Planning ahead

[Trapper2]

https://youtu.be/ZahHofncupg
20055

So I did my first tubing run this year and it seemed to work well but in hindsight I probably should have used 3/16 instead of 5/16. No big deal as I only had 15 trees tapped on lines, the rest were on buckets..
My biggest question is, how much of a sag can I have in a line before it will affect me? In one spot I have about 75 feet between trees and with the weight of the sap in the line it starts to belly, with the belly going 6" lower in elevation than the next tree. See sketch. For a quick fix that I don't know was necessary, I threw a rope over some tree branches and then tied it to the line to lift up the belly, was that really necessary.

[Trapper2]

Actually I meant to post this video, not the other one. https://youtu.be/VQg8vDBzlYE

[Sugarmaker]

Basically as tight as you can get it and you have good slope so it should work fine even with a little sag. Taps are still higher than the sags. I had to develop a tightening system for these short run systems. But in 75 feet you wont get it all out. Your doing good!
Regards,
Chris

[mol1jb]

In a few spots in my woods I had the same situations with a longer run unsupported. I just put a T post next to a long run of 3/16 and tie it up to that to keep the sag to a minimum. With 20' total drop I would say 6" is not a huge deal but I still like my runs as sloped as possible even with 3/16 being somewhat forgiving.

[Trapper2]

20459 Update, a tornado went thru my woods this past June. It took very few Maples but it took a lot of support trees that I was using to keep tubing fairly tight with minimal sags. With these trees now gone I'm not sure what I will do to keep a positive flow. I will see if I can find a better picture after cleanup as all down trees have been logged out. What should I do?
Thanks, Trapper

[Trapper2]

2046020461
This is what the woods looks like currently.