Mark Bolam

I know I'm going to lose, And gambling's for fools. But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live forever.

Also, you do know that when you start that it will most likely blow up and kill you dead?

I'm well impressed with this Dan. What are the instructions actually like? They have been the weak link on nearly everything I've built since Airfix kits. Even instructions on adjusting harness straps are crap these days.

Errrrr...... I can't remember really.

More pics needed Dan. Crown and targets in context. Good pull back distance shot.

As above. Try Nod at Treeworker for the full fat non-CE stuff.

I went for this one Gary. 10 minutes and I was sorted.

No one likes a smartarse Al!

Even for non-SRT fans Ty, the benefits of it are obvious in those situations.

'Mullered/retrenched depending on your viewpoint' is pure gold! I'm nicking that one Mick! The access thing I keep banging on about really is key. I'm throttling right back now, not moving forward, but I'm still interested. Every job we've had any machinery on just opens up new possibilities. Mick's job is a classic example. Sometimes as a climber you just want to wreck the tree and get down, but that means coming down to a big pile of misery and pissed off groundies. Not with that set-up. Big investment for sure, but as others have said it's a years wages for one bloke. No holidays, pension, sickness, overtime blah blah blah. I want the smallest articulated wheeled loader that will fit up a ginnel, with a grapple. And any kind of 'cab' would be a plus. That would save me £300/year on 'waterproof' jackets. The big plus for me would be sitting on my arse, which, let's face it, isn't real work (I make no apologies to professional drivers, it just isn't). I've probably humped hundreds of tonnes of timber around, on my shoulder, under my arm or in a barrow. If I'm totally honest I'm feeling it now, hence the throttling back. Arb is a tough game. No one will feel sorry for you because you're a physical wreck and need two days to do a one day job. Ben, I totally hear your comments about a good man would have that done just as quick. It's like watching a civilian hire a mini-digger to dig a trench you would have dug before 9 without taking your shirt off. But.... Hydraulic power is the future. I'd be very interested to hear comments from people who've gone down the mini-loader route and regretted it. Not so much skidsteers, I'm talking wheeled, articulated.

Here are the money shots....

1. Yes. CT foot ascender, HAAS (clipped on to 4SRT footloop), chester 2. Undo shackle, take off RW and clip in spare oval biner It's a bit of a faff, but doesn't take long. Most of the time these days I'll work SRT, but sometimes Ddrt just suits me better so I'll switch. It is worth remembering that the foot ascender/HAAS works fine Ddrt, it's just half the speed!

I remember that, I saw you.

You can have my stupid long spliced eye if you want, I hate it as well.

What I'm getting at Matthew is that I think there could be a machine that ticks a lot of the boxes for the domestic stuff. It just doesn't appear to exist yet. All the manufacturers of wheeled articulated loaders are foreign, and probably can't grasp the concept of just how crap access is for a lot of our domestic jobs.

That's the thing. The best machine in the world is still pretty useless if it's sat at the front of a house if a job is round the back.

Pretty easily I would imagine.

I lost £80 buying Stella once.

Giant do some little articulated machines that wouldn't smash the lawn too much, and they look ideal. But - they all seem to be over 900. There's definitely a gap here I reckon. (No pun intended).

Skills definitely on show. I can only imagine what kind of pickle I would get into with that much rope up a tree.

Not my job, I was in for the Sequoia boys yesterday to strip the crown off this condemned TPO ash. Sorry about quantity of shots, it was fairly manic with a greenhouse directly under the stem and the main road right beside. Joe Dann was climbing and smashed it in 2 sessions. Crane came in this morning (I wasn't there) and the boys were done by 11am. I should have a couple more shots later.

I hear that! You don't take a knife to a gunfight, big kit wins every time when there is room. But a little machine can be used for big access as well. A sub-900mm width machine could potentially be used on every single job.

There is probably no single right answer Ben. It would be an idea to measure the single narrowest access point for every job in the future so you can look at some figures. We do tons of back garden domestics with side-gate access only, so you're limited to about 900mm width. You could get some of the smaller machines in, but they can only carry so much out! A 900mm length of say 24" dia timber saves of lot of saw and back work though. Then there's the lawn tearing up issue.... If someone made an articulated mini-loader that was sub-900mm width and could lift say 300kg to 1.2m they'd be onto an arb winner for me. Does such a machine exist?

Lucky old me! See you losers later, I'm off to Monaco to order a yacht.

This will get expensive. I need 6 for earrings for my girls. It's about time I took them to get their ears pierced, the twins are 3 now.