With everything ready to go prior to the fifty-three foot trailer arrived we had a whole day to load it. This meant we could do the task without rushing. The pallets were numbered and one by one we carefully brought them to the truck and slid them into position. Since we don't have a loading dock we instead used the forklift along with a custom designed, two piece push rig that fits onto the forks. We can reach into a trailer about thirty feet. The pallets each weighed up to two thousand pounds but slid easily on the smooth trailer floor.
Each pallet was equipped with temporary dolly wheels which facilitate easy movement of the heavy pieces around the shop as we build. As we lifted the pallets with the forklift these wheels dropped off effortlessly, ready for reuse on the next project.
With all of the pieces stuffed into the trailer securely there was only four inches of space left by the door. Some scrap dunnage was tossed into this space to prevent any movement on the journey.
The total time to load was just over three hours. Tomorrow morning we sent the trailer on it's way.
