A few pics

[MainelyMaple]

Well i thought i would give an update on our setup for the old sugarhouse in danville. we wanted to experiment with tubing this year so we started hanging up some lines, we ended up with 8 lines with 6 taps on each. is this too much for a lateral line? could we do more taps per line? besides the tubing we are going to have 27 buckets to bring our total to 75 taps this season, much higher than we first anticipated. its tough to limit yourself when you are tapping on 65 acres FULL of sugar maples! here are a few pics:

Sugarhouse:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/135.jpg

Here is the evaporator we made from a 275 gal. oil tank, the pan is a 27x40" we got from gmcooper. any idea what we can expect for an evap. rate? how do you think the pre-heater will work?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/128.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/129.jpg

Some tubing
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/160.jpg

[MainelyMaple]

A few pics of the sugarbush:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/117.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/118.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/107.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/107.jpg

[MainelyMaple]

And a few more random pics, Sorry for all the pics, couldnt help myself:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/106.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/116.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/130.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/156.jpg

And thats all for now, we are just having a blast setting this thing up! part of me can't wait to tap and the other part of me knows we have a lot more stuff to get done before the sap starts to flow. more pics to come soon

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have several lateral lines with 40 to 45 taps on them and don't see any reduction in sap over when I had lines with 25 to 30 percent of that many taps on them, so I don't think you need to worry about anything with 6 taps on them and yes you can add more.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Mainly Maple,
I've heard of having a whole boatload of wood but I had never seen one. Pics look great. Hope you are having fun. Brandon is the expert on Gravity tubing systems and natural vacuum so his advice is tops!

[MainelyMaple]

Good to know, thanks guys!

[gmcooper]

Scott looks good! You'll have more sap than you know what to do with before long. You have an impressive sugarbush to work with. Loads of potential.
Mark

[Dave Y]

MainelyMaple,
Thats a great looking sugar house and sugar bush. You young bucks should be able to do several thousand taps in that bush. Save your pennies and get your self a good rig and you will be bioling in that place the rest of your lives.
Good luck!

[KenWP]

Okay I have to ask what pictures are you guys looking at. On my end it say pictures moved or deleted. Feel like a private at a top secret officers meeting.

[Dave Y]

Ken,
THey where on there when I last posted. But they are now gone.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I just checked and for me the pics are still there. Not sure what is going on. Maybe a ? for Jim or Clan...

[lpakiz]

Yep, same here. First I could not see them, then I could. Now I cannot see them again ...

[gmcooper]

Man I would love to have those trees the boys have, but I didn't take them!

[MainelyMaple]

i dont know whats going on, i cant see them either, even though they are still on my photobucket album??? i dont get it.....

[Homestead Maple]

If I go to your photobucket album I can see them all. The pics probably over loaded the forum here because of there size. What brand of tubing are you using? Looks like it could be the new CDL rigid. Anyone using the CDL rigid tubing? It looks a lot like Lamb 30P but I've noticed that the price per roll is about $10 less a roll than the 30P. The CDL looks like it could be good stuff.

[benchmark]

Looks like there could be a lot of nice maples in that woods. Evaporator looks good, what size pan?? Seems like a bigger stack would be a little better. What happened to the old evap. that was in the old pics.? Could you take the stack from that and use it? Probably would get a better evap. rate if it was usable. If you do leave the existing stack you might want to prop it with some metal braces instead of wood, just to be safe.

[MainelyMaple]

-the tubing is semi-rigid

- the old evap. was taken out and the stack is all rusted out and banged up, and we are definetly making metal supports under the pipe, that was just temporary while we installed it.

- got some more stuff done up there today 2 out of 5 windows done, built a table for finishing/filtering/bottling. made some more drops to finish the tubing.

now all we have left is to get the storage tanks in place, cut our drops for our buckets as well as drill holes in the bucket covers, and cut more wood. we are getting close though......very close

[Sugarmaker]

Ken click on the post that has photo bucket link, that should work. Looks like that had the pictures in the first posts then moved them to photo bucket. Lots of nice pictures. Yea I was surprised to see a barrel arch in that big sugar house. Nice woods.

