OT: Any ideas on a way to move/place small boulders?

[Robert Macy]

Rough terrain. Don't want to score/mar the terrain.

Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft

Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

 

[Jeffrey Angus]

On 10/10/2011 7:44 AM, Robert Macy wrote:

Rough terrain. Don't want to score/mar the terrain.

Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft

Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

Well, since you don't want to leave any footprints, you're
only option is a well calculated shaped charge to lift the
boulder and have it gracefully drop into the new location.

Jeff

--
"Everything from Crackers to Coffins"

 

[Winston]

Robert Macy wrote:

Rough terrain. Don't want to score/mar the terrain.

Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft

Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

Helicopter, derrick crane with a rock grapple?

--Winston

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:44:25 -0700 (PDT), Robert Macy
<robert.a.macy@gmail.com> wrote:

Rough terrain. Don't want to score/mar the terrain.
Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft
Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Get some steel plates and place them on top of your rough terrain.
Slide the boulders on the steel plates. Remove steel plates and the
ecology should remain unperturbed.

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

Remove some of the flora and temporarily transplant to a wooden box.
When done, put the plants back.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

 

[Rich Webb]

On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:44:25 -0700 (PDT), Robert Macy
<robert.a.macy@gmail.com> wrote:

Rough terrain. Don't want to score/mar the terrain.

Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft

Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

Balloon lift? Any hot-air balloon enthusiasts in your area? Once the
canopy is sufficiently inflated, you'd be dealing just with the mass and
not the weight. Need to have an anchor line (to a power winch) to take a
strain once the ballast (boulder) is dropped. Three anchor lines spaced
around the perimeter may even allow the balloon to be winched from a
drop location to the next pickup location.

Or helium-filled weather balloons?

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:12:33 -0700 (PDT), Robert Macy
<robert.a.macy@gmail.com> wrote:

Not bad, but sheet steel weighs more than boulder.

Sheet steel disributes the weight over a much larger area. If you
don't mind destroying some lumber, use some 2x12 planks.

transplant, tried. even with extreme care only been getting 50%
success rates

Add water... the plants will grow back.

I was thinking a long the line of a 'rough landscape' motor hoist

Put giant baloon tires on an engine hoist. The basic idea is to
minimize the ground loading.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Robert Macy]

On Oct 10, 6:50 am, Jeffrey Angus <grendel...@aim.com> wrote:

On 10/10/2011 7:44 AM, Robert Macy wrote:

Rough terrain.  Don't want to score/mar the terrain.

Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft

Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

Well, since you don't want to leave any footprints, you're
only option is a well calculated shaped charge to lift the
boulder and have it gracefully drop into the new location.

Jeff

--
"Everything from Crackers to Coffins"

LOL!

I'll hire Mr. Coyote.

 

[Robert Macy]

On Oct 10, 11:15 am, Winston <Wins...@BigBrother.net> wrote:

Robert Macy wrote:
Rough terrain.  Don't want to score/mar the terrain.

Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft

Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

Helicopter, derrick crane with a rock grapple?

--Winston

Wind blast is too much, but perhaps a 'wide legged' crane.

 

[Robert Macy]

On Oct 10, 3:24 pm, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com> wrote:

On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:44:25 -0700 (PDT), Robert Macy

robert.a.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
Rough terrain.  Don't want to score/mar the terrain.
Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft
Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Get some steel plates and place them on top of your rough terrain.
Slide the boulders on the steel plates.  Remove steel plates and the
ecology should remain unperturbed.

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

Remove some of the flora and temporarily transplant to a wooden box.
When done, put the plants back.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
#http://802.11junk.com              je...@cruzio.com
#http://www.LearnByDestroying.com              AE6KS

Not bad, but sheet steel weighs more than boulder.

transplant, tried. even with extreme care only been getting 50%
success rates

I was thinking a long the line of a 'rough landscape' motor hoist

 

On Oct 10, 1:44 pm, Robert Macy <robert.a.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

Rough terrain.  Don't want to score/mar the terrain.

Need to move boulders around. approx 200 to 300 ft and up and down
approx 5 to 10 ft

Any idea on an easy way to do this?

Remember, need small footprint, don't want to leave lug track marks
everywhere and break down small amount of flora that does exist.

A DIY or gardening group, like uk.d-i-y, might be a better place to
find someone who's done something similar.

How heavy and what shape are these boulders? Can one or two people
lift them, if only a few inches?

If roughly spherical, could you roll them along a pair of rails that
need only to be supported at points where there aren't plants. Or
could you get them onto a sling hung from a catenary, or carried
between two people? Stories are told of local rugby clubs and an
adequate supply of canned lubricant being employed for such
activities.

