2010 TRAVELING FLOAT

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

February 22 - February 28, 2010

by Tom Grady:

I wasn't able to get into town until really late on Friday. Greg and Amy and the kids picked me up late. So we didn't go to work until Saturday.

Our goal this weekend is to get the welding on the chassis and the deck covered in plywood out of the way... We need to move past the maintenance, chassis and decking stage so that we can get into the decorating and animation stage. We have six more weeks left before Daffodil and it will be here before we know it.

I spoke to Moni from Painted Paw Studios and she is on target for delivery by the end of March. I also spoke to John Lindstrom and we are working out the details of how we are going to fasten the sun/moon to the animation mechanism. John is very experienced at this sort of thing and he will be ready also by the end of the month. The turtle is here. So is the tree. I need to order a couple more plush animals and then the "gang" will all be here.

Greg anchored the Royalty stanchion receivers to their permanent location. They are very visible and high enough and not blocked by any element of the float. He also finished out the framework of all of the storage compartments that we will have on the float - nine in total. The storage box in the rear that usually carries our food has been re-designed. The old version was just wooden and was abused and shaky from everyone climbing on it. This one has a steel frame that is sturdier. Plus - if you ever had to fill the gas in the generator....you'll notice a slight improvement in our design - this box tips forward so that you won't need the funnel and hose and you can actually see the gas gauge!

We also added purse storage areas (2) for the ladies up front that are real convenient to access. It was unused space that we are taking advantage of. We also extended the fuel filler neck to the deck so that - again - you won't have to use the funnel and hose to fill the gas up. We are replacing the gas gauge - so it will work - and we shouldn't have to guess how much gas we have in the future.

By having the Princesses on the back halves of the float - we found that those sides tended to drop a little bit lower (maybe an inch or two) than the front sides - under load. Unfortunately, this will be the case during every parade. So, Greg came up with the idea that we should put a piece of flat bar steel in between the two sides so that whenever the rear half drops down, the front half drops down with it (at the same time). Problem solved!

We found some little rubber shoes that we had to add to the bottom of the steel from the upper deck. When it folds down onto the lower deck it will protect the material from getting torn from it's sharp edges. Also the steel tends to rust and discolor the material over the course of time so it was a reasonable investment.

We built a small breather vent for the engine. It is made out of a steel frame also, so if you step on it, it won't break.

We replaced all of our clips for locking the folding sides upright and welded a wire to them to the frame so that hopefully they cannot get lost. We are keeping the old ones as spares in case they do.

We took the time to wander around the chassis and tried to grind off any sharp edges and burrs that we thought people could cut themselves on or catch their clothing on. Anything that we thought could propose a potential hazard we also painted yellow...so hopefully, during this season, our crew will catch on.

I think that we are real close to schedule...but I can feel Daffodil's date approaching...until then, have a great week!

*L - Lighting, *L&A - Lighting and Animation