Advice sought on transporting a cold frame greenhouse

[JR]

We are selling one of our greenhouses. After turning down a couple of offers on the condition that we (I) transport it, I have finally succumbed and agreed to take it down and deliver for an additional $200 on top of the selling price of the greenhouse. The one thing I am concerned with is the transportation of the actual hoops. They are nearly 9 ft tall (102" to be exact) by 15 ft wide. Too wide to lay flat on my trailer not to mention there are too many hoops and they would never survive the 90 mile mostly freeway trip that way. So I'm thinking about building a "cradle" so to speak out of lumber and transporting them vertically.... upside down. Similar to how I've seen trusses hauled. Lay them side by side (vertically) in a cradle which I will fix to my wood deck and then secure them to the cradle by sandwiching them with another board which will be screwed directly to the frame of the cradle. Hope that makes sense? I can add ratchet straps for security if necessary but I am pretty certain I will not be able to rely on them soley for this job. I'm a little ways out from the delivery date so I'm not in a hurry yet and just looking for any other ideas or thoughts I might be missing at this point. I'm pretty sure there are. :-laf

For reference here is a picture of the greenhouse and the hoops in question.

Thanks!!

 

[GAmes]

My gooseneck trailer bed is 102" wide. It seems it would be easier to build a cradle to lay them on their sides, with the bottoms on one side and the tops on the other, and stack them. Even if you have a 96" wide trailer they would only be 3 inches off either side, and within DOT regs for not being over wide.

 

[JR]

My gooseneck trailer bed is 102" wide. It seems it would be easier to build a cradle to lay them on their sides, with the bottoms on one side and the tops on the other, and stack them. Even if you have a 96" wide trailer they would only be 3 inches off either side, and within DOT regs for not being over wide.

Thanks Gary, I've thought of this as well I'm just not quite sure how well they would ride on top of each other like that. But as long as I built the cradle so that it entraps them I suppose they can't go far.

I didn't mention it but my deck is right at 96" wide.

 

[GAmes]

A roll of bubble wrap shouldn't be very expensive. A three or four inch wide strip weaved like an S from the bottom to top in three or four locations of the stack should keep them from shifting and damaging each other with a tie down strap. Using stake pockets, if you have them, would alleviate the need to build a cradle. Top of the arch outside a stake that is 7 1/2 ft from the front of the trailer, one foot against the front of the trailer and secured, the other foot secured to a stake. Maybe a couple cross straps for additional security. Seems like an easy load to me.

 

[JR]

Well, what's easy for a guy that hauls for a living isn't necessarily easy for a novice like me that only hauls his own personal goods and for the occasional friend or family member. Which is why I'm looking for ideas ahead of time which I am grateful for btw. Im thinkin it's gonna take more than bubble wrap and ratchet straps to safely move 25 of these 90 miles down the freeway but I've been wrong more than once. I'll have to lay the first few down when the time comes and see how secure they feel and go from there.

I appreciate your suggestions Gary.

 

[mwilson]

How long is the deck on your trailer?

Do you have access to a portable banding/strapping set up that could be borrowed (like from work)?

 

[Killer223]

i would built 3 holders. just wide enough apart for the pipe to fit, one each side and one in the middle. set them inside it..
lemme try and explain...
say pipe is 2", take 2 2x4x?? stood on end, and space them apart enough to set the pipe in, think fork tangs. you could screw them to the deck of a trailer. then when all in set in place, ratchet strap them down...
i think this is how i would do it.
if you need more explanation, i'll try and draw something up...
pictures!!!

 

[GAmes]

Actually, I only haul other people's trailers for pay. My flatbed is strictly personal use. I had another thought. Rather than bubble wrap, strips of old carpet would work better. If you weave them through the pipes as you stack them the strips would prevent side to side movement.

 

[JR]

How long is the deck on your trailer?

Do you have access to a portable banding/strapping set up that could be borrowed (like from work)?

Deck is 22 ft long. We do have banding at work, that's a good idea I'm sure I could bring it home for a night.

Killer are you talking about standing them upright?

