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First time builder, verify my design doesn't suck

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crazyaj01
Posts: 7 - Karma: 40
Title says it all. My first time doing this. Buying lumber and building this weekend. Looking for advice on the following:

Height: Is it unnecessarily tall at 8'? Can I go shorter?
Length: Am I stretching too far at 23'? Can I go shorter?
Angles: Too steep a drop in at 45 degrees or any other transition?
Material: Should I turf the whole setup or each 2x4 individually? Open to any suggestions here minus the cost that Msnow brings

Thanks for any help in advance.

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May 13 2013 11:41PM
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Cyanicenine
Posts: 966 - Karma: 2,296
There are no hard and fast rules for this kind of thing, if you look at some of the setups out there they are no where near as detailed and well thought out as what you have going on here. 8 feet is a little tall but with that height you probably won't have to water and soap your ramp much if at all. The steepness doesn't matter so much, the most important thing is that your transition is smooth and un-abrupt with a long enough flat section before your up-ramp.

If you want to save money on lumber you can leave gaps between planks on the downramp, just make sure to fill in the transition and take off. For the single planks just wrap and staple, for the transition you'll want a large single piece of turf that you staple just like you would carpet.

Design looks good imho. If you have any interest in going with M-snow you can make a much smaller ramp, like 4-5feet max. I made the mistake of making an M-Snow setup with a 6 foot drop in and it is retardedly fast. So fast in fact that I pretty much gap my whole 12 foot box if I start from the top.

Goodluck with your project, and make sure you stay away from using untreated plywood, that stuff warps really badly even if you coat it in sealant.
May 14 2013 6:45PM
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Cyanicenine
Posts: 966 - Karma: 2,296
Okay so I was looking at your design a bit more and you definitely have to fully fill in the transition, you can't leave spaces in the planks there. Also the more smooth you can make your transition the better it's going to feel. I have 2 angle changes before hitting the flat section (then another 2 for the upramp) and it still feels a tad abrupt.
May 14 2013 7:24PM
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crazyaj01
Posts: 7 - Karma: 40
Thanks for the advice so far guys. I'll definitely fill in the 2x4s in the transition and potentially space them out more on the down section. I'm still leaning towards turf (I "think" it'll end up cheaper). Any suggestions for type of turf?
May 15 2013 8:26AM
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GoodasGold
Posts: 174 - Karma: 507
I'm doing a set up with some Msnow this summer....so short drop in then?
or else  I can make a step down in my back yard lol
May 15 2013 1:03PM
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Cyanicenine
Posts: 966 - Karma: 2,296
Yeah short the drop in for sure unless you want to turn it into a jump. If you look at the setup they have on their website their drop in is super short and it still gets them across that huge A frame rail they built. If you have a slight down hill in any part of your yard it will add more speed than you think too. I think 5ish feet would be perfect. M-snow is a million times faster than turf and even faster if you use the mwax. My yard is only about 55ft long and my drop in + box is about 36ft and I've hit the fence of my neighbors yard after using the m-wax and hitting the drop in from the top, I hadn't even put in a run out yet and I had enough momentum just riding my backyards dry grass.
May 15 2013 3:37PM
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Cyanicenine
Posts: 966 - Karma: 2,296
I think most people just use the cheapest turf you can find. That's what I use for my run out. If you use the nicer long bladed plastic stuff it supposedly works better, but it's also much more expensive. I looked into it briefly and the price increase is enough that you may as well go with M-snow. Just get the rock bottom cheap stuff, and if you need more speed you can lay orange construction fence over it, which is also dirt cheap. Otherwise go with M-snow.
May 15 2013 3:44PM
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GoodasGold
Posts: 174 - Karma: 507
Sick. So stoked to start working on it.
May 15 2013 4:56PM
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Poikenz
Posts: 1406 - Karma: 3,131
don't go for a 45, it doesn't look steep on paper, but it is and it doesn't help out, all of the speed you build up will be lost in the transition and personally I felt less comfortable with that loss of speed, over a gradual gain/ loss.

8 feet is perfect for flat ground, you could easily get away with 6 if you are on any kind of slope.

To save it from being 23 feet long raise your tranny and have less of a jump, it also help to save on speed. In other words you don't need a 2 foot tall jump for a 2 foot rail. Mine is set up for about 1.5 foot rails and the difference between flat and the top of the lip is only 6-8 inches, but my flat section is about a foot off the ground.

My flat section is only about 1.5-2 feet long, as well as my 2 other transitional stages, any longer and you will loose too much speed I find.

For transitions think of it as how people used to make perfect curves in line rider or geometric drawings
Click for larger image
I more or less set my design up on a grid to figure out where the intersections would be and lengths of each piece of wood.

For your set up as is I would cover at least half of it in latice or I don't see you making it to the end. I've been there and it's not fun realizing after 3 hits that it isn't going to work.
May 17 2013 5:43PM
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