BenR

You legend Matty! That video never gets old. I have to agree with you. If you want any sort of lifting capacity or work with a GRCS/other winch at all, pulleys are a better way to go. If all you do is lowering and never any lifting then the rings are fine. Of course you can lift with the rings, but any friction you add into the system reduces your lifting power.

Constantly:lol:

Far-kknows mate. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason. I did have a similar thing with my bulldog when I got new cougar, it would slip about half a metre every time I stopped. Then after it was broken in it just worked perfectly like the others.. Hopefully the akimbo will improve as it wears in. I noticed that Dave's photo of his bottom cam had some impressive wear.. I wonder if he fancies swapping

I don't think its so much a difference between blue and orange. I have a feeling the difference in diameter is more likely an age thing. Older rope = more dirt worked it's way into the core causing expansion and more wear on the cover, therefore fluff. I certainly know my oldest cougar is the fattest. On a serious note, the akimbo is pretty frustrating, but kudos to Jaime, I sent him some feedback and some questions etc and he got back to me pretty quick and sent me some new parts. Ive got a new shape top cam that's not anodised and some new weaker springs for the top cam too. I put the weakest spring in and the new cam and it has certainly improved my experience on the HTP. It works like I've always wanted it to now... almost. I've not tried it on cougar since doing the mods but hopefully it improves that too. Having had a really critical look at it after changing the springs I realised that the bottom cam also plays a massive role in stopping the device self tending to it's full potential... It's kind of hard to explain but because of the profile of the bottom cam the bottom has to kind of be half engaged to self tend.. When you sit your weight into it the rope is kicked out at an angle. So the same thing is happening when its clipped into you chesty/neck tether and pulling tight against your bridge. That cam forces it's way onto the rope stopping any chance of self tending. Basically, like with everything on this strange device its another counter intuitive situation, you want a really sloppy loose neck tether/chesty. Also its worth noting that this is all probably pretty irrelevant if you've got the original spring in the top. It's not hard to take it apart though and bend the spring into a tighter V shape to weaken it. Or take it out completely. I have mine with a spring, but it may as well not be there as I bent it a bit too far. The only thing to watch out for is that with plenty of rope weight and no spring the akimbo will occasionally drop down the rope when you are not leaning back into it, it's not a big deal for me as I'm kinda used to that from worn out Unicenders and the bulldog bones. I would rather that than have no self tending.. Anyway, long story short it's getting better. Will report back when I have tried it on cougar. Also I think it's important to give Jaime your feedback to try and help improve it. I've suggested a number of things so far but it can't hurt for him to hear it from multiple sources. And regarding the rope diameter thing. There is just enough length on the bolts to take it apart and put it back together with some small washers in there to act as spacers if you so desire. I may go down that route if I still can't get it to work on cougar. Jaime has said to me that he plans to make the production version work for 11-13mm edit: good shout on the leverage thing by the way (James I presume), the bulldog has a really controllable nature because of this.. I honestly thing Jaime could do with having a bit of a deeper look at the bulldog.

Buy stiffline, don't fold your cube into a triangle just spin it flat to a square/get the circular pop up storage things.. Hey presto, minimal to non existent tangles

Hey Matty, I milked about 2ft in total off the 11mm HTP. Its works a lot better now. I have to agree with Rich on this, its a finikity little bugger. As a subby climber you need something that goes on the rope and works much the same whatever the conditions. The akimbo is not that device. It hates my used cougars whatever the conditions and whatever the settings.. I thought cougar was a 'firm' rope as arb ropes go but its clearly not firm enough. The HTP is as hard as they come and it loves that. I think part of the issue is that its designed for 11-12mm and cougar is on the top end of that. Add into the equation the fact that once the rope is squashed in the cams it naturally expands side ways and is picking up contact with the side plates. I think it would have been a better move to make it for 11-13mm as that is what most in arb use.. by making it 11-12 you immediately exclude those who prefer 13mm. I know plenty of folks out there who have to use 13mm due to issues with their hands. Basically in its current form the device is for people who climb on their new rope when they fancy it, on a nice tree, in lovely weather.

Fixed that for you Darrin haha:lol:

The original was polyester core and cover. The new one is poly cover and nylon core as far as I can gather. I have had a very brief climb on it and to me it was clear that the new version is more stretchy/bouncy. For me thats a deal breaker because I bought the original because of its low elongation. Others may feel differently. Don't let me put you off it.

oh bummer

Looks cool, but its quite long. Would it not be possible to get the bola to grab if it were made with smaller chain links?

Hopefully it will do, its adjustable to different ropes and the inventor is still trying to improve it.

Mayo gets conny sap out very well mate I have to get it off because the bulldog bones hate it

Thats the one Marc. Danny showed me the video last time I was there. Its done by the same filming crew as the Beech fell. Suuch an epic video! Hopefully he will put it up soon

Haha yep a Nylon one... BOIIIIING! It is a bit of a joke. People bought the original cougar because they liked it as a product but people want a CE approved rope. So they changed the rope completely and kept the same name. I cant imagine they will sell as many of this new kind, except to those that are not switched on enough to check the difference and just heard that "cougar" is a good rope.

Shame on you Paul!! Or are you just keeping it as a shiny paper weight?

Ive tried them all and used all of them extensively except the runner and a zig zag paired with a wrench. BDB is my favourite all round tool. Although I do love the ultimate self tending lushness of the Uni.

It was pretty bad from what I heard. After they cut one of the steel braces a limb started splitting out straight away apparently.. I think the cables were the only thing holding parts of it together.

Its awesome footage and they are a great company to work with Gutted I wasnt out there to help Danny has a video of another crane fell but Im not sure if its up yet..

Hey Dave, thanks for the tip, seem to have a the right setting on the htp now after tweaking today. but theres still quite a bit of rope drag. On the cougar Ive been using the widest setting on the bottom and one in from the widest on the top. That performs reasonably well but I cant go any wider on the bottom and I'm still getting rope drag. It's still improving as it wears in still for me.

It doesn't self tend well enough for my taste. I'm also getting a lot of rope drag when I limbwalk if the tail is deflected rather than directly below me. The worse the deflection the worse the drag. I've asked the inventor Jaime to send me some weaker springs for the top cam. I'm hoping this will help with both issues.

Get over to reelig glen chaps. There are lots of 60m+ doug firs and a few other champion trees. A champion Lime and a Larch if I remember rightly..

Cheers, I'm a simple kind of guy:confused1:

4mm accessory cord. clove hitch on the stopper knot side of the plate, over to a tautline, then closed the tails together with a double fishermans. Does the job nicely. I only shorten it for a long ascent really.

You sir know me too well:blushing: some of them had never been washed so I had to clean a few of the old tarts up over the xmas break mate:thumbup1:

Sunday funday figuring out a setting for 11mm sterling htp The akimbo seems to be getting better the more it gets used. Still some room for improvement I think. but overall it's a nice bit of kit:thumbup1: