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Radio-Controlled Carriage Ideal In Selective Corridor Logging

By Tony Kryzanowski
Copyright 1996. Contact publisher for permission to use.

In addition to supplying yarders to the Canadian and the U. S. markets, Skylead has sold yarders and related equipment in many different places around the world including Chile, China, Jamaica, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

A frequent participant at international conferences and logging demonstrations, Varner spends considerable time travelling and visiting cable logging operations world-wide to observe and promote his equipment. The company has just signed a deal with Totem Equipment Company of Seattle, Washington to market the Skylead line of yarders in the U.S. An attractive feature of the Skylead yarder is that it can be fitted with a radio - controlled Maki slack - pulling carriage and rigged for intermediate supports.

The Maki carriage is powered by a 14 horsepower, one cylinder diesel engine that is designed to maintain the oil and fuel supply despite the bouncing around. With this system, the carriage can be stopped anywhere on the skyline and the mainline payed out to hook up a turn. Using a radio-controlled, slack-pulling carriage in cable yarding provides greater ve rs atility than a simple butt rigging configuration.

In addition to conventional logging, the carriage can be used for thinning, selective logging and corridor logging. The carriage can be moved along the skyline to change the lead of the turn and logs are lowered at the landing with-out lowering the skyline. The ability to use intermediate supports in cable logging opens up many new possibilities for the system as well as generating cost savings.

Generally, fewer roads are required because the system can yard farther - yarding distances of 1,200' and beyond are not unusual - and the supports can be placed on terrain breaks so the logs lead over the break instead of gouging through it. This not only reduces environmental damage, but it also makes logging easier and more efficient . Generally, a smaller yarder and tower can be used to conduct the logging operation and tailholds can be at shorter distances than might otherwise be required to gain similar deflection.

Yarding with intermediate supports requires more planning and it takes longer to change roads if support trees are not pre-rigged. Also, there is a risk that a support tree may fail, so extra support trees must be left standing for backup. The support trees can be felled to the next yarding road if they are not used.

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