Moving 1,000lb Hot Tub

Helped Dave move his hot tub today to his new house. My expectations were that this would be handled with some proper engineering and I wasn't at all disappointed. I was a bit concerned that we didn't have enough people to shift it given that someone estimated it to be 1,000lbs but in the event, 6 people plus the additional help from Holly the dog and one of Dave's sons was enough.

Dave had it all figured out. He had brought some hefty straps from Home Depot, huge bright orange things with loops in each end. The hot tub was tilted, straps placed underneath and one large iron pole threaded through the loops on one side of the hot tub, and then the same on the other. The end result was like a large stretcher suitable for 1,000lbs! The hot tub moved very easily, we were all quite surprised I think. Then came a pinch point. Following previous advice from some expert movers Dave thought we could use the same approach with the hot tub vertical, as long as a couple of people steadied it. So, we realigned the straps and picked it up vertical which worked well. Got it on the nearby trailer, far forward enough to ensure the tongue weight(?) looked ok, and off we set.

Unloading was easier as Dave expertly backed the trailer right next to where the tub needed to go. So we just lifted it off and put it down. This bit worried me a little as I seemed to have a lot of weight on my side and I was quite worried it would soon exceed my maximum weight limit as we hefted it off the trailer but after a little shuffling of people, all was well.

Next problem was how to drink all the beer Dave had bought to support the effort. People weren't hanging around to drink beer so Scott ended up with a few bottles to take home and I ended up with around 10, which seemed a bit imbalanced given the relative muscle contributions of the volunteers (mine being at the lower, well, lowest end of the scale!).

Anyhow, good fun and executed with good engineering thought as expected!