5.01.2021 Fetch?

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Tuesday 5th Jan. I have been trying to get my head around the sheer size of the new dome components.

The H&L importer has informed me that I'll need a telescopic front loader to remove the dome segments from the German delivery lorry. They are assuming that all buyers are agricultural businesses and suitably equipped. So now I am probably going to need my car trailer. To get the three segments home from the drop-off point at a local farm. With this in mind I set out some handy lengths of batten on top of the trailer sides for true scale.

The three dome segments flare from 1.46m wide at the curved "doorway" to 2.3m maximum [curved] width. Then taper down to a point at 3.9m long overall. Though the completed dome is 4.4 meters wide the doorway shortens the footprint in the for and aft sense. Imagine it as a straight, vertical slice chopped off the hemisphere.

My trailer measures roughly 1.3m x 2m. So the segments would drape nicely over the top of the trailer on all sides. I'd hoped they would fit inside at the front but this is impossible. So they would have to overlap by about a meter front and back.

A couple of 2x4s laid across the trailer would provide support in the middle of the segments. Location and support blocks inside the trailer sides would keep them in place. This will also help to avoid the tail end points dragging along the road. The whole lot would be well secured to the trailer with multiple ratchet straps. 

The trailer's official load capacity exceeds the weight of the dome components by nearly 100%. So no problem there. Provided I distribute the load properly into the trailer base. Without an example of a segment available it becomes pure guesswork. 

Perhaps the segments should stand on edge as they do in the loaded lorry picture above? Though they would then project much further to the rear. Fortunately the "bent leaf" shape has most of its mass well to the front. Where it is obviously widest. 

The horse boxes available for hire at the petrol stations would house the segments on edge. Or a hired, car transporter trailer would also work and be easier to unload. I have just checked the trailer website and it seems they use a 13pin plug. My car does not have such a plug. It has far fewer pins. [7] Oh, dear. Plan B is definitely off the table.

It has occurred to me that I should make the new building's [4.4m Ø] top ring slightly higher than the old 3.2m Ø one. That way I can lay the new ring over the old timber without interfering with dome movement. Nor needing to dismantle any of the older building's timbers. Nor touch the plywood dome until much later. The existing, top [roller] ring can even be used to temporarily support the new, larger ring in suitable places using scraps of plywood or batten.

 

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