When Foamies go BAD ....

[GPW]

Clip from the local paper ... Amateur foamie builders ... tsk tsk !!!

[eaglesdare]

i can't see it. too small. i tried to open it in photoshop, but it says wrong type of file. make it bigger please. or tell me what it says.

[Catherine+twins]

That's too bad. It's still small, but it looks like bare foam, no canvas skin, or even paper mache or something! Too bad they didn't ask us how it was done first!

And how fast did they take that corner? Must have really whipped around, to tip it over like that!

Uh oh, do I need to worry about tipping my standy over?

Catherine

[GPW]

Yes, Poor construction techniques , Badly executed... And they were going SLOW ... It was a Parade ... It just Broke in the turn and collapsed , pinning a few people in the rubble ... Had they bothered to read a couple thousand pages (here) they would have got it right !!! Just an example of what NOT to do ...

[millstone]

The stuff of nightmares.

[SteveW]

At least it's a colorful mess.

[GPW]

Made the local TV news ... Glad nobody got hurt (seriously) ... I was thinking of contacting the parade organizers and offering my consulting services... Now looking for some before and after pictures so we can learn what they did wrong (SERIOUSLY Wrong) ... I know somebody took pictures ... crowds now are a sea of people holding up their I phones...

[mikeschn]

Here's the online version of that article...

http://www.nola.com/stpatricks/index.ss ... by_ri.html

Mike...

[eaglesdare]

thanks mike. wow, that is a shame.

[Ratkity]

Looks like it wasn't strong enough to hold people up that high. It was a cute float before the collapse.

Hugs,
Ratkity

[mezmo]

Ignorance wasn't 'Bliss' in this case, eh?

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[S. Heisley]

Ashley Boos and 34 others aboard were pumped up. It was their first time riding on St. Patrick’s Day, and they were ready to shower revelers with beads, cabbages, carrots and other vegetables.

It sounds to me like the wooden platform and skeletal structure might have been over-loaded. 35 people and a load of cabbages and other vegetables? Perhaps the builder or operator had cabbage for a brain.

[GPW]

Likely the Foam will get the blame , although we know better ...

[Wobbly Wheels]

A pair of tires that flattened on the east side of the float landed Boos in that frightening position.

Just a guess here, but the wreck might have come out of designing it with thoughts of "it'll be ok, we're going slow".
It's because of something like this that I opted not to build mounts for a roofrack into mine - a solar panel is about all the weight I want up there...

I thought was a bit funny:
"Now, Slidell municipal officials are considering making pre-parade float inspections and on-board safety features such as harnesses mandatory."

Inspections I agree with, NOLA could set the precedent for a 'building code' for floats since you folks are known for the parades. Maybe a few pre-engineered framing plans for those uncomfortable with framing up their own ?
From the wreckage, it looked like there was no real framing to hold up the roof - that pile should have looked like a Jenga game gone bad had it been built like a stage.

Harnesses, though ?
They are a hazard when your anchor points give way as well....

[GPW]

The Big Parades are pretty much sewed up by only a couple Big Time “float builders" who go to a great deal of trouble and expense to make them safe... It’s the smaller parades with the homemade floats that can Vary wildly as far as construction , and I don’t think “official" inspections ($$$) would be significant if the inspectors didn’t know what to actually look for ... To me just another chance for the parish to bring in a few extra bucks for dubious “inspections” ...