Shipping some exhibit furniture

[CherylDesmond]

Hi all,
I am new to this group and I am finding all the forums a little hard to navigate right now -- although I imagine it could be great once I get used to it. So my apologies if this question has been asked before.
Anyway my question concerns shipping some exhibit platforms. I am acquiring painted plywood bases to travel with an exhibit. Each piece (7 total) measures about 40" x 46" x 20" high.
I need to ship these by common carrier & have them arrive in the same condition as when shipped. So I am assuming I will need to protect all the edges & corners. I am thinking strapped on to 2 standard pallets, each one stacked with those cardboard packing corners between each base. Then more packing corners running vertically along the 4 outside corners, probably held in place with stretch wrap.
Should I blanket wrap the whole deal as well, or is that overkill? A little touch-up could be done at the receiving end if necessary - I just don't want missing chunks & splinters. Maybe send them with the corners & wrap, and have the trucker use their blankets if they want?
Is there anything thing else I should be thinking of, or any better way? I was planning on nylon rachet straps to hold my stacks together, with two going around in each direction.

I would be glad to go back & search the forums if an answer is already there.
I can check back here, or can be contacted directly.
Cheryl Desmond, Traveling Exhibition Manager
In Company with Angels, cdesmond@incompanywithangels.org

Thanks Very Much!
Cheryl

[Gallagher]

Cheryl

Your plan sounds feasible and I would go ahead and blanket wrap as well to protect against the truckers ratchet strap buckle when they secure the pallets. For overkill, you could use wooden corners fastened to the pallets with screws and connect with 3.5 inch slats to make a slat crate, but that shouldn't be necessary unless the common carrier plans to cross-dock your shipment several times; more handling more chance of damage especially in central warehousing where power jacks and forklifts are used.

Good luck,

Dave

[Richard Hinson]

Cheryl,

When shipping by common carrier there is no such thing as overkill. In all my years in this business, I've found that if something can be damaged, it will be. All of your precautions sound neccesary. I would especially blanket wrap the platforms and request that the shipper use additional blankets. Of course, you and the driver can't be certain what will happen to the platforms when they arrive at the distribution warehouse.

Richard Hinson
Senior Preparator
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

[Paul Brewin]

If you stretch wrap completely (as opposed to just enough to hold your corners on) then you'll have some moisture protection as well.

If you need any assistance with navigating the website, or have suggestions or comments, let me know. Thanks for using the resource!

[CherylDesmond]

Thanks everybody, it sound like I have a plan -- just do it all!
Also, to clarify, I am working with a great shipper who will keep my stuff on the same truck in the same place from start to end, thus avoiding the horrors of cross docking -- at least so far! (I recommend George Will with Atlantic Relocation) I do watch them put other peoples' cargo on the sidewalk or wherever when they load my shipment though, so I get the idea.

Paul, about the forum, I think what confused me was the previous post about "light levels" which is in this same section. I don't know if it would make sense to occasionally "tidy up" and put stuff like that where it might better belong. Thanks,

Cheryl

[Paul Brewin]

Good call I will take care of that.