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Testimonials

SEARCH & RESCUE – KAYAK EXTRACTION AT PELORUS

Subject: Kayak Extraction

Hi Paul these are some of the photo’s we took during the recovery of the kayak on the lower Pelorus River on Sunday. It will give you some idea of the type of application that the new DynIce will be used for.

This pull was to remove the log that is sticking up in photo 17 that was thought to be holding the kayak in; the initial pull was about the maximum of the sling which is 600kg.

The other rope is an old poly rope that I had atttached to the rudder and didn’t matter if I had to chop it with the machete if it went wrong.

The log we pulled out wasn’t holding the boat but was held by one of the logs we were standing on and I had to cut it off hence the rope onto the rudder to catch the boat and the machete to cut the rope if the log started to break the boat up after I cut the log off.

Photo 23 is as the kayak and tree pendulum into the true right bank, the bow is behind the log on the right so that gives a good indication of the damage (photo) 25 is after I cut the rudder lines that were holding the log onto the kayak, the damage is now pretty obvious but at the moment I’m not sure if it is a write off until Sisson see’s the rest of the photo’s and gives a prognosis.

Ron Wastney
Sent: Wednesday, 7 July 2010 1:26 p.m.

Testimonials

POWER KITE

Peter Lynn is a world recognised kite manufacturer. His Power Kite was designed to lift jeeps in the desert. All of the rigging on the kite was made from Hampidjan DynIce products.

Visit his web site to see more www.peterlynnkites.co.nz or take a look at www.peterlynnproducts.com

Hampidjan DynIce ropes have been used in the construction of these extreme sports products.

Testimonials

Central Otago Flying Club

Letter from Central Otago Flying Club Winch Rope


Hi Jonas

Thought I’d drop a line to let you know that we have used our new winch rope (4mm DynIce) for the about 30 launches.
I can report great success.

Release Height
We now get consistently good launches of 1,800ft in our two-seater. This is 300ft higher than with the Polyester braid and wire combination we used previously.
This was 800mtrs steel wire on the drum end, and 1,000mtrs 8mm polyester at the glider end.

When we used only steel wire (6mm), winch heights were 800-900ft.

Winch Power
An unexpected benefit is that the winch requires approx 20% less power to launch a glider. Previously in nil wind 100% power was often not enough for the two-seater.

Engine revs are also reduced. We had expected that we may have had to replace the engine with a more powerful model. It now seems unnecessary.

Connections & Joins
Almost any type of a knot seems ok to connect to rings etc, and a simple type of fisherman’s knot to the nylon shock cord.
We’ll use an inline splice in the event we need to join two pieces.

 

Only 4mtrs is ok for shock cord. I did a launch without the nylon, and found there was some vibration coming from the rope winding on the drum.

Safety
Safety is greatly improved. In the past using steel wire was a risky operation. Large tangled masses of wire could occasionally be moving toward and around the drum at high speeds, after a cable break. The wire was sometimes shattered against the winch framework, sending pieces of wire in all direction. A strand of wire was once punched straight through the back hatch door of my car. It can be difficult for the driver to be certain that there are no bystanders closer than they should be. Long lengths of wire could fall from the sky in an aborted launch, or if the parachute did not operate.

Cost savings
The club has a prepay package to solo which includes all launches. The increased launch height is great for training students on nil wind days.

Reducing the number of aerotows for prepay students will save the club considerable funds.
More launches can be done in a day. A lot of time was taken repairing wire breaks, with gliders waiting and not earning.
Last year we used about 100 wire joining crimps at $2.50.

Reliability
With no wire, we are expecting to have very few problems. The 30 launches so far without a cable break is probably a record for our winch.
If you or any of your staff are in the area, we would be very pleased for you to experience a winch launch for your self’s and fly with us.

Cheers
Pete McKenzie

Testimonials

Clyde Dam Spillway

Clyde dam has four radial spillway gates, each weighing 117 tonnes. The gates are 10 metres wide and 14 m high. They are operated using 4 steel wire ropes, which are connected to a winch system. The steel wire ropes are 44 mm in diameter and galvanised. These ropes would have a design life expectancy around 15 to 20 years, depending on the chemical aggressiveness of the waters they are submerged in.

 

The current ropes were showing corrosion and broken strands at the gate connection point. The decision was made to replace them with a synthetic fibre rope. DynIce was chosen as the replacement rope. The rope is 35 mm in diameter with a final diameter of 43mm, due to core and overbraided cover. It is expected that the new rope will have a longer life than the existing steel ropes and be kinder to the skin plate of the gates, which had suffered some minor damage from the existing steel ropes. At present, one gate has already been modified and experience in using the gate shows the new rope is performing well. It is planned to modify the remaining 3 gates in 2008.

Grant Campbell
Asset Manager

Testimonials

CentrePort Wellington

“CentrePort Wellington has been using Hampidjan Dyneema towline pennants on our 28t BP Voith harbour tugs since 1999. We remain completely satisfied with their use.”

