Virginia went to Underwater World — http://uwwguam.com/ — this morning with several of the ladies. Denise had some complimentary tickets and had invited them earlier this week. They went out for ice cream afterwards.

With Virginia away, April stepped in to help George and Jason with the spare parts packing and lists.  By the time they were finished, the list totaled over 110 boxes of spare parts.

The truck driver arrived right at 11am and came with the second container on the special trailer that could lower the container onto the ground.  This container was unloaded under the transmission lines going to the antennas.  It was necessary to lift these lines slightly with a pole to give enough clearance for the side-loading trailer to accomplish this task.  Fortunately, the transmitters were not on the air to allow this to happen.

It was at this point that this driver’s expertise began to shine!  He convinced us that he could lower the second container onto the ground on the other side of the building in a very tight space and still have its doors open onto the concrete slab.  The process went like this:

1.  He unhitched the side-loading trailer.

2.  He hitched onto the other trailer with the first container and moved it to the other side of the building.

3.  He unhitched from this trailer

4.  He hitched back onto the side-loading trailer, moved alongside the other trailer and transferred the first container onto this trailer.

5.  With a few attempts he managed to back into a very tight space with a ditch and power pole on one side and another container being used for storage on the other, leaving just enough space for the first container.

6. With less than 6 inches to spare on each side he lowered the first container between his side-loading trailer and the storage container!

All this was done in less than an hour!

Now the loading of the containers began in earnest.  First the 3-ton high voltage transformers were loaded using the forklift then the ‘skates’ to move them all the way in — two into one container and one in the other.  After the two transformers were secured in place with heavy strap tie-downs, the steam condensers (radiators) and spare parts boxes were used to fill in spaces around the big transformers.

The top frame was loaded into the container and its empty spaces filled with spare parts boxes and smaller transformers, motors, etc.

Now TX 1 was moved to the container with three ‘skates’ — two at the back (the heavy end) and one at the front to do the steering.  At first we tried four ‘skates’ — one on each corner, but found that with any unevenness in the floor that one or more of the ‘skates’ would come out.  With three, this problem was eliminated and steering was quite easy.

For those who are interested in what these ‘skates’ (also called machinery skates or roller skids) look like check out this (which is very similar to those we used) — http://www.rollerskids.com/mark-5.html

To get TX1 into the container we jacked up the frame and put 2X4 blocks on top of two ‘skates’ just behind the front, then pushed the transmitter so the front extended into the container.  It was now possible to us the forklift to lift the back of the transmitter and slide it the rest of the way into the container.

While the other men were loading more parts into the remaining open spaces of this container, I prepared TX 2 to be moved, only to find some conduit still connected to it from underneath.  I was able to disconnect one of the conduits, but the larger one had to be cut off with a saw.

By 4:30 (normal quitting time) we had TX 2 moved where TX 1 had been.  Now it was in a position that it would be possible to remove the top frame with the forklift. By 5pm, the frame was off, we picked up the tools outside and closed the containers.

Because George and Jason are scheduled to leave tomorrow, we decided to work tomorrow (Saturday) and try to finish packing the containers before they leave.

For some reason, after supper tonight I was so tired I could not hold my eyes open!  Decided to stop fighting sleep and was in bed by 8pm.