A number of very helpful replies and a few consistent messages:
1. Stick with brand-name tie wraps. T&B (thomas & betts) was mentioned
more than once as the only brand name; I've found those at the local home
depot.
2. Cover the tie wrap with Scotch 33 electric tape (again the only
brand-name product mentioned, and mentioned more than once). Also found
this at the local home depot. I also found a roll of (2" wide, and VERY
long) scotch brand "pipe weather resistant" tape - black stuff - not
sure if it will work, but I'm thinking of using it as the final layer
over the tie wrap + scotch 33 composition because the scotch 33 is only
about 3/4" wide, and this new stuff would let me do a single extra wrap
over the layers below.
3. As an alternative, consider using THHN regular solid conductor house
wiring wire, and tying a loop around the wires to be restrained. I'll
do this as a back-up. No obvious message about the weather durability
of the insulation (I would guess any wire rated for outdoor usage would
be fine in this respect). Evidently Andrews offers some products that
use this sort of scheme, but I did not follow up to investigate their
products.
....and my own note:
4. For back-up attachment, I had used a few automotive hose clamps in
critical spots (particularly on booms of beams which were otherwise
unreachable while in service). Although the tie wraps I installed have
no more strength (they have been up 8-10 years) the hose clamps kept
enough stress off them that they didn't break, so the boom attachment
feedlines are not drooping (although I'll redo all of this when I go
up in the crane for the work this fall).
That's it, and tnx agn for the help!
73 Dave WB0GAZ dgf@netcom.com
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