Skyline load capacities

Wesspur
Rugged made
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Humptulips said:
Thank you for that vote of confidence but I think you are likely to be dissapointed.
I looked through the specs and to tell you the truth I don't have a clue about payload specs by weight. I could give you a guess if I could tell you what size lines it carries but those are listed in some foreign code? I will say for a small thinning rig 6000 pounds doesn't sound out of line if that is full suspension. As Patty says a lot of things that doesn't tell you.
Out on the riggin' we seldom know how much a turn weighed so I'm guessing but consider if maybe that carriage weighed a 1000 that leaves you 500o for a turn, you get 10 of those to the landing you've got yourself a load of logs. I doubt most thinning turns would go that much so anybodies guess but when I thinned we seldom suspended anything. I'm thinking it might be adeqate.
Be nice to know what size the lines are on it.
Sounds like it has hydraulic jacks and some kind of foot. Madills and Skookums were that way. 4 guylines, Kind of reminds me of Kohlers. From the description it sounds like the Skyline drum is operated seperatly from the skidding and haulback via a separte hydraulic motor. Be interesting to see what the brakes are on it or a dog like the Kohlers which I considered to be unsafe.
Carriage says electrohydraulic so I'm thinking a charger run off one of the pulleys on the carriage which could be OK. Kohler carriages charge the hydraulic system off a pulley on the carriage and that works.
It looks like the dropline is the end of your skidding line similar to an Eagle. It says it feeds it to you so maybe powered slack puller but hard to say from the literature.
Anybody notice that odd set up with the backline feeding through the carriage. That doesn't look good to me.
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seemed to be lower(pully set) to a point with any slack it will be wiped into the main ? might make for a few sparks to light things up in dry times hey!
 
Line size on the skyline sounds OK but I would be happier with a 7/16 sidding line.
Did you see that enclosed looking drum at the first part of that video? I can see a cutting torch in the future for anyone who buys it. Quite the set up on that tailhold in the video too. Designers never been off the pavement is the first thought I had when I seen it.
Kind of looks like it's all remote controlled. Trying to put the engineer out of a job I guess.
 
I've never understood logging with a yarder.

First time I had ever seen/heard of it was on Ax Man. Seems like 90% of what they are logging could be done with a feller bunch and skidder much quicker?
Figure in all the setup time and only being able to yard 2-3 logs at a time, plus needed a chocker setter at each end ($$$ to keep those guys paid) a skidder and 1 guy is pretty cheap.
 
ValleyFirewood said:
I've never understood logging with a yarder.

First time I had ever seen/heard of it was on Ax Man. Seems like 90% of what they are logging could be done with a feller bunch and skidder much quicker?
Figure in all the setup time and only being able to yard 2-3 logs at a time, plus needed a chocker setter at each end ($$$ to keep those guys paid) a skidder and 1 guy is pretty cheap.
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I dont think you fully grasp the terrain these larger yarders are logging over. No way you'll get any tracked or tire equipment on most of the grade they are working on. Probably a different story with this little yarder being close range and less grade but one benefit is low impact operation.
 
I'm sure that video was made ONLY to demonstrate the basics. It is not the normal ground yarders operate on. Steep is good when skyline yarding. A steep, uniform slope means good lift and that allows you to max out the payload. You'd not get a skidder or buncher on much of the ground that is in timberlands out here. Yarder logging is not cheap, although it is less than helicopter logging. What is killing it is the high cost of insurance. Insurance should be going up after the fatalities we've had this year in our state.

Finally, a skidder can't work, or maybe I should say shouldn't work, in muddy conditions. That isn't a problem with a yarder. They impact the soils less.
 
Is it just me or does it seem like there are a few to many lines wiggling through that carriage? Not that having the haulback up and out of the way isn't a bad thing, but ya don't always need a haulback.

9mm, is a bit smaller than 3/8" (.354 vs .375) though it will probably work for a skidding line, it will wear out quickly. From the looks of the video they where dragging what 20 footers one at a time? maybe a little longer? If thats the max it will pull... its not worth the tires its riding on.

One of the mid sized kollers k500 series would out do it all day.
 
ValleyFirewood said:
I've never understood logging with a yarder.

First time I had ever seen/heard of it was on Ax Man. Seems like 90% of what they are logging could be done with a feller bunch and skidder much quicker?
Figure in all the setup time and only being able to yard 2-3 logs at a time, plus needed a chocker setter at each end ($$$ to keep those guys paid) a skidder and 1 guy is pretty cheap.
Click to expand...


Well take a look at the turn times on a yarder, say an average of 6 minutes landing and back, each turn is about 1/4 of a log load, thats a load every 1/2 hour, or 16 loads a day without any issues.

