seeking advice on moving PDP 11 and related gear

[tony duell]

> Im uncertain of how tall the racks are, from what was described on the
> phone I should be able to lay the two racks down in the trailer. I have 2
> friends coming to help for certain and may possibly be bringing a third
> friend.

>From the hardware you describe (CPU, a couple of RLs and a couple of magtapes) I 
would guess these are the full 6-foot high racks. If genuine DEC ones, they are H960s

> I was honestly planning from the start to take all of the drives and cpu
> out of the racks, but if it can be laid down in the trailer and i dont have
> to mess with pulling everything out of the rack and dealing with odd hidden

Be careful....

I would estimate a weight of about 100lbs/50kg/1 hundredweight for each 6U
unit (that's a 10.5" high unit, like an RL drive, the CPU, etc). And about the same for
the rack. If you do intend to tip it over all assembled (and right it at the other end)
make sure your friends are strong enough (my view is that 3 or 4 people are probably
not enough for this!). You do not want it going out of control.

OK, I've done it many times, but when I was moving house and the removal men refused to
carry a small rack containing 2 RL01s downstairs in one go, I had the drives out in under 
5 minutes. It is not that hard...

-tony