Chewing gum and wee bits of wire

I spent a good part of the day engineering a pulley system so I can store my sailboards (windsurf boards) up out of the way against the ceiling of our garage. I'd built something similar in my California house many years ago. It worked OK, but never perfectly. I decided: new house ==> proper engineering.

Last night I retrieved suitable bits, saved from previous rigging and that had languished in a paper sack for nigh unto 10 years. I sat in the family room and rove rope through pulleys, attached pulleys to scrap slats of wood simulating the ceiling and the cradle I planned to hold the boards. Much re-roving, re-attaching, and re-cussing. Eventually I had a design that looked reasonable. That left only to scale it up today.

Stud finders don't.

This windsurf equipment is relatively heavy, probably bordering on 75 pounds. The three attachments on the ceiling of the garage needed to be embedded in the wooden ceiling joists, not just in the sheet rock. I'd earlier purchased an electronic stud finder. That was supposed to make finding the studs easier and even would prevent you from drilling, screwing or pounding into live electrical wires.

I put up the ladder in the garage, turned on the stud finder and spent the next 45 minutes making marks on the ceiling. If you took the time to connect all the dots I made, you'd have a picture of Lady Godiva Riding a Horse. What you wouldn't have is any idea where the studs are ... or you'd be led to think they are everywhere.

I retreated to the tried and true. A little careful looking allowed me to find the nails holding up the sheet rock ... probably nails in the studs. A few taps of a long thin nail into the hoped for position of the stud either proved or disproved the theory. If true, then the pilot hole for the hook to go in the ceiling was already started. If false, eye-ball the sheet rock nails again and try the next most likely spot. At the end, throw the electronic stud finder at the wall.

I got the pulley system rigged. It worked a treat on its own with no load attached. Then I went to work engineering a cradle of sorts. I'd hoped this cradle would hold a couple boards, two masts, and nine sails. I got some wood roped and tied together. The pulley system worked fine with just the cradle attached. The system even looked like it was going to work with one board sitting in the cradle. It looked like that right up until the point that the cradle dumped the board onto the concrete floor. It had only made it to a height of about 12" so no great harm done.

Then two hours went by.

At the end of the time roughly eight different ideas for holding the boards in the pulley system had been tried and had failed. While pacing back and forth muttering, I happened to see two straps whose original purpose was to hold things on car roof racks. Roof racks were gone; straps now became sailboard holders: easy to attach to pulleys, easy to make tight and slip proof, easy to get off. Viola. Another 30 minutes of experimentation ensued, but eventually: two boards snuggled against the ceiling.

Now the sails should be a breeze. Hook them to the beam of the pulley system where the straps attach -- up they go. Except they over balanced the boards to one side and this time I had two boards and four sails on the concrete.

Another hour and two beers go by before I realize I don't actually have to hoist the sails. They're light. I'll just fasten them to the hooks in the ceiling and I'll be done. Two bungee cords and four trips up the ladder: Job Done.


It required another 20 minutes to clean up the 42 tools, 97 bits of rope, 6 left over pulleys, and some nails -- and pushing all the storage boxes back to where they belonged -- and picking up the remains of the non-finding stud finder.


For the record:

1. I did not use one strip of duct tape.
2. I did not use any newspaper.
3. I was not bleeding at the end of the exercise.
4. No animals were harmed in the testing except for the spider that fell off the ceiling and down my shirt front.
5. I only used two 4" pieces of wire in the whole construction.
6. Generally all the pieces that should be symmetrical, are of the same type and size, i.e., no big giant hook on one end and one tiny hook on the other. All the screws are the same type, size and color.
7. The rig has remained in place for six hours and has not crashed to the floor.

I rewarded myself by heading off to play golf. And when I got back, thanks to previous effort, I could even park my new old golf cart in its rightful place.