Hi,

Apologies in advance if information on this exists already. I've tried searching to no avail - maybe my search terms are off.

Anyway, we have a large painted steel sculpture (around 2m H x 3.2 m W x 1.8m D) in our collection which is slated for display in two months.
The crate in which it was originally shipped is structurally inadequate and needs replacement. We make/replace our crates in house, mostly from structural ply, framed with dressed pine support but this object is around 1200 kg and its width means timber tends to flex.

We have examined the possibility of using a steel frame to support the base and to which to attach runners/skids but welding such a large frame within our tight schedule will be next to impossible (fabricating loads of mounts for the same show).

Therefore we need to look at heavier duty timber than we normally use to reduce flex and offer structural support.

The distance the crate needs to travel is about a 10 -15 minute drive from storage to museum - beyond that, it will likely be housed within that for storage long term but we are not looking at a crate travelling long distances or needing to be ipsm compliant.

Does anyone have experiential based suggestions on travel and/or storage crates for such large and heavy works?

Many thanks.