Read the full testimonial by downloading the below pdf file.
Download CentrePort’s Testimonial

Testimonials

Port Otago Ltd

Port Otago Ltd is one of the ports in New Zealand which usest he DynIce rope products as a towline on its fleet of tugs. Port Otago has been using the DynIce products for approximately l0 years. The initial product used was 36mm diameter and a finished length of 15 metres with eyes at each end. This line was used as the main towline; however by using this towline on its own there was no ability to absorb the shock loads. This was resolved by attaching the DynIce towline to a short length of multi-plait mooring line to provide a spring in the towline and to prevent shock loads being imparted. The early DynIce towline also did not have a covering. The early DynIce material was found to be susceptible to deterioration due to Ultra violet rays from the sun. The covering developed by Hampidjan protected the towline from wear and abrasions and also provided the protection required from the ultra violet rays.

 

The reasons for experimenting with the DynIce product were:

 

Reduction in weight of the towlines to allow reduction in the deck crew on board the tugs when handling the towline.
Gaining an increasein the breakings traino f the rope for a reductioni n the rope diameter.
A safety factor of negligible whip of the towline should it part. (previous towline had a stretch factor of up to 20 percent, allowing the towline to whip when it parted).
Increasing the working life of the towline.
The introduction of the covering fitted at the factory has proved its worth as follows:

 

It reduces the impact of abrasion on the DynIce line. . It increases the working life of the towline.
It reducesth e effectso f the environmenta ctingo n the DynIce line (reducing the effects of ultra-violet rays)

Read the full testimonial by downloading the below pdf file.
Download Port Otago’s Testimonial

Testimonials

SouthPort

Towing is a key function and must be taken very seriously. Our staff training instructions include a parting towline which has the propensity to maim and kill”. The potential for harm to be caused to a towing situation requires professional management. An important part of that is the excellent track record DynIce grommets have at SouthPort. We have full confidence in their performance.

Read the full testimonial by downloading the below pdf file.
Download SouthPort’s Testimonial

Testimonials

Gliding Wairarapa’s Adventures With DYNEEMA / DYNICE 75 / SPECTRA

By Jim Bicknell

Gliding Wairarapa are very proud of their winch. Often achieving heights of around 3000 feet it has got to be one of the best winch launch systems in the country. Jim Bicknell tells us how moving away from number 8 wire has made their winch even more successful.

 

During 1999, Gliding Wairarapa became interested in replacing the single strand 3.2 mm high tensile steel wire that had been in use on the winches since flying operations began in 1989. The wire was dangerous and at times a break under tension would drive loops many inches into the ground. I often worried what it could do to a human body. Wire was also conductive and would sometimes come in contact with the farm’s electric fence system with shocking results for the club members retrieving the winch line. On one occasion a pilot during a launch drifted off course and carried the wire over adjacent 11,000 volt lines. The winch driver at the time coolly summed up the situation and ‘flew’ the parachute and winch wire safely back over the power lines without causing any damage. A strike from a charged cloud was also a possibility because at times a launch above 3000 ft would occur and even a small cumulonimbus cloud can pack a wallop.

 

Enquiries led the club to a Kevlar based product called Dyneema and we purchased a one kilometre length 5 mm in diameter. Its breaking strain is about two tonnes and its weight is one tenth that of steel wire of an equal breaking strain.

This one km length was added to the wire on the winch. The club pilots were amazed at the way the glider climbed away during the launch. This was largely due to the much lighter weight of the Kevlar cable. With wire we must have been adding an extra 200 kg of weight to the aircraft when we were already filling the cockpits with two bulky pilots. There was also a large reduction of noise in the aircraft due to the fact that the Dyneema blocked all the vibrations that had previously travelled along the wire from the winch.

 

We did experience many over-speed launches and a number of slow ones. Also the odd pilot would hang in there with the nose above the horizon verging on a stall. Why we did not have a spin off a launch I will never know.

 

About a year later the club purchased another kilometre of Dyneema, 6 mm diameter this time. The extra bulk filled the drum and at times a loop would form after a launch which tended to add to the winch driver’s woes. The original drum was built for wire and was only five inches wide, so thoughts turned to designing a new drum.

A rear wheel rim from a Ford tractor was selected. The dimensions were 12 inches wide and 36 inches in diameter. Observation of the Dyneema when it was being recovered after a launch showed that the braid became semi rigid and that loops would rise about 250 mm off the drum, so it was reasoned that the drum would need rims about a foot high to stop the loops from escaping and breaking the cord.

 

At this stage two agriculture wheels from a defunct silage wagon were used to lift the winch another 18 inches to accommodate the five foot diameter drum. A larger parachute was added to increase the recovery load on the cord.

 

A cable pay-on system has also been installed on the winch. It consists of an oscillating arm that moves the cable across the width of the drum. This has solved the cable stacking problem that had generated loops and tangles in the past. Evenly laid and tightly packed cable makes a 50 kph return to the glider launch end possible but a 100 kg weak link must be placed between the car and the winch line and the winch automatic transmission must be disengaged for speeds over 20 kph.

