Mini Ramp in the Barn, Day One

So on Saturday morning I got up early, worked on my loose construction plans and headed to the local timber yard to make some purchases. I bought 10 sheets of 8' x 4' plywood. Unfortunately they didn't have the plywood in the thickness recommended by the the Dahlen/Pukeboy manifesto, so I had to settle for sheets that were in-between. The guy in the store assured me that, when soaked, the thickness I got was bendable. I was too excited about the prospect of my very own mini ramp to really worry too much at this stage. Dahlen/Pukeboy recommends using 3/4" thickness for the sideboards and 3/8" for the surface. I got 12mm thickness instead. So I decided to use two 12mm sheets for each sideboard to make it strong enough, and then hope that the 12mm would be pliable enough to use for the surface too.

12mm 8'x4' on trailer - exciting stuff

In terms of lumber, I sourced countless planks, all more or less 2"x4" of various lengths, around the farm that I reckon I could use instead of the standard 2"x4" suggested by Dahlen/Pukeboy. Screws and tools were plenty too. So far so good.

The next step was to design the sideboards. I used the string method for drawing the gradient on to the first sheet of plywood and drew the rest of the sideboard outline with a long ruler.


I opted for a 6 1/2' - 2m gradient, as all websites on the topic seem to suggest that is a mellow gradient, suitable for 3' - 1m ramps. The string method is well-explained in the Dahlen/Pukeboy manifestos.

I also spent a bit more time measuring out the exact space in the barn and revised my figures slightly:

Total length: 6.40m
Flat: 1.80m
Each platform is about 0.60m long (ca. 2') - enough to do a rock fakie with trucks all the way to coping and still have breathing space
Height from ground: ca. 1m
Vertical height, coping to flat: ca. 0.90m (3')
Width: 2.44m (8')
Transition gradient ca 2m (ca 6 1/2')

Hopefully it'll just fit (probably a bit snug, but I wanted to use all possible space to ensure a decent length of ramp).

I proceeded to cut out the first sideboard with a jigsaw. I then traced the the cut-out on to the remainder of the sheet and cut that out too. I repeated this process a few more times to leave me with 12 sideboards, all roughly identical. As I'm using thinner plywood than that recommended, I plan to have the outer sides of the four quarterpipes I make to be double layers. The insides will become double once I put the quarterpipes together. To allay confusion, I should add that the Dahlen/Pukeboy method suggests building 4 quarterpipes that, when combined, will make up the two main quarterpipes in each end of the ramp.

A few sideboards cut out

The rest of day one was spent cutting planks to size for the cross joists. I found a whole heap of oak planks that were of a suitable size. Oak is very hard wood and it took a while to saw enough cross joints for the first qaurterpipe.

Day one drew to a close, and I went to bed praying that this project will work.

Mini Ramp in the Barn, Day Zero

One of the advantages of relocating to rural shitsville (possibly apart from being able to go swimming butt-naked in total privacy whenever it takes your fancy), is the ability to take full use of the spaces afforded for purposes that would have been difficult to do in the middle of an urban setting. Friday night I decided to break the monotony of country-living and realise a childhood dream all in one fell swoop: I'm going to build my very own miniramp in one of the many barns scattered around my family's farm. I used to be an avid skateboarder in my teens and early twenties before London, drugs and partying took over. Since having moved out of the City of Filth to a 100% contrasting setting in hickstown, southern Sweden, I've had to fill my evenings and weekends with something other than fishing and moose counting. Luckily I brought my old deck with me, hence the plan and desire to start skating again.
Once a skater, always a skater as they say.

So, following some hard-fought negotiations with the family, I have been granted permission to build an indoor mini ramp in a suitably sized barn next to the main house. I will try to document its progress in this blog over the course of the next few weeks (well, ambitiously I am aiming to have it finished by the end of next weekend, but let's see, eh? As I am the only person working on it and I have no prior experience in the field, it might take longer than that).

I spent Friday night scouring t'internet looking for diagrams and how-too's, and I must admit it was more difficult at first than I had imagined. Ramp Plans Dot Org is a good starting point, but it contains no actual plans (not useful - trade descriptions fuck-up if you ask me) and many of the links are dead (not useful either). After a somewhat confusing browsing session, however, I came across and settled for plans provided by the following two websites:

Rick Dahlen's Mini Ramp
(has a great downloadable PDF with decent diagrams and a walk-through)

Pukeboy's Mini Ramp Plans
(confusing and cheap looking website, but once successfully navigated, extremely useful. Has some cool pics of the final product, too. Not too hot on diagrams, but well-explained)

As Rick Dahlen's ramp plans are loosely based on those provided by Pukeboy, I decided to make my ramp based on a bastardization of the two. The beauty of the plans provided on the two sites mentioned is that the ramp construction uses standard size wood, both lumber and plywood, which makes the process easier and quicker.

(I will go into the various techniques as and when they crop up in my construction over the next week or two.)

So, Day Zero of my ramp construction, I came up with the following rough outline, based on space restrictions in the barn (see below), and my liberal adaptation of the dimensions of the Dahlen/Pukeboy beast:

Total length: 6.5 m / 21'(ish)
Transition: 1.99m / 6.5' (supposedly quite mellow, perfect for 3' height)
Height: 0.91m / 3' (ish)
Width: 2.1 - 2.4m / 7' - 8' (not decided yet, space issues. Might be as wide as 10')
Flat: 1.8m / 6'
Platform width: 0.60 - 0.8 m / 2' - 2.5' (again, space issues, will decide once transition and flat is up)
Surface: either one or two layers of 1/2" plywood, covered by one layer of Masonite
Coping: yet to purchase, PVC is easier to work with, iron lasts longer... depending on availability etc.

I'm going to construct sideboard/frames first (draw and cut out gradient etc), then flat section. Planning to soak surface plywood in lake over night to enable it to bend properly (best method, apparently).

This is where I intend to fit the ramp: