Originally Posted by
Dead Nerve
Are you just going to use charcoal (the stuff for outdoor cooking) as the coal?
Coal story: I posted an ad on craigslist asking for information on where I could find some coal around here for a holiday decoration project. Living in the foothills of the smokey mountains there is a lot of coal that comes out of the ground right here in this area so I knew it shoudln't be too hard to find some. I got a couple responses and one lady even offered me some free coal from her basement if i'd just come get it. It turns out that this lady lives about 40 minutes away but free coal is free coal so I'm driving out there tomorrow after work to get a buck full of real honest-to-goodness coal.
The box is made of white oak (heavy) and the frame is welded from steel tubing (also heavy) so I'm going to use my background in composites fabrication to make a "lid" from resin-impregnated fleece covered with the thinnest layer of coal that I can while still making the cart look full. The end result will still be a beast but I think ti;ll be manageable. My last trailer (Billy the Boombox) weighs in at well over 50lbs since he is powered by a lead-acid car battery.
Here's what Billy looks like:
We rock him at the CM rides and other group rides around town. He can be heard for about a block and a half and although some have said he would anger motorists, I have recieved nothing but smiles and waves from people when we take him out for a ride. Billy is a plywood base with fiberglass reinforcement and custom welded steel axles. His "body" is polyester impregnated fleece and he rocks out with a 2ch amp pushing 2 6.5" three-way coaxial speakers. His "brain" is an iPod wired directly to the amp.