The Gazettes,stone trucks and loading techniques

["Bob Hackett" <kinfolk@zzzzzzz>]

Those gazettes would be the Delorme's I was talking about.They're based here
in Maine and I'm told they develope thier maps from satellite photos.
That's one nice truck there Greg.Alot of the folks around here who pick
stone use old pulp trucks.The grapnel on the end of the boom does everything
but roll the stone before placing it.That rig you have on the end of yours
would be a close approximation of one if it hyraulicly swiveled thru 360
degrees.
For those of us who are not so well endowed a tip from cheap-o cheap-o
productions(some assembly required).Buy yourself 2 digging bars,the type
with a wide chisel on one end and a flaired end on the other for tamping.Dig
the tamping end into the ground and lean the chisel end on the tailgate with
both bars about 12" apart and parallel.Now just slide that stone up the
steel ramp and into the truck using your leg muscles.
Alternately,you and a buddy can lay the handles of the handtruck(you do have
one don't you?No?Well I'll wait here till you go down to Lowe's and buy
one.) against the tailgate.Slide a stout piece of pipe thru the axel
supports and use that to grab and lift(use your legs not your back) till you
can roll the whole shebang into the truck.
BTW-Car hoods make excellent stone boats.Just lay them on thier backs and
hook a chain to the loop they usually latch with.Be sure to get a hood that
curls up some on the leading edge and preferably was a bit of a wedge shape
in front to bounce off  all the obstacles between you and your loading
zone.Having that loading zone where you can put the rear wheels into a ditch
or backing up to a small hill helps immensely with loading.Anything to get
that tailgate closer to the stone.

Bob