Time Sucker,,,ran my lines, still not done !!

[TerryEspo]

Well, it a labour of love I guess.
Getting away from buckets and going to 5/16 tubing. I spent hours yesterday running my lines, I have all drop lines connected to the tubing ready to tap and insert. My slopes all look good for gravity, probably more slope than needed but overkill is good I guess.

My surprise is how long it took me to do approx. 50 trees, maybe 6-7 hours. I thought I could do all my lines with time to spare, no way !! Still not done, but now i have an idea of how long it takes.

Run the line, cut the line, insert the tee, re-connect the line, connect drop line, dip every connection into my thermos of hot water, figure out the route of the line, grab the ladder, move to the next tree.

I was the tortise in this race, lol.

Anyway, it looks good for a start but more to do.

I see why bigger outfits use larger mainline and keep it up for years.

Thanks for allowing me to vent !!

Happy Tapping !!

Terry

[lakeview maple]

It is a labor of love ,you got to love making syrup,its a great feeling when you step back and see the end product of what you have accomplished,there are many jobs out there today with no sense of accomplishment ,with sugaring you get to see the fruit of your labor not only in the finished bottle but in the woods .Thats why I like the sugar season so much,just saying ,Al

[ennismaple]

Terry - You don't do this to get rich!

We used to put up our lines like you describe and it was tediously slow. Once you get some sort of a tubing spinner and a 2-handed tubing tool your production rate goes waaaaay up! For teh number of taps you have it doesn't make sense to spend that much money on equipment you'll only use once for part of a day. Any chance you can borrow them from someone in your area?

[DanE.]

The other thing that helps is to have all of the trees marked with tape before you begin. it is amazing how much easier to choose the path to run your lats. A spinner is nice, you can make one real quick with a piece of board and bicycle wheel. Here is one I made over the weekend:
http://www.sugarbush.info/forums/showthread.php?p=19582#post19582

Dane

[Dill]

The 2 handed tool is worth the money. I'm cheap and didn't want to buy one. So I borrowed one for an afternoon. Ordered mine not long after.

[hitnspit]

Look at the time you will save by not having to go to each tree and empty buckets now. Here at the house we still use buckets. Love to look of it all in the woods. BUT at the farm we are going to put 5//16 tubing all the way around.......

[spencer11]

Once you get a tubing tool it becomes alootttt faster. It may also be faster to run all you lines then cut in your drops, that's what I do

[unc23win]

Ennis is right borrrow the 2 handed tool. It is way faster instead of buying one use the $250 for something else.

One thing I did before I had a 2 handed tool was make some runs of drops while I watched tv. I would take 2 3 or 4 drops and hook them together with tubing so they were partially assembled then I just had to match them up with trees and make loops for the end trees it saves time. It decreases the amount of connections you have to make in the bush quite a bit.

[Tweegs]

<sigh>

Since yours was kind of a vent post, thought I might join you.
I managed to put up a 250’ run of main line with both ends at the same height.
I’m not sure how I pulled that off, but I did.

Now, you think it’s a time sucker doing it once, try doing it twice! :lol:

[TerryEspo]

I did save some time by having a lot of drops assembled, even tho some needed to be longer, most worked fine. Then after a couple long lines completed I did do the straight line first then went back and made my cuts etc. I was kinda happy that the tubeing is kinda easy to pull and is quite firm. I,m sure it would have made a good picture when I have the line cut, holding both ends, trying to dip each end into the hot water. :lol: Had to use my feet, both hands and my mouth,,,the things we do for sap !! Cant wait for the next nice day to do some more. Like anything, I am better now than starting yesterday.

Thanks.

Terry

[spencer11]

what kind of tubing did you end up using?

[TerryEspo]

Everything is 5/16 blue tubeing. Drops, collection lines and mainlines. I have I think max 14 drops into the mainline before it empties into a 50 gallon drum. Each drum will have no more than 3 mainline emptying into it.

I good tip for any first timer I found is...Instead of always have to cut into mainline, I found that useing another drop line in use was easier to cut and tie into. Hope that makes sense. Kinda like if I had a tree I wanted to tap, I just ran a super long drop line to another drop line all ready connected.That way I didnt have to cut and tug with the mainline. Before I was cutting my mainline to add just one tree. That doesnt always work, but with some trees it works great.

Bout 6 weeks before I get to see it flowing,,,cant wait !!

Terry

[spencer11]

do you know what brand? the reason i ask is cause this year i used the lap. rigid...i like it it is just a little to stiff and heavy, i used leader 30p the year before and like that, but its just to expensive for me, even thought its a few bucks, that goes a long way for me when buying 5 rolls

[TerryEspo]

I would have to check if there is a paper label on the tubeing. I know I paid less due to being 5 yr. tubing, 500 ft. cost $55.00. The store had 15 yr. tubing for more but I went the cheap route, lol. I will check and see the brand if its on a roll. Better yet,,,here is the link..

http://www.rmgmaple.com/ZenCart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_10_21&products_id=51

Hope that answers your question.

[unc23win]

I believe that is semi rigid CDL line. Semi Rigid works pretty good for eveything on gravity especially if you don't have the tools.

[spencer11]

i like the rigid over the semi, just cause the semi i have sags to much, the rigid does to but alot less, im trying to find a cheaper rigid tubing that i like

[Vermonner]

We cut drops at night in the house where it's warm. We run 5/16" in the day outside when it's nice. We then go back and cut in our drops. Use a 2 handed tubing tool once and you will RUN to go buy one, it does make it easier. I am also a fan of a spool for 5/16" tubing, keeps it organized and I like that. I agree with it being time consuming, I just like to break up the tasks because it gives me the illusion that I'm getting it done quicker. I bet we have the same amount of "time per tap", just broken up differently.