How to build a runner case

Traveling can be very hard on our skeleton sled runners. While most of the time my runners are ok, twice now, I've opened my runner case (a cheap gun case, with the runners somewhat orderly but still loose) upon arrival somewhere only to find that TSA, in their diligent nation-protecting efforts, have rifled through and moved things and caused the runners to criss-cross, bending over each other. And twice is too many, since....

...BENT RUNNERS ARE SLOW RUNNERS...

So this summer, Brad and I set out to stop this problem, and figured out how to make the perfect runner case:

• Get an awesome donation from Pelican, the maker of the most bulletproof gun cases out there. (This thing is water and air tight, with valves to allow decompression on airplanes!).
  

• Buy a sheet of styrofoam insulation ala Home Depot.

• Realize you (read: Brad) bought a piece that's too big to put inside the car.

• Tie styrofoam to the roof.

• Have foam start to blow off the roof.

• Hold styrofoam onto roof with arms out windows.

• While on a work call on cell phone.
  

• Pull off of the freeway.

• Chop styrofoam into pieces with car keys. (Alas, I don't have any pictures of this drama since I was on the phone!)

• Stuff styrofoam into car.

• When you finally get home home, try to make a hot-wire styrofoam cutter.

• Fail.

• Borrow one from a friend.

• Open up the Pelican case.
  
  
  
• Remove the soft foam padding.
  

• Use the padding as a pattern to cut out styrofoam blocks.
  

• Test them with the case.
  

• Um, burn out the friend's AC adapter.

• Try to replace it with adapters from the recycle center.

• Fail.

• Cannibalize adapters from other stuff in your basement.

• Succeed!

• Cut holes in the foam blocks for the runner blocks.
  
  
  

• Cut bigger central holes for storage.
  

• Build the lower layer by planing a block into thin sheets.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Use the top as a pattern to cut the thin sheets into the bottom layer.
  

• Put the two layers together.
  
  
  

• Tape the case padding together.
  
  
  

• Admire the finished product.
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• Fit it into the Pelican case.
  

• Do a test pack of the stuff that will go under the runners.
  

• Put in some runners.
  

• Viola! First test: flying to lake Placid earlier this week, and, drumroll.......
  

We arrived in Lake Placid this week with our runners in tip-top shape.