Water Felling

[BlueRidgeMark]

A jetski, although plenty of horse power, is light, and not much of a tool....great toy...but not heavy equipment.

Exactly right. Trying to get any pull out of a jetski is likely to get you a place right next to this guy.

You might as well try to use a Yugo to pull a Peterbilt. On a gravel road.

 

[bc_vickers]

A little extra directional guide never hurt. If it's a boat, I agree with the rest of the guys, don't rely on it for anything but one man's worth of guiding.

Hey, why don't you just wait til the lake freezes over. That's what we do with those problem trees up here! I just trimmed dead/down wood out of an old willow next to a friends pond last weekend. We just stood on the pond and chunked her up. So much easier than getting wet!

 

[jp hallman]

A little extra directional guide never hurt. If it's a boat, I agree with the rest of the guys, don't rely on it for anything but one man's worth of guiding.

Hey, why don't you just wait til the lake freezes over. That's what we do with those problem trees up here! I just trimmed dead/down wood out of an old willow next to a friends pond last weekend. We just stood on the pond and chunked her up. So much easier than getting wet!

Dude...the job's in Florida. Hell will freeze over about the same time the lake freezes enough to ...stand "on the pond".

 

[rebelman]

A little pull to make sure is fine. I've used boats several times. I've also used boats to pull logs to a ramp, or tow brush. I don't specifically remember using a jet ski, but the concept is the same. Hard hats and lifejackets required

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Hard hats and lifejackets required

Now THAT is a weird combination!

 

[bc_vickers]

Dude...the job's in Florida. Hell will freeze over about the same time the lake freezes enough to ...stand "on the pond".

I know, I know, I just thought it was funny! Wait a minute...Florida isn't hell?

 

[Tree Frog]

https://www.expeditionexchange.com/pullpal/indexmain.shtml

Set this in the direction of fall. Attach a pulley and pull from a truck from the rear. Never tried it but it might be better than a boat.

 

[Xtra]

Jetski????
Use some wedges . . . more controllable and much safer.

http://ilvirtualforest.nres.uiuc.edu/harvest/timstips/wedges.htm

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/log...ts/special_techniques/special_techniques.html

 

[Tree Wombat]

Don't use the jet ski to pull the tree but to weight it. Go buy 2 anchors join them with 90 ft or so of rope drop them in the water (depending on depth) with a running float and pulley approx 20ft apart, run your rope form your tree to the float where you use a running pulley and a prussic, tension the rope using the prussic to lock it off. this coupled with removing a few of the back branches and the natural lean of the tree plus the correct scarf and back cut you wont have any problems, just make sure they the anchors are bedded properly with the jet ski. I have used this type of pulling on 3 separate occasion's even on a tree that had a back lean. (sand anchors worked the best) and the longer the anchor rope the better
:greenchainsaw: :monkey:

 

[Newfie]

I guess climbing this tree and taking it down in 2 or 3 pieces is out of the question?

 

[Tree Wombat]

that would be to simple But we have to use the jet ski. Its all about the jet ski.LOL

 

[Tree Machine]

I would do anything to keep the tree out of the water. The times I've dropped trees or tree parts into the water, all you're asking for is added work, wet gloves and cloths, tree debris and toxic irridescence on the water from your bar oil. Everything is heavier and messier. I can understand the fun and experience part of it all, but at the expense of creating more work than there is to begin with.

I'm looking at a 60 foot pine out my window right now. All logic tells me lay a tarp, limb it out from the bottom-up. Stack the brush below. Drop lengths of loggage onto the stack of boughs for a zero impact job with all the mess in one tight area. By the time you get a line set, the jetski set and in place and rigged and get ready to cut, most arborists would have already had the thing limbed out and popping off chunks. Use a vertical zipline if you want to be extra careful. Or put down a sheet of plywood with a few old tires. It's only a 50-footer. Droppin it across an area just extends your zone of cleanup and lawn repair. Cleaning debris out of the water is no fun either.

I would politely ask if you could just use the jetski for a zip around the lake. If they're willing to let you use it for the tree, I imagine they'd let you use it for a few minutes of non-work fun. Go for swiftness, efficiency and professionality. The use of the jetski sounds novel, but for the 10 second rush, well, I dunno.... maybe you'll learn something that you wouldn't have otherwise. There's value in that. Do let us know how it goes.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

maybe you'll learn something that you wouldn't have otherwise.

Yeah, that could go several different ways, not all of them good!

 

[Tree Machine]

That's why I dropped that in at the end. Sometimes ya gotta shoot yourself in your own foot to see that it really hurts.

 

[1984 Noob]

my buddy has a 350 hp tow boat we are using instead of the jetski, but we might just bring a crane in and have him take out the 4 other trees super fast


i'll post pix, i'mi not doing it till late march

 

[B-Edwards]

Think i'd use the jet ski

 

[John Ellison]

1984, Think about this. The tree already has a favorable lean. If it isnt windy, go ahead and fall the tree and concentrate on your cuts. You already have the best helper working for you Gravity . At best the huge pulling boat would be all for nothing and could create problems that wouldnt have happened otherwise. The QE 11 could'nt guarantee acurate placement of the tree if your cutting is off.

 

[12guns]

Do It!!

Use the jet ski! Just make sure you have a little more rope than the heighth of the tree...duh. Sounds like fun! If you do it right, you won't have any problems. Did you ever take Physics? That may be useful in this situation...Get some pics! Maybe a video??

 

[Fireaxman]

Use the jet ski! Just make sure you have a little more rope than the heighth of the tree...duh. Sounds like fun! If you do it right, you won't have any problems. Did you ever take Physics? That may be useful in this situation...Get some pics! Maybe a video??

Physics to me says the mass and velocity of the falling tree will be much greater than the mass and velocity of the jet ski. If the tree accidentally falls far enough out of the direct line of pull, it seems to me it could jerk the jet ski violently to one side.

It's not as much about horsepower as about mass. The jet ski is too light and has insufficient traction. The tree has excellent mass and traction, and pretty good speed (in falling) as well. What is the equation? Energy is Mass times Velocity squared I think? If (by accident) it comes to a tug of war, I bet on the tree.

 

[Tree Machine]

Energy = mass x the speed of light squared

e=mc2


But that probably doesn't come into play, practically speaking. But then again, how would I know? I'm no Einstein.