How far of a stretch between anchors for 1" mainline?

[cjf12]

Putting up a new 1" mainline. How far is the farthest you would go with the high tensile between anchors? I want to try to minimize hardware in trees as much as possible.

[bill m]

I have an older run that is about 900 feet. Most of the new lines I run the high tensile is about 500 feet between anchors.

[WestfordSugarworks]

I put an anchor with a ratchet at the beginning and at the end and that's it, unless the mainline is real short and I'll just put a gripple at the end. My experience has been if you put anchors very close together, the high tensile can't stretch much when a tree falls and then the wire is more likely to break. One of our woods has ratchets every 200' or so and is installed using side ties whereas our other woods has ratchets just at the beginning and end of mains and the high tensile is nailed to trees with an old piece of mainline as a buffer. The wire breaks much less often in the woods with greater distance between the ratchets and i much prefer the nailing method as opposed to side tying, tho I don't like having to nail the tree as the nails can be hard to get out. Side ties are a pain because you have to redo them when a tree falls and I think it takes longer to install using side ties.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We ran our new 1000’ mainline with ratchets on each end and that’s it. Used the plastic rapitubing side ties. Love that stuff. Line is tight and straight.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

I have a few runs over 1600 feet with just one tensioner at the bottom. No side ties. I just use trees and weave around for support.

[ennismaple]

More frequent anchors has its advantages too - if the wire breaks you have less pipe on the ground frozen under a layer of snow! Many of our mainlines are at 1% slope so frequent posts and side ties are needed. What works for you will depend on your topography.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

What Ennis said is very true. I own the peak of a mountain and therefore have more slope than I know what to do with. Some of my woods have tie backs galore and others have enough grade to warrant not having many, it also depends on your tap density, lots of trees to rub against means less ties to support the main and more sap line tension to help support as well.

[sapman]

I like long runs, in most cases. I also hate tensioners/strainers. They're always a weak spot and tend to break under high tension for me. I can get all the tension with side ties. Many of my mains are basically flat, so they are very difficult to get tight enough.
Short runs are good at getting very tight, but as said, prone to break easily.

[unc23win]

We like to run a grip on the tubing with the wire anchored on the low end and tubing grip and wire both on a ratchet at the upper end. Then we put in posts for supports. Seems to work well for us helps us make the lines straighter and maintain slope better.

[bill m]

I put my support posts in after I tighten the wire but before I install the tubing. Lines have less sags that way.