The Rotary Club of Whakatane West famous stoat box
Nineteen members plus four guests and eight Menzshed representatives recently viewed Len, Craig and Lukas's famous stoat boxes in production at Whakatane Men's Shed.
Len has been asked to co-ordinate the Stoat Trap Project, started by Craig and Lukas, who have put an enormous amount of work into the project, as well as establishing connections with the Menzshed. Approximately 280 boxes were sold in the past year, 70 without traps to the Regional Council. There have been teething problems, especially with the timber grooves and nails being put in the wrong place. Most problems have been sorted and the new saw will solve the groove problem.
Brian Faulkner demonstrated the stencilling of boxes and members were shown how to assemble the stoat trap boxes.
There are four stages to the process:
1) Flat packs are produced by Menzshed from ITM timber.
2) Boxes are built by 8-10 Rotarians in the know. Craig is currently the only person who can calibrate the traps. Consistency is the order of the day.
3) Selling of traps. 15 were sold at the Business and Leisure Show.
4) Orders are processed.
Eighty flatpacks are ready at the moment. The present stock will be assembled before any more flatpacks are assembled. Storage space is needed for both flatpacks and built boxes.