dwillis
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2008
- Messages
- 127
Several weeks ago I moved my household across country using a professional moving company. But I rented a 15 foot U-Haul truck to move my most precious items, among them all of my Festools. Because of my undiagnosed medical condition, well okay, addiction to plastic boxes with green labels and great tools, I had a lot of Systainers to move. So I was looking for a way to secure the Systainers to survive a 2,000 mile drive. I came up with what I thought was a really clever way to secure everything, boy was I wrong.
Along one side of the truck I stacked all the Systainers against the side wall, but did not lock them together (this is a key oversight). Then I placed sheets of 3/4 EPS foam sheets against the Systainers and then two 4x8 sheets of 3/4 inch melamine coated boards against the EPS foam sheets. The idea here was to give a little padding to protect the Systainers. Then I used wide straps with a ratchet to secure the whole sandwich to the truck wall. Because the Systainers were over four feet high I added another two foot wide melamine board above the 4x8 sheet.
I wish I took a photo of my work, but I now have a stack of Systainers eight feet long and six feet high (told you I have a problem). Everything was securely fastened and I was positive that nothing would move. That was a poor assumption. Basically the truck acts like a large vibrating paint mixer when rocketing down the interstate at 70 mph, and amateurs like me have no business packing for a long haul. On my first day I only got down the road 200 miles before I called it a night and pulled into a hotel. My suitcase was in the back of the truck and when I opened the door I found my carefully planned and well executed packing job had exploded. In fact I could have just tossed the Systainers into a heap in the back of the truck instead of carefully packing them.
It appears that two things happened, one the strap loosened from the vibrations (yes, portions of the interstate system is in need of repairs), but since the stacks of Systainers were not connected they just cascaded down towards the back of the truck and half of them ended up in all sorts of positions all over the truck. But it was late, I was tired from moving, my back hurt, and it was raining and storming, so I grabbed my suitcase, closed the door, and went to bed.
Next morning I thought about repacking, but given all the other items I was moving the back of the truck was inaccessible, so I drove on, gritting my teeth for the next 1,800 miles. By the time I got to my destination the mess had gotten only slightly worse, and it was with a great deal of trepidation that I started to unload the truck, fully expecting to have to replace quite a few broken Systainers, and maybe even some tools.
Now the good news. Other than one latch popping off, not one Systainer or their contents were damaged, not one. Not too bad for throwing all my precious tools into a cement mixer for three days!
Along one side of the truck I stacked all the Systainers against the side wall, but did not lock them together (this is a key oversight). Then I placed sheets of 3/4 EPS foam sheets against the Systainers and then two 4x8 sheets of 3/4 inch melamine coated boards against the EPS foam sheets. The idea here was to give a little padding to protect the Systainers. Then I used wide straps with a ratchet to secure the whole sandwich to the truck wall. Because the Systainers were over four feet high I added another two foot wide melamine board above the 4x8 sheet.
I wish I took a photo of my work, but I now have a stack of Systainers eight feet long and six feet high (told you I have a problem). Everything was securely fastened and I was positive that nothing would move. That was a poor assumption. Basically the truck acts like a large vibrating paint mixer when rocketing down the interstate at 70 mph, and amateurs like me have no business packing for a long haul. On my first day I only got down the road 200 miles before I called it a night and pulled into a hotel. My suitcase was in the back of the truck and when I opened the door I found my carefully planned and well executed packing job had exploded. In fact I could have just tossed the Systainers into a heap in the back of the truck instead of carefully packing them.
It appears that two things happened, one the strap loosened from the vibrations (yes, portions of the interstate system is in need of repairs), but since the stacks of Systainers were not connected they just cascaded down towards the back of the truck and half of them ended up in all sorts of positions all over the truck. But it was late, I was tired from moving, my back hurt, and it was raining and storming, so I grabbed my suitcase, closed the door, and went to bed.
Next morning I thought about repacking, but given all the other items I was moving the back of the truck was inaccessible, so I drove on, gritting my teeth for the next 1,800 miles. By the time I got to my destination the mess had gotten only slightly worse, and it was with a great deal of trepidation that I started to unload the truck, fully expecting to have to replace quite a few broken Systainers, and maybe even some tools.
Now the good news. Other than one latch popping off, not one Systainer or their contents were damaged, not one. Not too bad for throwing all my precious tools into a cement mixer for three days!
