Stretching mainline

[calvertbrothers]

I have never applied any tension on my mainline with tension grips. I read somewhere it should stretch 3 percent. And 3 percent of 500’ is 15’. My question is how tight sound I get the mainline before I tie it to the mainline? Its going to be 41 degrees this weekend so I’m going to try to get as much this weekend as possible.

[tcross]

i've never stretched mine and i've never had any issues with sagging or snaking and i'm on fairly flat ground. i do use a Chinese finger trap deal at the end, but that's just so i can pull on the tubing as i go. i put the tubing through the finger trap and put a clamp on it. i'll roll or wheel out my tubing where it's going and tie it up on the wire every 15 feet or so. then i start pulling it tight as i can and putting a tie in about every foot to 16". it does help if you have someone pulling on it as you're tying it to the wire. if no one is helping, a pair of the rubber or latex lined palms work great for pulling.

[Maplewalnut]

I tighten my wire and tube independently. I use the tension grip on the downhill end of my mainline. I tighten wire first so it is just off the ground. I then unroll my tube and attach to wire every 10 feet or so loosely with wire ties. Pull the pipe tight now using tension grip and ratchet strainer. I now go back and tighten the wire a little bit to get a little higher off ground and wire tie every 18 inches or so. Last step is to pull both tight using side ties and your ready for laterals

[ennismaple]

The 3% stretch requirement was for the CDL Rapitube. For a 300 foot section of "standard" mainline you don't need more than a few feet of stretch to get it more than tight enough to avoid snaking.

[n8hutch]

You can oblong or make your tubing out of round if you pull it too tight. This will result in an area where it is tougher to get saddles to seal properly. Just something to be aware of , I use the Chinese finger rigs too and a fairly heavy duty ratchet strap to pull mine tight. If I get a few feet in a 500' roll I am happy with that. Side ties take care of any sags.

[calvertbrothers]

I ended up just using a a ratchet strap and pulling it a few inches and called it good. I hope that’s will do because I like a nice neat lines the “s” drive me crazy. I loose tie my man every 15 feet and pull it tight. This method is so much faster. I used to tie my mains every 8” and now I do every 18” I can tie 500ft in an hour and a half.

[VT_K9]

I have used straps and come-a-longs. In colder weather the straps did not have enough to get good tension. I pull nearly inline with the wire and then tying the pipe to the wire adds enough tension to keep the pipe straight. The only time I have had issues with saddles is tightening the pipe/wire after saddles are installed. Get it tight first.

Mike