So yeah. I got this idea stuck in my head last Tuesday after watching some beach volleyball near my place. Why not build a portable wood floor thing for my wife’s team? Those plastic ones suck. Slippery as ice when wet. Figured I could do better. Cheap.

The Big Plan

First off, I rummaged through the garage. Found some leftover pine boards from that busted shelf project back in June. Still decent. But not enough. Damn. Drove over to Marty’s Lumberyard Saturday morning. Grabbed 10 more planks, 1x6s. Tossed ’em in the truck bed. Good thing Marty owes me a favor – knocked twenty bucks off.

Cutting Nightmares

Got home, pulled out the circular saw. Measured twice, cut once? More like measure once, cut wrong anyway. Screwed up three boards. Cut them too short. Threw them in the scrap pile. Cussed a bit. Finally got 12 panels sized right – 4 feet long each. Sanded the hell out of the edges after. Splinters ain’t fun.

Putting Pieces Together

Next part was trickier. Needed these panels to hook up quick and stay put. Found these heavy-duty strap hinges in a dusty bin under my workbench. Bolted two hinges onto the side of each panel. Sounds easy? Nope. Drilled pilot holes too small first try. Stripped one screw head clean off. Swapped to thicker bits. Muscle ache kicked in halfway through. Took me like four hours just to hinge all the panels together right.

• Bolted hinges to all 12 panels
• Triple-checked alignment
• Used lock washers – didn’t trust regular ones

Field Testing Disaster

Took it out yesterday evening behind Marty’s warehouse – big empty lot there. Unfolded the whole thing. Damn thing wouldn’t stay put. Middle sections kept lifting when someone jumped. Total wobble fest. Almost twisted my ankle. Shut it down fast. Packed it back up, pissed. Drove home thinking about weights.

Woke up early this morning. Realized I could rig something up with those green canvas sandbags from camping gear. Sewed handles onto the corners using my wife’s heavy-duty sewing machine. Yeah she’ll kill me later. Worked like magic. Each panel corner holds a 20lb bag snug now. Sand keeps ’em flat. Solid as a rock when Jan jumped on it just now.

Why all this trouble? Cause my wife’s volleyball team got kicked off their usual spot. Some jerk neighbor complained about parking. Now they play near a ditch where the ground sucks. Figured they deserved better.

Update: Carried it to the park myself. Took me two trips. Set up in under 10 minutes. Whole team’s grinning like idiots. Worth the blisters. Damn straight.