[TowerTalk] tristao specs

[Larry McDavid]

Bill, I have a Tristao 55-foot crankup tower I bought used in 1970. This 
tower has 23-inch wide base legs and does have a pull-down cable that 
winds on the same drum as the hoist cable.

This tower has been up now all these years and is absolutely solid, 
rust-free and reliable. I have the original Tristao manual somewhere if 
it is really important to you.

During our infamous Santa Ana winds here, I frequently get gusts to 65 
and occasionally to 85 MPH. The tower is always up and has never had a 
problem. Currently, it holds a Force 12 C3.

I actually talked to Lou Tristao once about this tower. He told me it 
was a special built using the bottom three sections of a four-section 
design and included a very heavy-duty winch with wormgear gearbox. It is 
possible the pull-down feature was special as well. Back then, it was 
possible to get these customizations easily.

I had a local professional tower installer replace the cables two years 
ago. When he climbed it (cranked down!), he said it was the most stable 
crankup tower he had ever been on. But, I built a new, much heavier base 
and used nine 1-inch bolts into the concrete....

FireBrick wrote:
> Thanks for the replies. I suspected that my friend did not have exactly
> correct info as I had a Tristao 55' back in 60/70's and didn't remember it
> being that highly rated.
> I also didn't remember seeing a positive pulldown feature being offered at
> that time.


-- 
Best wishes,

Larry McDavid W6FUB
Anaheim, CA  (20 miles southeast of Los Angeles, near Disneyland)