Rigging kit recommendations

[MattyF]

27 minutes ago, slack ma girdle said:

Don't be so defensive, the point Mr Squirrel  is making is a valid one, inexperience is the best way of making things go badly wrong. Which given the nature of forces involved can have a catastrophic consequences for the climber.

The Arb industry is obsessed with shiny bling, when in reality 90% of the time is not really needed.

Buy 50m of Marlow Nelson 3 ply, and learn to natural crutch rig properly .

Sub contract to some other local companies and use their equipment to see what works for you

Serbrooke tree services produced a good video on this.

 

Good points but I feel most of the rigging we do in the uk is over areas that will require lifting over targets as it’s so built up… you can’t beat natural crotch rigging in a lot of scenarios and especially in big open areas with one or two targets but I don’t find it applicable to especially urban built up settings in which most uk arbs seem to work. 
personally myself, the last rigging I did was natural crotch as it saved bringing out and setting up a whole lot of gear to avoid a dry stone wall to balance a tree for felling, it was all I used for the first ten years of my career with maybe only a topping strop as been the only other hard wear on stems .. I never really got all the bling until I watched a subby climber use pulleys to swing stuff up and over HV lines and the bulk of my work changed from street and park trees and was more crappy sycamores/ash and leylandii in back gardens that needed removing in to 3m square drop zones, which is probably what most are dealing with so more applicable ? 

[slack ma girdle]

11 minutes ago, MattyF said:

Good points but I feel most of the rigging we do in the uk is over areas that will require lifting over targets as it’s so built up… you can’t beat natural crotch rigging in a lot of scenarios and especially in big open areas with one or two targets but I don’t find it applicable to especially urban built up settings in which most uk arbs seem to work. 
personally myself, the last rigging I did was natural crotch as it saved bringing out and setting up a whole lot of gear to avoid a dry stone wall to balance a tree for felling, it was all I used for the first ten years of my career with maybe only a topping strop as been the only other hard wear on stems .. I never really got all the bling until I watched a subby climber use pulleys to swing stuff up and over HV lines and the bulk of my work changed from street and park trees and was more crappy sycamores/ash and leylandii in back gardens that needed removing in to 3m square drop zones, which is probably what most are dealing with so more applicable ? 

You have the experience to make the right decision as to which is the most applicable. No one system does everything.

Starting with the basics underpins everything else.

 

[Steve Bullman]

capstans are good but if you are going to be using different groundsmen on the regular, id definetly recommend the rc 2001, its basically fool proof

[Treetom15]

+1 for the rc2001-I’ve had mine for a couple of years and it’s been great, as said above once it’s set on the stem it’s pretty foolproof, and it’s much easier to get the line tight than on a capstone. If you find yourself looking at a job that requires bigger kit, get someone in who has a Hobbs etc and give it a try, but the 2001 with a 12/14mm line will see you right for a lot more work than you may think.

 

Any rope/kit will be put under excess force if you’ve got someone on the ground who doesn’t know how to let it run, or at least dissipate the shock load.
You’d be able to do a bigger job with your setup and a competent groundy than having chunkier kit and someone who doesn’t know how to use it 

[maybelateron]

12 hours ago, MattyF said:

Was gonna edit my other post but I think it’s the 3001 that can have the winch fitted and not the 2001…..

You're right on that point. I have the RC3001 and winch. Only used the winch twice for pretensioning though; nice to have the option. 

[Dan Maynard]

Also add to the list a few Lyon slings, few steel biners, ISC 70kN pulley for redirects.

[Joe Newton]

Typically you'd want the rigging line to be the lowest rated part of your system. There's no point having a 16mm line that's rated for over 6000kgs when the bollard can only take 2000.

 

As said before I'd go for the fixed bollard over the capstan. They're a lot nicer to use and more robust.

 

14mm rigging line is a good all rounder but 12mm can take a good amount and is much more pleasant to work with. Negative rigging with a big saw might be pushing the 12mm stuff though.

 

Whichever rope you go for you'll want the dead eye to be a bit thicker. I use an 18mm deadeye with the ISC red pulley for most stuff. It's good for 2000kgs so works well with the 2001 bollard. 

[john87]

53 minutes ago, Joe Newton said:

Typically you'd want the rigging line to be the lowest rated part of your system. There's no point having a 16mm line that's rated for over 6000kgs when the bollard can only take 2000.

 

As said before I'd go for the fixed bollard over the capstan. They're a lot nicer to use and more robust.

 

14mm rigging line is a good all rounder but 12mm can take a good amount and is much more pleasant to work with. Negative rigging with a big saw might be pushing the 12mm stuff though.

 

Whichever rope you go for you'll want the dead eye to be a bit thicker. I use an 18mm deadeye with the ISC red pulley for most stuff. It's good for 2000kgs so works well with the 2001 bollard. 

The breaking strain of the rope may well be 6000, but the SWL will only be about 1200

john

[judastreefairy]

On 29/12/2022 at 22:17, Dan Maynard said:

It depends of course what trees you work on, but I'd start with a lighter line and only go 16mm when you really need it - just heavy and less efficient to work with on smaller stuff.

Get 20mm , it’ll still be sound after you burn it.

2 rings on a 18mm split tail

small stein bollard, it’s quick as **************** to wrap round 

 

 

[Joe Newton]

8 hours ago, john87 said:

The breaking strain of the rope may well be 6000, but the SWL will only be about 1200

john

Thank you for pointing that out.