Homemade Skateboard Halfpipe Construction

	In the freezing cold of the 2004 January Bad Ideas competition Danny and Jesse got the idea to make a skateboard half-pipe. I quickly jumped on the project and we, along with Matt and James from 41w started cutting the wood. Although only one of us was versed in skateboarding, that didn't stop us. We drew lines on the plywood that would define the curve of the pipe - gentle to straight vert - then cut all of the plywood with a jigsaw. Next, we cut the 2x4s to length and started to screw the 2x4s onto the curved edge of the plywood.
We used two 1/8" sheets of plywood stacked top of each other for the surface of the pipe. We even added coping on the lip with galvanized pipes we found in the area. But, there was a major problem with our design, and this was the main reason why I wrote this page. Raise the Base of the Halfpipe Above the Ground! When we came to connect the two quarterpipes we were stuck. There was no way that we could make a smooth transition and still hold the ramps together from the forces exerted on the ramps by the rider. The connection was either too weak, or too much of a bump. In addition, we had to cut slivers of 2x4s to support the lower sections, which was a major hassle.
	The simple solution would have been to build the whole half-pipe 4 inches above the ground. It was too late for us, though, and we were nearly frozen solid, so we used the two parts individually as quarter-pipes and came to the realization that most of us can't skateboard ... hmmm.