One other reason I was initially thinking about hauling them vertically, I've also got 200 ft of 2x6x12ft long boards that go with the greenhouse. If I do lay the hoops down flat and stack them they will take up the first 15ft of my trailer deck by the entire width leaving only 7 ft of deck. Nearly half the length of the boards would be hanging off the deck. If I built a cradle to set them in vertically i would have the room for the boards off to the side.
I'm looking at 200 miles round trip to deliver so getting this in one load is very much preferable.

 

[NIsaacs]

i would built 3 holders. just wide enough apart for the pipe to fit, one each side and one in the middle. set them inside it..

I think Killer has the right idea, the middle upright could be in a stake pocket with the hoop outside of it then build the other two on the deck. The 2x lumber could stack inside the hoops. The hardest part is going to be a tie down system.

Nick

 

[JR]

Indeed tying 25 of them down stacked on top of each other so that they don't shift will be difficult. Definitely like the banding idea. The hoop pipe diameter is roughly 1" and they are fairly light weight. However I end up doing it I believe I will need to fix them with lumber screwed to the deck to prevent them from shifting.

Killer, after reading Nick's post I understand what your saying. Sounds like a good way to do it. Much like Gary suggested. Only problem that presents is hauling the 2x6's but I suppose I could stack them flat on the deck before I stack the hoops.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Keep em coming if you can think of anything else.

 

[NIsaacs]

If they are only about 1" in diameter that's even better. Stack the 2x's in one stack in about the center of the deck, that will be about the 12' width of the hoops, that is your centering rack. Strap them down with two straps first then stack the hoops, they will be about 25" high, the same as the lumber, then use one upright in the stake pocket for the other centering devise.

Nick

 

[mwilson]

All good ideas above. I was a professional (?) flat bedder for years, hauled a lot of strange stuff.

This is what I would do.....

Boards first, create a 24' floor by laying them end to end on the deck making one thin layer. Strap the boards down. Then lay the hoops as shown. You might be a hair over 102" and you will have 2' of overhang. Good load for first thing on a Sunday morning.

Use stakes as needed to lash to. Create several containment devices as shown below using 2" X 4" s and either banding or small ratchet straps. Make a quickie form that you can move to hold the pipes in place until you get the device tight. Repeat three or four times per bundle. Doing it this way will give you one stack that is 13 tubes high and the other will be 12 tubes high. Strap the now contained hoops to stakes as needed.

Just my thoughts without seeing it....and no, I'm not a artist. My coffee cup handle kept getting in the way while ATTEMPTING to draw the hoops......:-laf

 

[GAmes]

That's definitely better than stacking all 25 together Mike.

 

[JR]

Beautiful Mike, much appreciated. I think that's how I'll load it when the time comes. It will be a few weekends from now but I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks to all for the suggestions!

 

[NIsaacs]

That's definitely better than stacking all 25 together Mike.

I agree. Sounds like a good plan.

Nick

 

[Killer223]

those drawings are what i was trying to describe. see pictures are SOO worth it.
now with the second pic. take and make say 6 of those 2x4 on end cradles, each end of the hoop, and one in the middle. the bottom could be a simple piece of plywood.
to strap it down, if you don't have enough tie down spots, wrap the strap around a 2x4 or such, and screw it to the deck of the trailer.

 

[mwilson]

"Those drawings are what i was trying to describe. see pictures are SOO worth it.
now with the second pic. take and make say 6 of those 2x4 on end cradles, each end of the hoop, and one in the middle. the bottom could be a simple piece of plywood.
to strap it down, if you don't have enough tie down spots, wrap the strap around a 2x4 or such, and screw it to the deck of the trailer."


See, all you needed was a coffee cup........:-laf​

 

[JR]

See, all you needed was a coffee cup........:-laf​

Preferably one without a handle

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I'm about to head out back and begin taking the boards off the bottom. I'd also like to get the plastic down and folded up and out of the weather while it's above freezing, the rest will have to wait until at least next weekend.
Got more important things to do this weekend like eat left over turkey and hunt

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

 

[BIGNASTY]

JR are the pipes PVC or Galvanized ?