Installing a mainline 20’ high

[Bricklayer]

We are trying to tube a new part of bush this year that has some challenges.
Instead of dealing with gas pumps , generators , tractors , and wet soupy bush roads.
We are trying to get all our lines headed right to the sugar house.
1 problem we have is we have to lift a portion of the mainline that comes from a really productive part of our bush up 20’ and over a swampy part of dense cedars.
Ordered a double sap lifter to get it from 2’ to 20’.
Not gonna mess around with sap ladders. If it was 1x 5’ lift maybe. But not in this area.
We have cleared it out for the line to run safely but don’t know how we are going install it.
We can get the wire up and the tubing. But how we are gonna get up there to put the wire ties on the mainline is our problem.
A ladder will just sink into the swampy ground.
Any ideas. ?
Can’t really get a tractor in there either to do it out of the bucket.

[bill m]

How long is the run? Maybe use a section of prelashed?

[Ultimatetreehugger]

I run the wire loose enough to to be able to wire tie the tubing to it loosely, I then tension the wire to hight, I then use a ratchet strap and pull tension on the tubing. I'd post pics if I could.

[Bricklayer]

I was wondering about the pre lashed tubing. I saw it at the CDL store this year. Think it only comes in 1500’ rolls. Not the 500’ that I need. But I’m gonna get a price on it anyways. Might make my life a bit easier.
The section through and over the swamp is about 500-600’ and want to be at about 5-6 ‘ off ground when I get to the other side. So might not need to go 20’ high. But will still be high enough to be need a ladder to reach.
How is the pre lashed mainline to work with. If it has to be cut to length. How is that done.
Hose clamp around the lashing and wire and then cut the tubing and mainline and lashing to suit so it Dosnt turn into a rats nest ?

[Bricklayer]

Found a video on it.
https://youtu.be/64VctPiy6Hk

Looks like it would do the trick. Wonder what $$$ difference it is from the regular mainline. Probley double.

[ennismaple]

We installed a section like that this past fall - no way to get to a new section of woods without going around a vertical rock face which meant a mainline at almost 20 feet high for a section. We put a drive hook in at 4 feet high, wire tied the mainline to the steel, put the ladder up the tree to above the drive hook at the proper height and then tied the ladder to the tree. We 'walked' the mainline up the back of the ladder and then used a ratchet strap to pull it back and in to the upper drive hook. It worked pretty well!

[TapTapTap]

I have a run of ML for my CDL Sap Lifter that is pushing 25 ft above the lifter. It then runs about 450 ft down to my wet line before entering the releaser. This was my first year on this setup and it went okay. There are sags in the line which you'll have unless you have lots of posts. I cut a bunch of tall smaller diameter trees for posts with a good fork at the right height. I just put the post up against the ML. This wasn't perfect but it worked with probably a few sags but I can't really tell since its so high up.

And a good anchor is required on each end which of course won't be that great at 20 ft up. Make sure you pick a sturdy anchor tree. I have an 18" ash that works good. I put a snatch block at the anchor tree with a cable running from the end of my mainline back through the snatch block (attached to tree) to a boat winch attached to another tree. I'm able to winch the ML up or down, even all the way to the ground for off season storage. I don't like the idea of a line in the woods up that high. The winch is also used to tighten the line.

Here are some photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GdnbisWwUcTcKSCW8

Another thing I added this year was the Little Giant Multi-Position ladder. One side has adjustable legs so it can be used on uneven ground. I can't get to the high ML from the sap lifter but I used it in lots of other areas where it was just too high to work from the ground. Unfortunately, it is rather heavy.

I hope this helps.

Ken

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Pre-lashed mainline is nice for situations like yours. Too bad that it only comes in 1500' rolls if that is the case. To cut, just place 3 or 4 wire ties or hose clamps either side of the cut before cutting. There are a couple downsides to pre-lashed like installing traditional saddles. The hose clamp ones wouldn't be bad, but when we worked with it, we used the CDL swivel saddles and you had to wire tie then cut the spiral wrap wire to install a saddle. Kind of a pain- spin seal saddles are the way to go with pre-lash. Other downside is they use aluminum support/main wire to save on weight. It is very strong but if you ever need to do a repair, working with the aluminum is tough- harder to cut and not as flexible as traditional galvanized wire.

[Bricklayer]

Decided to go with the pre lashed mainline.
Going to hopefully save me a little time. And the price wasn’t too bad either.
Got a good deal on a box of 1” Mainline tension grips the ones that look like Chinese finger traps.
The electricians ordered the wrong size on a jobsite so I just happened to be there and bartered with some syrup and away I went with the box.
Have to figure out how to use them on the pre lashed mainline. But I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

[TapTapTap]

Decided to go with the pre lashed mainline.
Going to hopefully save me a little time. And the price wasn’t too bad either.
Got a good deal on a box of 1” Mainline tension grips the ones that look like Chinese finger traps.
The electricians ordered the wrong size on a jobsite so I just happened to be there and bartered with some syrup and away I went with the box.
Have to figure out how to use them on the pre lashed mainline. But I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

I'm not sure the tension grips will be that helpful. I think it would be best to use a rachet to the ML wire and anchor the wire at the other end. Tension grips will seem to add no value. As I indicated in an earlier post, I used a snatch block at the high end with a cable boat winch to have the same effect as the rachet.
Ken