After 4 extremely successful check flights of Perlan 2 in Minden it was time to pack and ship the container to Patagonia. This is a huge endeavor on the part of several team members over a week time frame. To safely fly from a remote area you must bring spares of any critical items. There’s no overnight shipping or big box stores where we are going.
So we gathered our supplies, packed and labeled everything, then loaded into the container. Once the narrow shelves along the side were full then the 4 big bins went on an upper steel mesh shelf specially welded in. The winch come-along was connected to a pulley in front of the container. The wheels of the heavy trailer must go up the steel reinforced ramps. Waiting inside the container was a custom support because we had to remove the trailer tongue and hand brake in order for the trailer to fit inside a standard 40 foot long container. The fenders to the trailer were also removed because it is that tight of a fit. Welded steel chocks were bolted fore and aft of the trailer tires. No rocking and rolling is permissible on the high seas! When all 9 ratcheting straps were secured, Morgan slithered out of the container by sliding over the top of the trailer.
It was carefully orchestrated for the next morning to have the crane show up about 30 minutes before the truck with an empty chassis arrived. Less than 30 minutes later the container was lifted and secured to the truck, and the truck started the two month long journey south. First stop is the port to load the container onto a shipping vessel. Typically there will be 10 crane operations on the container between Minden and El Calafate.There’s a short video showing all the Minden steps: the trailer going into the container, the container craned on the truck, and the truck driving away. Link below. Stay tuned for future blogs about the upgrades for the 2019 Campaign and other news. Perlan Soars! Jackie