Sure it takes a crew of 6 or so to set one up, and about half a day to make it look right, plus a day or two to prepare the landing. Which from my own experience it takes a day or two to get a skidder landing up and ready as well, unless you like having trucks stuck in the mud...

Can yer skidder and a 2 man crew even get close to this kind of production? I know I can't.

Not to mention the steepness of the ground here and where yarders are common, trying to drive a skidder or even a cat over the edge of most yarder units is a little like suicide by darwin, every thing is all fine and good until you realize you have no way of turning and the ass end is on its way over the front.

To put things in perspective while driving a logging road out here, you and look out the window of a standard truck and not see ground, you can look down out of said window and still not see ground, you can drive with yer tires halfway over the side and still not see ground... its ****ing steep, and through the generations we've nearly cut all of it...
 
Would be keen to see this being used in a real-world scenario. There are just too many questions unanswered with the demo video. I doubt anyone spending the money they are asking for these things wants to be an early adopter crash test dummy on the bleeding edge of the product's lifespan. But, if they want to cut me a great deal to test/prove it amongst NZ's wall of wood, I think I can find the money for the shipping to NZ and that's about it.
 
ValleyFirewood said:
I've never understood logging with a yarder.

First time I had ever seen/heard of it was on Ax Man. Seems like 90% of what they are logging could be done with a feller bunch and skidder much quicker?
Figure in all the setup time and only being able to yard 2-3 logs at a time, plus needed a chocker setter at each end ($$$ to keep those guys paid) a skidder and 1 guy is pretty cheap.
Click to expand...
Yarder ground can be conventionally logged , that's when we say "they roaded the **** out of that place"
Sometimes conventional loggers go a bit outside there optimal zone, well, so do yarder crews, but they can be far superior to conventional in many steep (or sensitive) conditions. Really nice to work around.
 
Just out of curiosity, can someone tell me what the timber volume is per acre in the northwest? On an average site. ( I know this is broad). Just comparing for fun, the best yield I have experienced was just about 70 cord to the acre.
 
I can't answer that. It makes my head explode. The limit used to be 10mbf per acre to make a viable timber sale. That figure has dropped also. The volume per acre CUT drops but folks keep buying the timber sales. Neither of those is the volume of all the trees per acre. I'd guess we average somewhere around 20mbf per acre? Maybe more? That's up here and would be all second growth plantations. Over on the coast, you'd get more--they have better sites.

Where's Nathan when we need him!

5mbf roughly = 10 cords.

I seem to recall hearing about units with 100mbf per acre in them during the days of the old growth cutting.
 
I know of some beautiful second growth that would exceed my guestimate, but then there are the junky areas where the soils aren't so good and the elevation is higher where the volume would be less.
There is a stand next to the Cispus Environmental Learning Center that is to die for. It'll stay that way too until it burns up.
 
slowp said:
I can't answer that. It makes my head explode. The limit used to be 10mbf per acre to make a viable timber sale. That figure has dropped also. The volume per acre CUT drops but folks keep buying the timber sales. Neither of those is the volume of all the trees per acre. I'd guess we average somewhere around 20mbf per acre? Maybe more? That's up here and would be all second growth plantations. Over on the coast, you'd get more--they have better sites.

Where's Nathan when we need him!

5mbf roughly = 10 cords.

I seem to recall hearing about units with 100mbf per acre in them during the days of the old growth cutting.
Click to expand...

I logged a small FS unit that had 600,000 on 2 1/2 acres. Times have changed.


northmanlogging said:
Is it just me or does it seem like there are a few to many lines wiggling through that carriage? Not that having the haulback up and out of the way isn't a bad thing, but ya don't always need a haulback.

9mm, is a bit smaller than 3/8" (.354 vs .375) though it will probably work for a skidding line, it will wear out quickly. From the looks of the video they where dragging what 20 footers one at a time? maybe a little longer? If thats the max it will pull... its not worth the tires its riding on.

One of the mid sized kollers k500 series would out do it all day.
Click to expand...

The thing would be only be good for thinning and if the skidding line is smaller then 3/8 I'm not sure it would pass muster.
The whole thing with the haulback going through the carriage seems just stupid to me. Looks like a snafu in the making.
You're correct about not needing the haulback mostly. Almost all thinning shows are shotgun shows.
Here's a nice skidder show for you.
 
Wow 70-100 cords per acre!
Pulled logs from a land clearing job last week, about 3 acres and we got 25 cords. Real nice wood though, I saved a few birch to make moldings for my bathrooms when I remodel later this winter.
 
Here's what the little Thunderbird yarder was bringing in. This would have made nice skidder ground, and had been logged that way in the first place, but a federal judge ruled that no ground based equipment was to be used. A little portion had to be downhilled.
 

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