Hanging slalom gates

[BEubanks]

I have a set of slalom gates we used in a pool slalom event at Ouachita Bapt Univ several years ago. I'm thinking about hanging them at the little lake I use for my kayaking class. Having the gates would be a real asset for letting new paddlers practice their skills. Might help me polish some skills, too!

You can see the lake I use on Google Earth at 34 10' 39.53" N, 93 04' 39.46" W Based on the ruler function on Google Earth it appears I'll need to stetch wire or cable around 250-275 feet from tree to tree across one section of the lake. (the southwest pocket, if you look at the Google Earth view.) Might be able to get that down to 225 or so if I can find trees that will work in the right places.

So, here's my question for your engineer types. What kind of wire or cable do I need to get the job done AND keep the cost reasonable? Bare wire, coated cable? I haven't weighed the gates, but they're constructed of 1 inch pvc hung from 1x4 lumber. As I recall the gates are probably about 5 ft wide. Five gates in an X pattern is the idea. One at each corner and one in the middle. I could rip the 1x4s down to decrease the weight, too, I guess. Total weight of the five gates combined is surely less than 50 lbs. Guess I should check that out and get some hard data.

I'm assuming I'll hang the gates and leave them up, since I'm expecting the task to be quite a chore.

Ah, one more issue. I've been assuming I'd string the wire between trees. I could set some posts instead. That would let me pick the location instead of having to go with where the trees are. Ups the cost but might be worth it.

So, any recommendations or wisdom to offer from prior experience with hanging gates?

[Jim Krueger]

Hey Byron,

I can only offer some suggestions based on my horticulture and farming experiences. I like the idea of using the posts for having the latitude to locate them right where you need to anchor your wires. The posts do need to be knee-braced to prevent sag later on. If you do use any of the trees, I would consider attaching several short 2x4 cleats around the back of the tree to prevent the wire from embedding and causing damage. If you can use a combination of posts and trees, it can save the hassle& expense of posts alone.
As far as the wire you might use, I could recommend 12.5 gauge smooth galvanized steel wire, it should be available in both high-tensile and low-carbon types. In the grape-growing business this is the type of wire used for the top wire or wires on the two main trellis types. The breaking point of the 12.5ga. HT wire is about 1500 lbs. vs. about 600 lbs. for the LC wire. You can probably buy this type of wire in 100 to several hundred foot coils. Either Rolling T, or Attwoods, or Hardman's there in Arkadelphia might be a starting place to search for it, probably could order for you if not in stock.
When you put that long of a wire up, I would want to stretch it with a come-along, fence-stretcher, etc., I have both if you need to use either.
Let me know if I can be of any assistance.


Best Regards
Jim

[Jim Krueger]

Byron,

In afterthought, a much less expensive wire alternative is electric fence wire. I have kept a roll of it for years for some of my hobby work so I took a look at it's size just now. Like the other wire I mentioned, this too is galvanized steel but is 17 gauge. For what little weight you would be hanging from it, it may work fine but you won't be able to pull it as taut as the larger gauge without it breaking. The electric fence wire comes on about a 10" spool and has a quarter mile on it. I think I paid about $20 dollars for the spool I have about 15 years ago.

Jim

[BEubanks]

Thanks for the feedback, Jim. The electric fence wire I used this summer would stretch too much for what I have in mind. At least, it seems so given how much some critters have stretched our fence!

I'm thinking the metal posts will be the way to go. Can knee brace toward the lake and cable down to an anchor on the backside, too.

Think I'll wait until it cools off a bit before starting this project!

[Jim Krueger]

I agree with waiting until cooler weather for a lot of my projects too! In most of the grape trellis set-ups I've seen, they even dispense with the knee brace for what looks like a mobile home anchor screwed down and a cable running up to guy the post back to the correct angle. With clothes-line wires in the past, I have used turnbuckles to keep the wire taut, but with the heavier grape trellises, they seem to favor a device, like a come-along but with a removable handle to periodically re-tension the wire. Good luck, I'll stop by for a look at your work in the future :)

Best Regards

Jim

[Eric Esche]

It may be too heavy, but when we strung our horse fence, we used Gallager 10ga gavanized high tensile slick wire. Think it came in 2500 foot lengths and it was cheaper than many thinner lengths when we priced things out. It is very strong, and works well with wire benders. Tractor Supply Company used to carry it, along with the fence tensioners, cable ties (3/strand/end) and all the other fencing gear.

I have helped set up a dozen sets of gates since 1968, longest strands being across the Chattahochee outside of Atlanta. WE put ours on pulleys so we could pull them to shore for high water and reposition them for water changes. Only had one set break, and that was from trees coming down river at very high water, but seem to remember we used 10 gauge for it as well.

Eric Esche

Boat Ball is great practice if you can get 5 to 11 folks to practice with you

[BEubanks]

Thanks, Eric. On boatball, I've offered to host for our area but haven't had any interest down here in the past. The offer stands. We have about 7-8 acres of private lake. A little on the warm side right now, but I'd guess that's true of many of our small lakes these days.