Trampoline Is Up

After a lot of nagging by Alison, I finally got the trampoline set up for the summer.  One of the problems had to do with the wet spring we had this year.  Once the trampoline goes up, I have to move it around every couple of days so it doesn’t kill the grass.  But on top of that, when Ali and her friends bounce on it, they drive the legs/supports into the ground.  With the wet spring, this would have cause some serious ruts in the back yard.  You wouldn’t see it per se, but when cutting the grass, it would be like running the mover over a dirt road with all the bumps.  So I try to wait until the ground is drying out a little bit before assembling it.

So with that being said, it went up pretty easy, and I even dragged Alison into helping me put it together.  I did have to run and get a few new sheet metal screws and external star washers for keeping things together, but once I did, it was went together pretty quickly.  I had made a note of some things that I will need to replace on it, such as the pad that goes over the springs, and the foam pads that go on the supports.  The padding on the supports I can replace with pool noodles and just cut them down to the size I need for about $1 each rather than paying the cost of replacements from the manufacturer.  I also need to replace the safety net.  The year before, a squirrel managed to fall on the mat and was unable to figure out how to get out, so it chewed a hole thru the netting.  It will work for now, but I will eventually need to get it replaced.  I also noticed some of the springs are starting to get stretched out and should probably get replaced when I have a few extra $$$ to get them.  Over all I don’t think they are too expensive.  They come in packs of six, so as long as I don’t replace them all at once, it shouldn’t be too expensive.