Chris

[gmcooper]

Scott,
Just a bit of info. You mentiioned drilling holes in the covers. I guessed you are talking about the plastic lids for the pails your tubing drops will run into. Instead of drilling the covers put the hole in the top edge of the bucket. Just below where the cover snaps on. This will keep the sap cleaner and keep out more water. If you drill in the cover it will act like a funnel and let rain/ snowmelt run into the bucket. On guy I know puts the hole near where the handle hooks into the pail. Not too close to weaken it. That way the hole doesn't bother at all when dumping the buckets.
Mark

[TapME]

Scott; it was great to meet you and give you the info on the sugar house. I Hope that the drums will help you for a head tank and in the woods.

Mark, I gave Scott the idea to just drill a hole in the top of the cover with the same bit he uses for the tap. Make a spider and the end that goes into the bucket to put another tap on it and just stick it in the lid.Its nice and tight and when you change buckets just pull it out and put a new bucket, worked slick for me last year and going to do the same this year.

Scott, more barrels are on the way give me a buss the end of the week and you should have a couple of more for storage.

[MainelyMaple]

Mark thanks for the tip, never even considered drilling a hole into the bucket itself.

Lou it was good to meet you too, thanks for all the info again as well as the barrels. will def. get in touch with you at the end of the week about those barrels, thanks again for all your help.

[MainelyMaple]

A few more pics from the other day

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/maple014.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/maple010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/maple019.jpg

[mapleman3]

I have no idea why they don't show except that there may be too many...

Wow has that place got potential!! have you done a count on what possibly could be an amount for a substantial vacuum and tubing system? tapping all of the 65 acres, and a new evep could pay for itself much quicker than you would imagine!!!

I'd die for that place!!

[Clan Delaney]

MainelyMaple-

I think I found the root of your image issue. Those first images you posted are no longer located in the same place at Photobucket as they were when you posted them.

For example, you posted a pic of your evap. The address you pointed to was this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/128.jpg
When I wrap that in the forum's IMG tags, you get this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/128.jpg
I searched your album and found the same image file, but it's now in the "Sugaring 2009" album, here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/128.jpg
And that address works fine:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/Sugaring%202009/128.jpg

You'll have to go back and edit those image location in your first few posts if you want them to show.

[TapME]

I like the pics of the railroad that they used to bring customers in on. according to my friend it was quite the place at sugar time. The place is a great spot and close to a lot of people too. I bet that you could do 500 there and not even try to get away from the sugar-house. Nice pics Scott

[Homestead Maple]

-the tubing is semi-rigid

- the old evap. was taken out and the stack is all rusted out and banged up, and we are definetly making metal supports under the pipe, that was just temporary while we installed it.

- got some more stuff done up there today 2 out of 5 windows done, built a table for finishing/filtering/bottling. made some more drops to finish the tubing.

now all we have left is to get the storage tanks in place, cut our drops for our buckets as well as drill holes in the bucket covers, and cut more wood. we are getting close though......very closeTubing is semi-ridged. What brand is it? I wondered if it was the new CDL stuff and how much did you pay for it a roll?

[MainelyMaple]

- thanks for the picture tip i will go back and fix them.

- i have to check my tap count again but it is right around 1400 on the property, and another 600-700 on the surrounding properties.

- the tubing is cdl semi-rigid, and i paid $58 for 500'

[Revi]

What a beautiful spot! If you can get over 1400 taps you'll be needing a bigger evaporator before you know it! Those trees look healthy too.

[Clan Delaney]

Mainely-

I fixed those image links for you. Now get out there and boil! :)

[MainelyMaple]

Mainely-

I fixed those image links for you. Now get out there and boil! :)

Hey thanks alot, i appreciate it. will definetly have to boil soon my trees have really turned on