Easy-Decking

[addaperle]

Has anyone made much use of "easy decking" with telescopic legs? is it actually as easy to assemble as they claim e.g. one bloke can have the whole thing up in an hour, and how much punishment can it withstand? It sounds like a great idea but I'm wondering whether it would be safer to just get standard ally decking and a selection of different height legs. Thanks.

[Chas at Halls]

B) As with anything that will - without doubt - take a good deal of battering over the coming years, go and look at some that has done a few years hard service. I have used most types of stage systems on tours and in a set venue and some designs survive well whilst others are a pain.

- Don't use systems that have loads of little bits, nuts & bolts etc to connect decks together or add handrails and other components - they get lost too easily.

- Try to use a lightweight system that doesn't need 4 heavyweights to shift about - The crew will hate you for ever

- Adjustable legs are good as long as they kept in good nick. Once they've been bashed about a bit, not so clever

After 2 years of exhaustive research, we're about to start distributing a stage system of our own, which, hopefully, avoids all of these problems....no advertising of course!

[Bryson]

We use Sico "ping-pong table" type staging(I think it's actually called series 2000 or something), and for all we curse it and complain, it's still in good nick despite 7 year of abuse, it's reasonably easy to get around (It has wheels!) and is good and sturdy once it's down. It's certainly preferable to any legs + deck combos for us. It does come in a variable-height version which seems quite sensible, but I understand it's not quite as flexible in terms of changing heights as you might like.

 

As with any major component of your venue, it all depends on your use. For us (maximum flexibility please - storage area is a long way from the place where we use it - frequently have to move staging on your tod) it's great.

[robloxley]

Worked in a venue with the fold-up type staging Bryson talks about - great if you just want to sheel it around and get it up quickly; however it's a real pain to get up/down stairs and takes up a lot of room when stored.