 

Kevlar, unless it is protected from UV radiation, will eventually fail. During 2007 the Club started to experience a number of cable breaks so we purchased a 200 metre length of 4mm DynIce 75 for evaluation. The Club has recently obtained three kilometres of 5mm DynIce 75. This cable has a UV protective coating but unlike the Dyneema is stretchable and it crushed the winch drum quite spectacularly when first used. Fifty per cent of the original drum was salvageable and after some intense effort in a local engineering shop an improved model is now in service.

 

A weak link has always been placed in the winch line near the parachute. (The breaking strain is recommended by the glider manufacturer and is also determined by the weight of the glider that is being launched.) It would appear that the weight of the launch cable was added to the weight of the glider in calculating the strength of the weak link. 5000 feet of cable or wire can weigh about 200 kg, whereas 5000 feet of Dyneema or DynIce 75 will only weigh about 25 kg. So it is possible to reduce the weak link load factor and improve the glider’s overload protection.

 

Until recently it has not been possible to measure the winch line loads during a launch unless a known weak link had failed. Some months ago a Gallagher livestock weighing unit was installed on the winch and a continuous readout is now available during a launch. Further improvements to this system are underway and in the near future it will be possible to graph the launch data and compare pilot and glider performance.

 

Joining lengths of Dyneema is best accomplished with a splice. A fisherman’s knot will weaken the line strength by about 50%. To produce a splice overlap the ends of the braid by about 400 mm. Use a ball point pen or a Phillips screw driver to form an opening in the braid about 300 mm from the end of each section of line. Thread each end of line through the adjacent opening in the other line. Make two more openings about 12 mm from the original openings and thread the braid back through the line. Repeat the process about four times so an inter-leave is produced. Apply some tension to the short free ends so the inter-leaved section is firmly drawn together. Take a 600 mm length of 2.5 mm high tensile steel wire and fold it in half to form a bodkin. The folded end needs to be quite narrow, about 4 mm. About 200 mm downline from the inter-leave, introduce the folded end of the bodkin into the centre of the braid and work the bodkin back towards the inter-leave; allow the end of the bodkin to emerge from the braid about 4 mm from the interleave and on the same side as the free end of the braid. Take the free end of the braid, slide it through the bodkin loop then draw the bodkin back through the braid taking the free end with it. Repeat the process on the other free end. The resulting splice should have no lumps and the free ends should be contained inside the braid. The first few efforts at forming a splice will probably look a bit hairy but a little practice will work wonders.

 

Diagram of an interleave splice. Note the free ends are drawn into the main line braid with a bodkin.

 

Kevlar can be damaged by prolonged exposure to UV so a cover should be placed over the drum if the winch is parked outside when not in use.

 

As already stated, early in February 2009 the original Dyneema was replaced with 3000 metres of DynIce 75. This is a new coated product with improved strength and abrasion resistance. The 5 mm braid has a working load of 6000 lb and a weight of 16 kg per kilometre. After ten weeks of use and just over two hundred launches everyone feels more than happy with the cable’s performance.

 

Finally a few comments about training winch drivers. Gone are the days when a potential driver observed five launches then was permitted to perform five launches before being signed off as a qualified winch driver. Experience at Gliding Wairarapa has shown that at least thirty to forty launches are necessary before a driver can produce consistent launches in varying conditions. Trainee pilots can quickly become unsettled if the launch speeds are too erratic; this also makes the instructors’ tasks a little more difficult.

 

One training method the club uses at Papawai is to substitute a car in place of a glider. The car’s motor is kept running to power the steering and brakes but is not in gear. If the winch is equipped with wire it will be necessary to use about fifty feet of rope between the car and the winch. The car is fitted with a radio although a handheld will suffice. The car driver plays the part of a pilot with the usual commands and responses between the pilot and winch driver taking place. The main aim of the exercise is to train the winch driver to accelerate the car at about ten knots a second so that in five seconds the car is moving at fifty knots which is about right for a K7 or a K13. Once this speed is reached the winch is powered down and the car stopped. The process is repeated a number of times until most of the runway is utilised. I suggest you leave plenty of room between the winch and the car on the final run until you become accomplished at the procedure. After about ten ‘car launches’ the trainee winch driver should be able to handle a glider launch. The next stages are to train the driver to gradually reduce the winch power so the glider is not over speed at the end of the launch, and to recover the cable and parachute.

 

In summary the use of Dyneema and DynIce 75 has resulted in higher launches. When coupled with the winch improvements it has greatly enhanced safety and efficiency. Simulated cable breaks and winch engine failures are still practiced as part of the pilot training program.

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Hampidjan New Zealand Ltd
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Phone: +64-3-548 7942

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Phone: +64-3-688 0037

Our Location

Hampidjan New Zealand Ltd
82 Vickerman Street,
Port Nelson, New Zealand
Phone: +64-3-548 7942

Timaru Branch
110 Fraser Street, Timaru
New Zealand
Phone: +64-3-688 0037