Two Men And A Truck toys with the logistics of a big rubber duck

Last year we pondered a whale of a removal when a humpback carcass washed onto a Sydney beach.

We calculated the 25-ton mission would require 728 men (carrying 32kg each) and 3 large 9-ton trucks.

Then when the world’s second biggest supertrawler arrived in Tasmania we calculated the effort required to transport its average catch of the day. The answer? 7213 men and 28 trucks. Holy mackerel, that’s a lot of seafood!

This month, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman brought the giant rubber duckie into Sydney Harbour on a custom-made 10-tonne barge.

“I like what it becomes when you scale it up … it’s just an icon to use – nothing more, nothing less,” he said.

But actually, there is a lot more to this duck than 18x15x15 metres of circulating air.

The rubber-coated pieces form a surface area of more than 820 square metres, weighing in at a hefty 500kg, held together with more than 6 kilometres of stitching!

So, if we were to package up this inflated rubber duck in bubble wrap, we could cover the floors of 10 average two-bedroom apartments in Sydney.

Hypothetically speaking.. if we did wrap up the duck in this excessive amount of bubble wrap, how many men would be needed to lift the work of art off the barge?

Hint: Each man can carry 32kg (maximum single-load weight advised by transport industry).

The answer: 16 men (and a duck)