I still climb at age 72. Upcoming project is to replace the upper sets of guys
on my 127' Rohn 25. I ordered the stuff a few weeks ago and it should arrive
any day now. Upper level guys are getting rusty and pitted and I want to
replace them while I am still physically able. Surprisingly, the lower level
guys show little rust and I don't plan to replace the bottom set. The second to
bottom set are almost as good, so I'll see if I am still up to doing them after
completing the top two sets. I suspect the steeper angle of the upper guys
causes rainwater to run down the cable, while the angle at the lower levels
allows the water to drip off, causing the lower guys to have less exposure to
the caustic crud in to-day's rain water.
I threw away the Korean War era leather Signal Corps climbing belt I originally
used to erect the tower single-handedly in 1981 and purchased a good quality
full body harness, a couple of positioning lanyards and a fall protection
lanyard. I'm not afraid of heights as long as I think the structure is secure;
you are just as dead falling from 25' or 30' as you are from falling from 130'.
I'll probably go at it more slowly than I did 33 years ago, but am in pretty
good health and physical shape. Splitting and stacking firewood for the past
few years hasn't hurt; did 3 cords this spring. I had a hip replacement 4 1/2
years ago, but now have to remind myself that I had it done.
Hiring out the job would bring its own concerns. A professional tower crew
would undoubtedly be cost-prohibitive; I have heard of small broadcast stations
paying into 5 digits to re-guy a tower not much larger than mine. Local yokel
Hammy Hambones might be willing, but could they be trusted do everything right?
Then there is the liability issue if someone got killed or hurt. My experience
is that unless you are willing to pay a top-of-the-line professional, if you
want it done right you have to do it yourself. Even trusted professionals
sometime take short-cuts or fail to do their expected quality of work.
The greatest problem I find with climbing Rohn 25 is acquiring a good pair of
steel-shank work boots with soles narrow enough for both feet to fit
comfortably on the same tower rung. I don't recall having that problem when I
originally put up the tower, but my old boots finally wore out a few years ago.
Maybe the soles of those boots (made in USA) weren't as wide as the
made-in-China ones sold to-day, or perhaps I put each foot on the next higher
rung with each step, but now I climb one rung at a time ending up with both
feet on the same rung. I found a steel reinforced inner sole replacement that I
think will work with a pair of boots I have that will fit on the tower rungs,
but which doesn't have a steel shank. I am in agony after just a few minutes of
standing on a tower rung, if the soles don't have some kind of reinforcement.
Don k4kyv
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|