

Delivered to the lake!

An Evening Off

Took Friday evening off from construction to hit the Downtowner's street fair. Took the prototype with us and after getting stuck in a traffic snarl (injury accident - the guy getting CPR did survive), we made it down town.

Here's some of the competition enjoying the wheel.
(Beth)

(not sure...)

The Dog!

Some Cheerleaders.
I tried to get Marshall to "help" them but he wasn't interested - must still have cooties at age 9.

Ok, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Thanks to Highlander Cycling for lending us the little bike.

Construction Continues

Gotta do a little Vanna White move - last load of boxes & treads.

Got the two halves together & drug out of Rob's shed.

Tipped it over, ready for reinforcement - then we'll roll it home (about 1 city block).

Now it's primed - the primer was too thick for a sprayer so this took about 5 hours to get all the corners. Ugh. This was about 1:45pm on Friday - running a bit behind.

Final days of construction!

On Tuesday, Marshall and I finished the step supports - 44 of them, nicely 3-ply laminate with only one seam.

Wednesday night, Danny Darnell came up to help. We quickly put him to his knees drawing a circle on the garage floor (to align the discs). I joked about adding more than just the 7 & 9 foot diameter circles - creating a target. Hint: Don't try to use string - circles won't be even.

Finished circles - very nice!

On Thursday, Marshall and I connecting boxes (we made 88) to the step supports. Nicely done! We got 23 together and trucked them over to Rob's barn. Sharon showed up just as we were about to glue it up so rather than letting Marshall go, we made her help glue! Thanks Sharon!

Back in the garage, neatly stacked boxes are falling everywhere. Actually, Marshall thought it would be fun to have them collapse on him - it was!

Moment of dread and panic - I thought I needed two more boxes! Ugh! Turned out I didn't = PHEW - I had folding & gluing the things.

6:00pm, the box supply is dwindling, you can see the back of the garage!

A second stack of boxes + step supports is ready to go - just needs to dry.

Here's half of the wheel! We used the rope to tighten it all together, plus bricks to weigh it down. Marshall walked around it to compress things & get the glue to stick better. Faith took a ride over later to check it out and add more bricks.

As of 7:40pm on Thursday, we're waiting for glue to dry and for Jami to arrive. She's purchasing paint - making a command decision because Fred's computer can't figure out how to do brighter colors with the drab deck & patio paint base. We'll paint it in the morning!

What's left to do?
1. Glue up the 2nd round of boxes & step supports.
2. Glue on the discs & connect it together.
3. Fold up our walkways & glue down.
4. End-cap the discs with silicone. Outer coating with 3" gorilla tape.
5. Caulk at will - we've got lots.
6. Paint.
7. Build a carrier for the car. I'm planning to build a rack and ramp using some 2x4s.
8. Sew up some squirrel tails!
9. Get to the lake on time & have a great day on Saturday.

I think we might actually get to go to bed on Friday night this year!

Building the Components.

Here's Marshall getting ready to glue in the inserts for our step supports. We need 44 of these.



Now we're also folding up custom boxes (with a symmetric trapezoidal taper
and internal fold (origami style). 4 of these boxes will float 343 lbs. We expect to have 8 in the water plus 8 more partially submerged - floating ~1200 lbs.

We need 88 of these (ugh - very tedious!).





We also have a supervisor - she's got her baby. Only ran off 3 times so far - so sneaky for a big dog, just glides out the garage door behind you.













Quick trip to Woodland to get some photos for a slide show. Dennis was kind enough to share his military vehicle collection with us - Marshall was extatic and must have killed hundreds of enemies!