Yeh Greypuppy does a great job of shipping , on time, and with a minimum
of damage-- their prices (were) reasonable- tho havn't used them for
quite a while-- but-- reminds me about a cross word puzzle from 30
years ago in 73 Magazine - looked for "The weight of a BC-610" thought
looking for the actual weight - and a 4 digit Number! Actually the
solution they wanted was " A TON"! as info, jim nn7k

Straydog wrote:

FYI....

As a general opinion, I, too, would shudder to think about shipping a
Valiant by commercial methods. However, let me also hasten to add my
personal experience with having a EFJ Thunderbolt (even heavier than a
Valiant by maybe 30 lbs?) shipped from the NE to me in North Carolina a
couple decades ago. The guy shipped the two 4-400s in a separate box,
left all the other tubes be in their sockets. How done? Greyhound bus! I
never thought about that until the guy brought it up. He had the
Thunderbolt very well surrounded by a bubble wrap and inside a tripple
layer corrugated cardboard box (like commercial grade), and it arrived
just fine. No tinkle from broken parts. Played very well (after I put
the finals back in). It was a bear to drag it up 3 flights of stairs,
though, and the box was like a full cubic yard in size!

But, commercial buses have large cargo space in a compartment under the
seats, accessible from the outside. Shipper takes box to bus terminal,
box gets ride (maybe a transfer? or no transfer if non-stop, but no
football stuff) and they call you to pick it up when it arives, you
drive down and look at the package before you accept it.

Again, FWIW. And, I think even UPS plays a little football with stuff.
Bus might be much better. Unless you want to hire a courier.

===== no change to below, included for reference and context =====

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005, K3HVG wrote:

If you decide to ship this puppy, remember that EFJ crated it for
shipment. I speak with some unfortunate experience that Valiants don't
take the ride well... at all! The VFO reduction drive and coupling
will be ruined and the iron will rip loose. Double boxing does not
seem to do the job... it really does require a stout crate. Maybe one
of those industrial-strength, multi-layer boxes with hard-foam corner
panels might work??? Too bad no more "Railway Express"... if anyone
remembers!!!

Tony Sokol wrote:

Well folks,
The original buyer for the Valiant had to back out. This is a
nice clean unit with the exception of some scratches under the meter
which should be relatively easy to touch up. I did fire it up and it
puts out a little over 100 watts so a set of finals is probably in
order as well as some recapping. The cabinet looks like a good
repaint. The underside looks good with no mods that I can detect at
first glance. I am asking $425 with a copy of the manual. Since it
is so heavy I think local pick or meeting within a reasonable
distance of the NW Chicago suburbs is in order. I will also be going
to the Ft. Wayne hamfest this weekend. I do have pictures and there
is one on QTH.com.

73
Tony - W9JXN