TotallyJules

Hi Folks What do you use to create site plans with tree locations? I'm fed up with drawing little squiggles on sketches or even scale maps transferred to Word. There must be a better way. I can get GPS co-ordinates and even plot these in Google Earth if I can be bothered but its such a faff. I must be missing something. If I spend all my time being an artist, I'll never write a profitable survey. Your thought please... Cheers

Hi We have a 130 and I wouldnt consider a 110 -others may differ of course. We have ours built with a full height toolbox behind the cab and a 7' tipper body behind that. For us it is only just big enough, although we use our Unimog for larger jobs. You can get loads in it but its easy to overload the rear axle. We have air springs and a compressor to get the ride height back up when its fully loaded. This has transformed the vehicle as its very wallowy fully loaded without. In standard form, the 130 has a stronger chassis than a 110, rated at 3500kg GVW as apposed to 110's 3000kg although the 110 can be uprated. This may affect towing weights if you do not have a B+E license. Price wise, we found it much easier to get a 130 already converted. There are not too many 130's around and these tend to get snapped up by conversion people. I started to ask around recently about conversion as we are looking at getting another one. Prices seem to range from 3k to 8k depending on what you want. Hope this helps, it turned into a bit of a ramble I'm afraid. Pleas ask if you have any more questions. Cheers Jules

Nice pics - where were you?

South Leicestershire: Light snow continuously now, swirling around my garden. Makes me glad I broke my leg a couple of weeks ago and can only watch... The lads are out freezing and removing dead fruit trees so at least low level stuff. Hmm, it got heavier during my typing...

Ha ha I got rid of my hilux because I was fed up of having to fix it and cost me a fortune - my land rovers have been bomb proof. It just goes to show... Every thought of a Unimog? Now they are fun

Did get a panning when launched and struggled to get military approval due to some weird braking issue - just what I read but suggest you research... There is an owners club I think too... I looked at getting one to replace our landy tipper but got scared off.

We use a 1998 Entec as our main machine still. 35hp Kubota diesel still going strong. Yes its a little tired in places but still looks fine and chips brash into little pieces and chucks it into the truck. 4K may be steep depending on the condition, but a great little chipper IMHO as long as you can fettle it a bit yourself. Just my thought, but less likely to be nicked than a new one??

Land Rover 130 tipper is my suggestion. We have one, it goes pretty well anywhere, will tow pretty well anything. I had it made with lockable tool boxes in front of the tipper body and a roof box so we can loads of kit in it. It does compromise the load space a bit, but keeps your kit safe. We use it for chipping into, tipping logs, carrying hedge cuttings, towing our 3.5 trailer or chipper. I'll try to find a pic so you can see what I mean. try http://totallytrees.co.uk/images/stories/totallytrees/vehicles/DSC00215.JPG Hope this helps

It was all part of the fun and suspense, no prob Steve.

I agree with Steve Call the LPO in your own name and ask the question, they are pretty helpful in our experience. The duty planning officer should be able to check there and then. You could ask if there any restrictions on trees on the estate in general if you want to keep a bit of distance. IMO you need to know the facts, then deal with them. Hope this helps, good question to ask.

Well done Steve - we've just spent a couple of days at Tadworth visiting a friend of my daughters who is being treated there. Their need is so great and they are so grateful as I'm sure you are aware. Thank you.

I have a customer who is interested in having something carved in a couple of pine stems - trees still standing at the mo. Anything considered. If anyone is interested pm me and I'll pass on your details.

Just thought (anything to avoid looking at more quotes...) One advantage of a pto winch is the variable speed - 2nd gear for a slow takeup or really strong pull (i moved a 6-7 ton beech stem around yesterday like that, 3rd or 4th gear for a take down, slow take up, then a good strong fairly quick pull once moving to get momentum in the desired direction, 5th for reeling in if your assistant can keep up!)

Another must is a set of chocks or similar. We have a PTO Superwinch on our 130 and can very easily drag it around rather than pull the intended load! There is sometimes the option of anchoring to a tree etc but not always. We anchored to another Defender to pull a stump out, be creative We carry a short chain and wire strop for attaching to the tree/log, you can never have enough but they end up weighting a ton. Last thing I can think of, bit obvious but worth saying. If using the winch for assisted take downs, go over the sequence and signals with all involved every time. The last thing you want is the winch op to start pulling whilst the cutter is still half way through and barber chair the tree. It sounds so simple to get right but I've seen some horrors just because the signals were mis-interpretted. We also have a Unimog with 2 winches and a 6x6 Berliet French army truck with a million tonne winch on the back if you ever need a really good pull. Hope this helps.

I have a beech stem 1m diameter 8m long available. Tree felled due to meripilus and is stained all through. It would suit milling for boards. Good access, quick sale required. Anyone interested? Cheers

Hi are you still looking for spalted beech? I have a stem section about 7' long, about 650-750mm diameter. I could mill it to size if required and it's dry Pm me if interested Cheers

Can anyone help? One of our customers asked the lads to treat the stump of a yew we had just removed. We only carry glyphosate and so it was applied. 3 months later, customer is complaining of an adjacent yew dying back badly. My questions are: a) second yew is about 5m from removed yew (both roughly 450mm dbh), how likely is this due to grafted roots and translocation of the glyphosate? b) as I suspect the answer to a) is "very likely", is there anything that can be done for the affected yew to sustain it with the hope that it might on some new cambium and survive. Your thoughts? Cheers

How did you get on? I have some ideas but would need a bit of research. Cheers Jules BSc(Hons) Engineering RFS Cert Arb

Hi I know its been said here before, but to try to close it, may I quote from the LOLER98 Approved and Code of Practice and Guidance (ACOP) which although not the legislation, carries legal force. Regulation 9 states (paraphrased) that the person carrying out the examination should have appropriate knowledge and experience to do it properly. The guidance notes state that the examiner should be sufficiently independent and impartial to be able to operate without 'fear or favour'. It explicitly states that the examiner does not need to be from an external company. I hope this is clear enough but no too wordy. I do our inspections and our insurers are fine with it. I did my training with Chris at theabsolutearbcompany He was great. Cheers

Great vid - its the way I was taught speedlining but hardly anyone else seems to do it. Perfect for the application and keeps everything where it should be.