My main grove of maples grows high along a a rural (yet moderately busy) road. For the past three years, I've just used short lines and buckets, but I'm sick of worrying about sliding down the hill towards the road. This year I'd like to play it more safe, and have all the trees on a gravity line that empties into a storage tank I can easily access.

I've attached a quick sketch of the setup, along with the relevant numbers. It's a 310-foot run in total, with a drop of over 30 feet by the time the line reaches the tank. The first three trees - massive, old Sugar Maples - are on a slight uphill tack, but I can fudge a little with tap heights in order to keep the whole line on a downward trajectory.

My questions:
• Can I assume that 3/16th tubing will indeed be of benefit, even though this run is wickedly smaller than most setups described on these boards?
• Though I've occasionally had as many as 3 taps on the huge-diameter trees, should I stick with 2, or even 1 when doing this line?

Thanks!!

MapleFrontLayoutReverse.jpg