Chris

 

[Winston]

Robert Macy wrote:

Wind blast is too much, but perhaps a 'wide legged' crane.

That made me think of a 300 ft. long 'Centipede'
with 3/4" black pipe legs, fixed at both ends
with aircraft cable into soil anchors.
The peak of each set of legs supports a linear
"I" beam. A trolley rides on the beam and
supports a come-along winch that lifts the boulder.

Another winch on the high side controls the
travel up or down hill.

"Gantry crane meets mini ski lift", sorta.

--Winston

 

[Winston]

Anonymous wrote:

(...)

Do it the old fashioned way... here's what you'd need:
4 wide, thick planks, each with a hole through it on each end.
8 metal fence posts, cut down to about 2 1/2 feet in length
3 come-along winches
1 fence-post puller
1 large, strong rope net
1 20-pound sledgehammer

Position your winches this way:
Winch one: 30 degrees to the left of the boulder
Winch two: dead ahead
Winch three: 30 degrees to the right of the boulder

Lay down 2 of the planks at the edge of the boulder, hammer the fence
posts into the ground to anchor the planks, so they're flush with the
top of the holes in the planks. Place the rope net around the boulder
so the net's pull-point is facing the direction of the winches. Hook
up the winches and pull, using the winches to 'steer' the boulder. Lay
down the next two planks and repeat. When the boulder is off the first
set of planks, place the fence-post puller on the plank and pull the
fence posts, then pick up the planks, lay them down at the far end of
the other planks, and drive the fence posts back in.

Lots of manual labor, but it'll pull very large boulders quite a
distance pretty quickly, and it does minimal damage to the surrounding
flora.

If you're dealing with sloped terrain or a very large or oddly shaped
boulder, you might need two additional winches placed at 90 degrees to
the left and right of the boulder, for more direct 'steering'. This
will slow down the pull considerably, as you have to move these two
winches frequently as the boulder moves.

Your pull points for the winches, you'll have to figure out for
yourself... we used 5 foot long, very thick metal rods, driven down
into the ground and angled away from the boulder, so that only about 6
inches of rod was showing above ground. Each of these had a metal loop
welded to the top for the winches to hook to.

If we are allowed that amount of 'site impact',
I think a tow truck would be 'way faster and
gentler.

--Winston

 

Winston wrote in <news:j72tdo02l1a@news2.newsguy.com>:

Robert Macy wrote:

Wind blast is too much, but perhaps a 'wide legged' crane.

That made me think of a 300 ft. long 'Centipede'
with 3/4" black pipe legs, fixed at both ends
with aircraft cable into soil anchors.
The peak of each set of legs supports a linear
"I" beam. A trolley rides on the beam and
supports a come-along winch that lifts the boulder.

Another winch on the high side controls the
travel up or down hill.

"Gantry crane meets mini ski lift", sorta.

--Winston

Do it the old fashioned way... here's what you'd need:
4 wide, thick planks, each with a hole through it on each end.
8 metal fence posts, cut down to about 2 1/2 feet in length
3 come-along winches
1 fence-post puller
1 large, strong rope net
1 20-pound sledgehammer

Position your winches this way:
Winch one: 30 degrees to the left of the boulder
Winch two: dead ahead
Winch three: 30 degrees to the right of the boulder

Lay down 2 of the planks at the edge of the boulder, hammer the fence
posts into the ground to anchor the planks, so they're flush with the
top of the holes in the planks. Place the rope net around the boulder
so the net's pull-point is facing the direction of the winches. Hook
up the winches and pull, using the winches to 'steer' the boulder. Lay
down the next two planks and repeat. When the boulder is off the first
set of planks, place the fence-post puller on the plank and pull the
fence posts, then pick up the planks, lay them down at the far end of
the other planks, and drive the fence posts back in.

Lots of manual labor, but it'll pull very large boulders quite a
distance pretty quickly, and it does minimal damage to the surrounding
flora.

If you're dealing with sloped terrain or a very large or oddly shaped
boulder, you might need two additional winches placed at 90 degrees to
the left and right of the boulder, for more direct 'steering'. This
will slow down the pull considerably, as you have to move these two
winches frequently as the boulder moves.

Your pull points for the winches, you'll have to figure out for
yourself... we used 5 foot long, very thick metal rods, driven down
into the ground and angled away from the boulder, so that only about 6
inches of rod was showing above ground. Each of these had a metal loop
welded to the top for the winches to hook to.