[Monolith]

Had one literally on my doorstep and it fell through. So back to square one.

Aside from all of you who have your own garage as your venue, how has anyone else who has brought a board to fruition managed to find an appropriate venue? My last attempt was making a phonecall in response to an advert in the local newsagent window for a lockup garage. Predictably enough (in my local area) the advertiser was an elderly lady and had pretty much no idea what I was on about.

Any words or tips much appreciated.

[Bubba]

Just say you want the garage to keep a bike in or something - no need to tell them the hideous truth.

[Monolith]

I started thinking last night, might the local council rent lockup garages? I imagine they would be a block in one of those rows of garages you see in council estates? Perhaps not, I'm just not sure where to actually look for what I want.

[Bubba]

I've always just checked the ads in newsagent's windows/local paper.

Councils do rent garages.

[Monolith]

Thanks Bubba. I have found exactly the link I'm looking for. Apparently, my local council has just done up 800 throughout the peninsula! I wont mention what its for then 

[dontfollowme]

Just to add my 2 pence.

I reckon the most important element of a good woody is having people that will use it with you regulary who are all up for setting problems. I stopped using mine becuase I got bored and it was in a cold out building.

Good luck!

[Monolith]

I stopped using mine becuase I got bored and it was in a cold out building.

I'd hate to go to all the trouble only for that to happen. A woman from the council is calling me back in a bit which is progress of sorts. And they have these garages in a much wider area than I initially thought they might.

Thanks for the advice chaps.

[Paul B]

After the demise of the woodie in sheffield myself and a few people looked into this very thoroughly, industrial units are way too expensive for what we could gather, lock-ups are damn difficult to find, and garages tend to be a bit too small. Hope you have more luck than we did.

[neil@canaryclimbs]

you should look into finding your local land managment company, they deal with renting farm building for such a thing, I have 200 square feet in mine, £300 a month, if you get 10 people in on it, well you do the math


we have a fucking big woodie in ours, and no one goes to the local wall anymore that is ony 1 mile down the road



ps, remember if you need holds I am your man customholds.com

[account_inactive]

or www.TheHouseofPower.co.uk if you want some that won't break

[unclesomebody]

Polyurethane holds are great if you like to have holds flexing as you pull on them... it's rather disconcerting to be honest. I wouldn't use them.

[Monolith]

Local council lockup garage £6.71 a week ridiculously cheap! Not sur eon height so off to check tomorrow. Won't hold my breath but worth a look. And if not, there's apparently loads more elsewhere in the peninsula.

[account_inactive]

Polyurethane holds are great if you like to have holds flexing as you pull on them... it's rather disconcerting to be honest. I wouldn't use them.

You have obviously not tried So ill holds then Keith, no flexing on these babies.  The climbing works will be getting a load of them so you can give them a try

I'm sure that Neil will be glad you are giving him the thumbs up though

[Percy B]

Just be careful you don't get tempted to be too over-ambitious. I wanted to build a new woodie to replace the old Edge one, and look where its got me....... I got the biggest one in the world now

[Monolith]

 

Hope the 'Thingwall Wall' doesn't progress to that extent. Not sure the local geriatric demographic would make too much use of something to the scale of the climbing works!

Think all of the council's offerings are too small height wise. As for Land Management companies, I haven't been able to find any links or contacts locally who can help me. If you know of a starting point in Wirral, I'd be grateful to hear from you Neil!

 

[Monolith]

Does anyone know of any non-gas type portable heaters that dont require a mains supply? There aint any electric sockets in said garage, so perhaps this is just a non-starter? God knows what you would do for lighting, maybe pirates parrafin lamps and candles. How unappealing!

[Paul B]

do you really need a heater? the woodie in sheffield didnt have such luxuries and was often freezing but as soon as you warm up its ok, you dont sweat nearly as much.

[unclesomebody]

Agreed. I don't think a heater is necessary, in fact I think it should be shunned. Light, however, is a prerequisite. Where is the nearest power supply? It could be a case of getting a very long extension lead and plugging it in every time you go in there. Have you seen anything of decent height yet?

[Monolith]

Sadly nothing of a dream-like height. Just got back from viewing council-owned lockup garage. We've worked out it's possible to do 6 move probs (2 for traversing in and then 4 diagonal). At £6.91 a week with no required period for notice, we'd be foolish not to give it a go. Glad to hear the word on the heater front. I'm not too fussed, but for any period of sitting around it would be good. (Mostly for Pemb, the poor sod doesn't like the cold )

Where the fack can one find a room with a decent height ceiling!? What was the height of the board you made in your garage Keith and what became of it?

[unclesomebody]

In my opinion, you definitely wouldn't want a board any smaller than mine. It's 8ft wide and about 9-10ft long. This was limited by the size of my garage. If i was in your shoes, I would take the stance that if you're going to do it, do it properly. My board really was adequate for me, btu if it's something that's going to get used by a few people I would suggest it was too small. You want it atleast 12ft long. This allows a decent amount of moves. I would suggest to keep searching until you find something a bit taller, because the novelty will soon wear off having a board that only allows 2 big moves to the top! Sorry I can't suggest any where decent to look... when I was looking it was for something fairly sizeable so I could build a few big boards but that never happened! I spoke to a bunch of estate agents who gave me numbers/contacts etc. Good luck mate!

[Monolith]

Yeah, I've heard so many stories of people establishing a board only for them to get bored by it in the end as its not sufficient to keep you entertained. I'll keep looking, but as its only two of us using it, it might have to suffice for now. I really cant afford to train at the wall due to distance and cost so pretty limited really in terms of what will work for now. Estate agents hey... I stupidly didn't even consider that, but then again surely they will make you pay through the nose?

[Monolith]

As for lighting, I've found this little beauty.

Not sure how much lightage she'd be pumping out though as my grasp of luminosity is poor. Worked out we'd have the board around 10.5-11ft long and so will take the garage and give it a go. A few volume boxes should spice things up a bit. How does one go about constructing and installing one on a board?

Shall post some pics when the miniature beast is finished.

[unclesomebody]

Good luck mate. If i can help just ask, you know my number.

[Pemb]

After spending the last half hour reviewing my GCSE maths notes on Pythagoras, I can confirm that the board will be precisely 9.9ft long. A bit on the short side I reckon.

[BenF]

I'm not sure whether the GCSE syllabus involves use of measurements in feet and inches?  Surely it was tough working out the equation using inches and not decimals? 

Sorry, I am a twat.