Gadget of the week!

Well last week's post received a lot of comments (here, via email and on Facebook). So if you liked last week's gadget, you'll surely like this one...

Depending on our trout customer, sometimes we have to deliver the trout killed and gutted and other times we have to deliver them live. When we catch and deliver the trout live, we have to set up our weighing station as close to the pond as possible. We use the net to guide the fish towards the bank, scoop them out into buckets full of water, weigh the buckets, record the weight, then transfer the live fish into a bigger oxygenated tank. This process needs to take the least amount of time as possible to reduce stress on the fish and to minimize the time the fish are not in oxygenated water.

So far, our most recent customer has wanted fish that weigh half a kilo. It so happens those fish are in the big pond just outside our back door. It has been fairly easy to set up a weighing station using the beams holding up our covered area on the terrace. But this won't always be the case. Different ponds hold different size fish and our customers require different size fish for different reasons. So Kevin proactively solved the problem for when we will need to catch live fish located in other ponds. He wanted to create a structure that is portable... something easy to assemble and disassemble... something that wouldn't destroy the grass (especially during the rainy season)... something solid and stable... all while using materials on-hand.

After a few hours of pondering all these requirements, this is what my clever husband came up with. The container on the ground (in the background) gets filled up with water (this particular container holds 50 kilos of water) and is secured to the long beam. The weight of the container is holding the beam in place. Kevin figured out the position of the fulcrum (the vertical support post) so that when another container (up to 50 kilos of water and fish) is weighed at the other end, the cross beam does not tilt forward (I wish I had paid more attention in physics class, but I assure you it all makes sense)

The structure itself is easily put together, stable and portable All pieces of wood and hardware were found in Kevin's stash, too. Nicely done. (Psst... this one is for you, Lawrence... Kevin felt he was falling behind with his creative endeavours)

Kevin and Martin tried it out last week and it works like a charm!