Ballast containers arrive

WHOOF these things are heavy with the weights loaded into 'em. Just one weighs as much as the total ballast weight of Hambase Alpha. I've been lifting weights for the past three years, in part because a lot of my projects involve underwater stuff, which means having to lift diving weights and I wanted it to become easier. It's still heavy as shit, any more would be painful/dangerous.

They exactly match the footprint of the enclosure. I suspected they would but that assumed the new containers were precise copies of the Otterbox 3500 in terms of dimensions. They are, so it'll look nice and elegant. Also the weigh distribution will be balanced, which will make it easier to carry than it otherwise would've been.

Now I need to figure out how I'm gonna add a window to the lid without destroying it. I dunno what kinda plastic it is, whether I can drill it without it cracking, etc. A cheaper source for this model of enclosure has appeared since I bought the last one so I am not as worried if something should go wrong, except that you guys spent money on it, so I'd rather not fuck it up.

I may find out if somebody at Home Depot can custom cut a larger piece of lexan for me, otherwise the window won't take up the full lid. That'd look a little wonky. So I'm definitely gonna go for the full lid window first, and only settle for the smaller window if I absolutely have to.

Because this is right on the limit of what I can carry, I will never build a larger single module than this. It would require a crane, a boat trailer (which I'd have to build the damn thing on top of, then use temporary floats to move it on the water) or some similar method in order to transport and deploy it. Mega Hab is as big as it gets while still being man portable.

Maybe the answer is that if ever I get the chance to build a whole city of these things like I want to, there'd be just one or a handful of Mega Habs (as community centers/shared space) while most of the modules would be copies of the smaller Hambase Alpha (for individual nesting areas)

Btw, big thanks to two generous donors in particular who pitched in for the ballast containers. That's hugely appreciated and really helps accelerate this project.