The goal was to build a 70-foot water slide with DJ booth and storage for a 5-day event. Though we had other water features planned for the project this slide was the main feature.
At the festival, the slide was a hit of the event. I estimated about 10,000 people went down the slide during the 5 days event.
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When we started the project we had to travel to Oregon for a site visit. During the site visit, we had to find the best spot on the lake that allowed us to build the slide and was a good location inside of the festival grounds.
We wanted the start of the slide to be around 20 ft above the water. The slide also needed to end in a minimum of 3 feet of water. Also needed to it to be around 25 to 30-degree pitch.
The fiberglass slides once assembled and screwed together was structurally sound. We wanted to support the slide every 10 feet.
The construction
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We used a water trash pump to pull the water from the lake and run down the slide. We made a manifold system to help control and send the water up the side of the slide.
We found the slides through a guy that sold used water slide parts from closed water parks. Our recycled slides came from the old Northern California Manteca waterslides. The park had closed in the early 80’s and these slides have been sitting in the elements for over 20 years.
First, we power washed the slides to remove the years of dirt. We painted the inside with a marine epoxy paint the most expensive paint I ever bought. With a little love and lots of paint, in the end, they were good as new ready for people to slide down once again.
Also known as the water melon slides.
https://eddiecarbin.com/waterpark-oregon-eclipse-festival/