Appreciation post for the old layout method we used before laser levels

I was thinking back to my first boiler job in 1998 down in Baton Rouge. We still used water levels and chalk lines to lay out our work on the vessel walls. You'd fill a clear hose with water and two guys would walk around the tank to get a level mark. It took forever and you had to be real careful not to kink the hose. Now I just pull out my self-leveling laser and have a line in under a minute. But those old water levels never lied on me like a cheap laser can when the batteries get low. Anyone else remember hauling a 50 foot hose around just to mark a simple flange?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese5512d ago

Funny how the simple stuff never lies, but fancy tools do.

lily_sullivan822d ago

Man that water hose trick was the real deal, I spent a whole summer in '99 carrying a coil of that clear tubing up three flights of scaffolding just to get a level line on a heat exchanger, never trusted a laser the same way since.