Trebuchet

Here is just one of many reasons as to why I am not married. My trebuchet. I dare any married man out there to come home one day with a bundle of 2x4s and start sawing them up. Then when your wife comes out and asks you what you are doing, simply say, "I am building a trebuchet. Isn't it great honey? And I am going to store it in the garage so there is even less room to park your car." I dare any married women to say that she wouldn't have a problem with it? You can say it, but you would be lying. An 18 foot long by 25 foot tall monstrosity, built for the sole purpose of pelting barges cruising up and down the Mississippi with water balloons. What a waste of time, money and materials. I doubt that there are many married men out there that could get away with it. And there isn't a single married man out there would could build a lifesize trebuchet and not have it come back to haunt them. "Oh you can spend $150 a your stupid trebuchet, but do I ever see any flowers anymore.......Nooooooo. Make your own dinner."

I have been talking about building this for a couple years now. About a week ago, Nate sent out the invite for the Mississippi camping trip. I sent him back an email telling him when I would get to the boat launch, but that "I didn't think the trebuchet would happen this year." Nate's two word response, "I figured." was all the encouragement I needed to draw up plans that afternoon and head to Home Depot that weekend.

I was down at Miller Park Sunday night for a test launch. Eric gave me a hand with it. I am not going to say that it performed perfectly. First there is a major lateral bracing issue which needs to be resolved. Secondly preparing the trebuchet for launch and getting the counterweight into position, when it is fully loaded, isn't the easiest thing in the world. I still have a couple weeks for some fine tuning. I am still hopeful that I will be able to hit a barge on the camping trip.