Rupe

I got it.........

Haultz!!! That was it, I'm sure I had a picture of it. Was it ever made?

I think what we have on the market already is fine, Reg's ones filled the gap nicley between porties and the Hobbs. There aren't really any gaps left to fill. There was an ingenious design a few years ago that allowed 2 ropes at once and instead of a central bollard it had four fixed wheels (like pullies but not rotating) all on a plate that was perpendiclur to the tree and hinged so it would follow the user around. You could wrap the rope in many ways around the four wheels to get the friction you needed. So you could go all the way round the outside of all four, or just use one or two, or figure 8 it through two opposite wheels etc etc, endless combinations. There were gaps of a few inches between each wheel so this meant a lot or rope was used and the gaps between each section of friction placed on the rope meant that any heat dissipated even betterer. The device had two sides (each "wheel" was a double) and so either side could be used or both at once. I'm not sure it ever went into production, I only ever saw a CAD picture of it, but it certainly was the most "outside of the box" design I have seen so far.

I agree the first wrap does take more "hammer" and less at it goes along to the last bit of the last wrap, but doesn't that mean the first wrap should be made less efficient so that the rest have some more work to do? In the states they have been know to put blue gel freezer packs inside the bollards of some devices, I have never needed to so that makes me think I am no where near the limits of my GRCS.

If you had a system that uses 5% of rope surface but needed 80inches of rope to get the same friction then your ropes would last even longer.

I know where your coming from but the rope does already have plenty of suface are in use to spread the friction over (if not then the load would fall uncontrollably) but that surface area is spread along a lenght of the rope, so 2 wraps of a 10inch diameter bollard would equal 20 inches. So if your correct that only 20-30% of the rope is on contact along that 20 inches then that mean that any heat generated can dissipate through the other 70-80% of the rope at the same point. Tryign to cram all that friction into a shorter length of rope would mean that there is no where left for any heat to dissipate to, so you have the same friction in, say a fifth of the amount of rope (4 inches) but no where left for any heat to go to, thus heatign the rope up even more and doing more (potential) damage all in one concentrated place. Using lots of rope is actually a good thing as that is what dissipates heat and energy the best, so larger bollards are better than smaller ones.

I think the change in temp has been the main shock! Its gone from 18 tops to 30 in one day! We have had the odd 22-24 this year but nothing consistant.

So you could rund the rope through a channel?? So that more of it is in contact? I see where your coming from but if the rope jumps out of the channel then it would make things worse. All you need is large diameter bollards, but the problem if you get too big is that the difference between 2 wraps and 3 wraps is too great. On some half a wrap is possible, on the GRCS a half wrap is not ideal because the pigs tail fairlead is only on one side. We found that good gloves make up the difference in half a wrap. So you have one wrap, then one wrap plus use the gloves for extra friction, then two wraps, then two wraps plus gloves etc. (of course gloves are worn all the time) . However you do it the heat dissipation and stresses on the rope are not really a factor, they would only occur if you dont have enough wraps. As long as you have the right amount of wraps for the job in hand then there is very little stress on anything, and the rope will twist and come through differently on every lower, so it wears evenly.

Its not really an issue that needs resolving. Just use two blokes to set it up. I have the visor but have only used it once.

inches is hardly going to make it easier? but 1m is 39.3 inches. so they need to be 1m x 1m 1m or 39.3x39.3x39.3 inches. Meters is easier!!!! If they are not 1mx1m then tell us how wide and long they are and we will tell you how how to fill them to get one 1 cubic meter.

Nice one, you tease!!

You need to be able to lower on the winch though? Are you expected to wind it up and then take the rope off and move to the bollard section? The whole point of the harken is to wind in and then let run?

I like concept of using the harken winch handle to tighten the strap but for mine you have a big 1m bar that two people can get on to get it really tight, and you need to get it very tight. The GRCS was described as one person set up but this is not really true, very fiddly to do on your own on anything but small trees.

Can you lower on the winch part? It looks like they have used the wrong type of winch for lowering? You need a smooth central section.

Agreed, a poor climber/groundie combination is not going to be improved by the addition of a hobbs/grcs, in fact general disaster is now much more likely! I use mine regularly becasue I have it, but I can only think of a handfull of jobs where it was critical. I can however think of many jobs we have done where owning it has helped me get the job in the first place.

Wrapping three strand round the tree will get any tree job done, no worries. Of course a portawrap will do, my old bits of scaffold bar will do. The only difference is efficiency, and higher efficiencly means less time, lower price, win more jobs. The GRCS wont make you more money necessarily but the increase in confindence it gives will help to win more jobs. If you have little in the way of competition already then dont bother with it.

MWL?? I cant open that pdf

What do you mean by "rated"?

Ha ha! The rope that comes with it looks perfect too!

No, no reason to be?? In this particluar applaication you are not even fully loading the rope as it goes through the revolver.

Thats what Jarnii is referering to as a "snap gate".

The wire gate one does, and you don't need it to be locking.

Thats a bargain!!!

The grcs doesn't come with a days training? And I know nothing of the ibelings winch other than what it looks like and does.