Bumpers!!!!

does anyone know how far off the ground the bumpers have to be???

Sigh…
Section 8 of the Manual, <R08-P>, says they must be in the BUMPER ZONE, as defined in Section 8.2 “Definitions”.

The biggest flaw of the manual this year is that people are looking for a number (as in a digit written out, and FIRST spelled the numbers out for that detail.)
It’s not such a big deal, unless you look for the answer by skimming the manual IMHO.
I guess this proves a lot of people skim the manual looking for the answer. :rolleyes:

An open proposal to FIRST for the 2010 Manual:
To help alleviate some of this issue, please use digits when referring to number values next year. (ie: Please use terminology such as “1 to 7 inches” as opposed to “one to seven inches”)
Thanks!

do you know if the fabric has to cover the entire back side of the bumper, or is it acceptable to have a small a mount of plywood visible? we left some open for our blind mount attachment sites.

The rules don’t say explicitly, but look at Fig. 8-1. Yes, I know the images aren’t supposed to be rules, but…

The red line represents the covering; note that it stops short of covering the entire back side. You should be OK. I’ve seen lots of bumpers in the past that weren’t fully covered, under the same specs for building.

If you still aren’t sure, ask Q&A directly.

Per the manual, Section 8, page 4 of 32 at the top of the page.

“Bumper Zone - the volume contained between two virtual horizontal planes, one inch above the floor and seven inches above the floor.”