Looking for pro feedback on a throwline reel idea

brando

Hello everyone,

I'm not a professional arborist, but I have done a good bit of recreational climbing. My experience is with single rope technique. You could say I like the gadgetry side of things; I used to have a homemade bigshot and a bow-and-arrow setup.

A few weeks ago I was doing some serious tree work for my father, something I'm in no way qualified for, and had an idea for a "throwline stuffing" device. Stuffing throwline into the bag was always the most time-consuming part of climbing for me.

From the searching I've done online, I can't find any commercially available reel for this purpose. I'd like to know if that is indeed the case, and what is out there currently.

My rough idea is a device that mounts on the top of the throwbag and feeds the line downwards into it. The device would clip onto the line while it is being used to stuff it, and would then be removed afterwards, leaving the throwbag unobstructed for the next throw.

The device would probably have two handles: one for the user to hold it, and another that is attached to a retracting cord. The user would hold the device/throwbag with one hand, and with the other he would repeatedly pull the retracting handle (perpendicular to the vertically fed throwline); with each pull another 2 feet or so of throwline would be stuffed into the bag.

I have a rough idea for the mechanism, but it would take a good bit of tinkering to get right. Please let me know if the above description makes sense and if the idea sounds viable. I think it could be a major time-saver for an arborist.

Let me know if posting a sketch would help.

Thanks!

Eric Frei

All you ever wanted to know here.

throw line reel.

Also they are for sale here.

Tree Stuff - Arboreel Shotline Winder

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