Cobra Cabling

True as Trees

True as Trees

Location
North Carolina
Greetings Fellow Arbs,
This post is for anyone using Cobra Cabling. I had a scenario recently and would like to see how others have delt with this.
I was installing a cable on a large codominant tulip poplar. The two stems were close to one another, and I wasn't able to bury both splices 16inches and include the shock absorber. I ended up having to shorten my splices quite a bit, which doesn't sit well with me.
I did find a video on YouTube where someone had made a full loop around both stems and buried a large single splice. It seems like an option, but nowhere in Cobras manuals does it suggest that approach.

Has anyone else delt with stems being this close to one another and trying to put on a Cobra Cable?
 
I'd also appreciate that link! Their website has their installation videos, but they don't show what to do when stems are really close.
I've only found that one YouTube short where they installed it in a full loop, but they didn't talk about it. Wasn't sure if it was something they came up with on their own.
 
I've been going thru old threads last night and this morning, and I've seen all sorts of conversations about Cobra, but not this specific topic. If you say it's in there, then I'm sure it is. Maybe I'm just not finding it?
 
Not to get too far in the weeds on this but my brain just works this way. If you were to do a loop splice but instead make it a figure 8, the added friction from additional contact area would take load off the splice. The price of both a loop and figure 8 is more potential for wear on the textile due to rubbing on the bark, and that price would be paid by the tree as well. My vote is still for static cable in this context, just wanted to add more things that occurred to me for the sake of the hive brain.
 
Brando CalPankian said:
The video I was thinking of was for the tree guard system, nice guy Dave.


Not sure if that's applicable for Cobra since there's the shock absorber thing in it.
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Ahhh, that’s what I primarily use. For comfier short spans I’ll do it one of two ways.
Skip the slings and just do an endless loop burying both ends.
Or use the slings and do an endless loop. Some extreme cases I’ve even crossed the tails over similar to a hollow braid eye to eye hitch cord.

Lack of customer maintenance has me going back to steel systems.

Within the next month or so I’ll ‘inspect’ a cobra system installed about 9 years ago for the FIRST TIME! it shouldn’t have been used as the union has a deep inclusion/crack.

I do like the euro hybrid cabling standards where the dynamic cable is in the upper 3/4 with a static system in the lower 1/4.
 
This is my first time checking the thread in a few days, and I want to thank everyone for their responses!
All of the advice has been really helpful.

I actually think the loop or figure 8 ideas are solid choices. Only downside is synthetic cable manufacturers don't suggest those ideas as possible solutions. From a legal point of view, I'd rather not do a setup they don't specifically recommend. I've been digging deep into their sources, emailing manufacturers, and reading every thread and article available, and hardly anyone talks about this scenario.

I've decided to return with EHS cable and rigguy wire stops, especially since there is some inclusion involved. It's the solution I believe makes most sense.

Btw, Cobra's current literature does include removing the shock absorber to make it a static cable. They even speak of that being an option with inclusion and cracks in the union. I've got to assume most folks in this thread would raise eyebrows at that.
While there is less stretch in the system without the shock absorber, I'd doubt it's as rigid/static as EHS.
 
True as Trees said:
This is my first time checking the thread in a few days, and I want to thank everyone for their responses!
All of the advice has been really helpful.

I actually think the loop or figure 8 ideas are solid choices. Only downside is synthetic cable manufacturers don't suggest those ideas as possible solutions. From a legal point of view, I'd rather not do a setup they don't specifically recommend. I've been digging deep into their sources, emailing manufacturers, and reading every thread and article available, and hardly anyone talks about this scenario.

I've decided to return with EHS cable and rigguy wire stops, especially since there is some inclusion involved. It's the solution I believe makes most sense.

Btw, Cobra's current literature does include removing the shock absorber to make it a static cable. They even speak of that being an option with inclusion and cracks in the union. I've got to assume most folks in this thread would raise eyebrows at that.
While there is less stretch in the system without the shock absorber, I'd doubt it's as rigid/static as EHS.
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Consider calling smaller arb suppliers. There is a company in Sweden (I think), that makes a dynamic option that is perfect for these situations. It might even be tree guard brand, if I recall correctly.
The ‘product’ is wide webbing with a buckle. Installed exactly how you would expect it to be.
 
Matias said:
I really liked how the rigguy wirestops worked in super close quarters. Smaller holes than for a bolt and literally nothing in between the stems but a straight line of cable. I had a big co-dom to cable with stems only 16" apart. I don't know if I could have reasonably done it with any other system.
Click to expand...
Wedge-grips, too.
 
southsoundtree said:
Wedge-grips, too.
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I like wedge grips better for how EASY they are to install. I feel spoiled every time I do.

And...I know they are strong. A few years ago I installed a system in a tree that 1 year later all the trees in a whole neighborhood was leveled by a tornado. Unfortunately this tree was too...but the cables held... there's even one where the cable cut through a log and the wedge grips didn't let go.

20230619_100449.jpg

20230619_100427.jpg
 
evo said:
Consider calling smaller arb suppliers. There is a company in Sweden (I think), that makes a dynamic option that is perfect for these situations. It might even be tree guard brand, if I recall correctly.
The ‘product’ is wide webbing with a buckle. Installed exactly how you would expect it to be.
Click to expand...
i don‘t know if there is a company in sweden aswell but gefa (german) is producing bracing system with a wide webbing and buckles. available both static and dynamic.

i use it when there is not enough room for boa.
 
Friedrich said:
i don‘t know if there is a company in sweden aswell but gefa (german) is producing bracing system with a wide webbing and buckles. available both static and dynamic.

i use it when there is not enough room for boa.
Click to expand...
It’s more likely it’s the same thing and I made a mistake on the country of manufacture
 
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