Dear Monorail / Garden / Wheelbarrow enthusiasts,
I came across this discussion and found it very interesting! I really like the monorail concept.
Why did I look for something like this? Well...my friends live in rural Kenya, and they just send some videos of how they carry water buckets from the river back uphill to their house.
That actually seems like a lot of work. The last 400m are across their property, and a bit steep. They have a path, but I assume it gets muddy in rainy season.
This got me thinking...
- I have seen rope ways for milk & cheese in the swiss mountains, they cover 50-100m
- but this is actually pretty difficult and expensive to construct
- the monorail seems much easier, espeially if, like someone mentioned, the track is not steel, but a garden hose filled with cement? Did I get this right?
Did someone follow up on this idea? Yes, friction would be more than with steel, but I don`t see them investing in 400 m of steel tracks. But a garden hose, if it does the trick and can be bend easier.... could this work?
And if we take some plywood as spacer, one foot maybe, and use two hoses and screw them on the wood, could this be a makeshift "rail" system?
I suggested them the rope way first and they think I am crazy. But there are actually "flying fox" sets we can buy, as kids toys - okay that would cover only 50 m, but in principle, this would work, I think...
If anyone has a good thought, please share
