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Salmon Arm, BC

OK guys and gals really need some help here! Would somebody please describe the procedure for getting your kin to the weigh off? For instance...I can see how to get the mesh/basket under it and lifted but then it is stuck under the fruit on the pallet..no? Do they weigh the harness after? How does it go? The local fair here told me to put the bloody thing in a wheelbarrow and set it on the floor!!! LOL...I don't know of any 600-800lbs certified wheelbarrows do you? I told them they would need a forklift? How does it go? Sorry but am a total weigh off virgin here. lol Deb :) I was told the record here was 200 lbs! eeeek! ps they are using an old antiquated scale as well. I'll be taking my lighter fruit of the two and using this as a test run for the trip to Smokey Lake..I have lots of manpower and a tractor and truck/tailer at my disposal. Thanks!

8/27/2006 8:33:21 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Order beer, pizza & friends. A ring or lifting tarp is used by most to get the fruit onto a pallet in the truck. Most folks layer foam/cardboard/carpeting on the pallet to insulate the pumpkin. Hay bales, straps, more foam, etc get wedged all around but well placed straps are all that is usually necessary for the ride.

Trucks are usually pickups but flat beds, mason dumps, cube vans & trailers all show up as well.

Last year one of our club members devised a very creative crane/trailer combination.

At our weigh-off all you need to do is arrive with the fruit on a pallet. No pallet & you're on your own since we pluck them off the truck with a forklift.

We leave them in the staging area on pallets.

Then we pick them up & drive them over to the scale where the handlers use lifting tarps to get them onto the scale. We're debating the use of a ring this year but we'll see which method is faster.

The bigger ones we remove the tarp & weigh just the fruit since this is the GPC standard. All Squash & Pumpkins are photographed on the scale with the grower holding up a weight-placard.

Fruit that are in the running for a color prize (or are questionable) get photographed from every angle should there ever be need for a review.

8/27/2006 11:10:13 PM

Salmon Arm, BC

Thank you Tremor..have printed this out and will be giving to fair organizer in morning.

8/28/2006 12:56:51 AM