Bulldog OAR Lanyard Adjuster

Here are a few pictures of this latest wider BOLA, which works on a wider array of ropes in the 7/16"-1/2" range. When heavily weighted it will release nicely by pulling down the bottom arm only and allowing the upper arm to friction brake. The outboard friction pins have bollards, while the inboard pins do not.
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I have been using Gordon's wider BOLA version for several weeks now. I have tried it with Cougar (runs great), but It has been running fantastic with a used piece of Yale 11.7. Even works pretty good on the cable like HTP line. I'm curious to see how it will run with Imori and tachyon in the near future, but right now I am keeping the Yale 11.7 on my hip.

I have been skeptical about any mechanical adjuster taking the place of a classic hitch, but this new Bola has me thinking differently at the moment. It is ultra smooth. Not too friction free like the ART positioner, which would tend to gobble my slack while climbing, yet tending is consistently smooth.

As Gordon mentioned earlier, when fully weighted, it is easily adjusted by pulling down on the lower arm, as the top arm acts as your main, consistent point of friction. When the Bola is used in classic positioning scenario, you can control your descent by manipulating the triangle side plates using the top arm. Really cool design and intuitive to use.

I am really enjoying the consistency of slack tending. It still won't work single line, but you can always spike your line below the Bola if single line configuration is really needed. Great work yet again.
 
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Thanks for the review Mike, I am very pleased with this wider design and do not forsee any other model BOLA. Have you tried yours on KM III? If anyone is interested in this BOLA I have three more made.
SS arms and Nickel plated friction links (same as pictured).
 
Good Day Gang, finally got my package back from TreeStuff today, and all I can say is "WOW", I had them sew my eyes for my new Adjustable Lanyard, and it's just perfect! Here are a couple of pics to see how nice it turned out!
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Special Thanks go out to Surveyor, for building such a great backup to the Bulldog Bone, which I. Did purchase from "The Man" Frank, also Nick Bonner for coordinating everything, and lastly the crew @TreeStuff.com, everyone I spoke with were extremely helpful and knowledgable, as to what I wanted accomplished and they got it back to me within 2 days of receiving the parts! It will get it's christening tomorrow morning on a pruning job that I've put off until I got the lanyard!
Again, Tanks to everyone that made this beautiful piece of Gear!
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I put that there to hook on the back of my TreeMotion to take up some of the slack while climbing around in the canopy, the total length is 22' , I didn't want to have to stop & coil it up every time I needed to get through all of the smaller branches! Plus I can put an E2E w/ fixed pulley for a 2nd tie off.
 
Anyone have any feed back on how the BOLA is working with pitchy lanyards on those gooy pine removals?
I work enough white pines that I have a dedicated 12mm htp lanyard/flipline - it's nice and stiff! It has sewn eyes w/ 'biners and an art positioner (works well with pitch) so I can remove all the hardware and easily send the pitchy lanyard through the washing machine. As has already been said, I would love to see the BOLA midline attachable so that both ends of the lanyard could be spliced (instead of tied) for a double ender. I like the nano swivel addition.

As always, HUGE props to Gordon for BDB! Continues to be a total game changer!
 
Hey Brian, if you go back several pages, Surveyor has posted a revised version of the B OAR, that accepts a wider variety of ropes. I personally have no problems w/ the KMIII. But you can PM him to get more info. Best of Luck! Be Safe.
 
BrianGehan said:
Anyone have any feed back on how the BOLA is working with pitchy lanyards on those gooy pine removals?
I work enough white pines that I have a dedicated 12mm htp lanyard/flipline - it's nice and stiff! It has sewn eyes w/ 'biners and an art positioner (works well with pitch) so I can remove all the hardware and easily send the pitchy lanyard through the washing machine. As has already been said, I would love to see the BOLA midline attachable so that both ends of the lanyard could be spliced (instead of tied) for a double ender. I like the nano swivel addition.

As always, HUGE props to Gordon for BDB! Continues to be a total game changer!
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I use the Bola Lanyard as a pruning and decidious tree removal set up. I dedicate a a seperate lanyard for white pines like you are suggesting. I never even attempted the BOLA in heavy pitch environments to be honest. I have found that the adjusters with cams work best for the goo.
 
BrianGehan said:
Anyone have any feed back on how the BOLA is working with pitchy lanyards on those gooy pine removals?
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Sap ain't getting anywhere near my BOLA! It works so nicely without goo, so I don't really feel the need to try it with pitchy nast all over it.:)
But I am pretty sure the BOLA would be worlds better than a hitch in pitch.
 
I totally agree with you John, only Maples, Oaks, Elms, & Walnuts. Some Poplars, Birch, & Basswoods, when they show up. I can count on 1 hand how many Pines I cut. When I do I use my velocity hot w/ Trango cinch! BooYaa!
 
Yeah, I have a 10' lanyard for pines with a simple RE RockGrab on it. That's the other reason it makes sense to use an alternate lanyard for pines and such...you don't need the 20+ feet of lanyard that I absolutely appreciate in other non-pine climbs! So it just makes sense to have a dedicated shorter lanyard with a dedicated adjuster. For everything else...My 25' KMIII with the BOLA!:bailando:
 
The BOLA pitch combo just came to mind as the BDB seems to glide right through the pitch most of the time. the art works pretty nice with the pitch too. Spendy but smooth - well worth the money for the number of pines I work at times. Could not agree more with having a lot of rope in the lanyard for deciduous.
 
CutHighnLetFly said:
This might have been previously said and I missed it, but how do those who use the BOLA feel about its performance in a ddrt configuration on a long lanyard?
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It works quite well. When the Bola is fully weighted, I like to simply release the bottom arm to descend. Otherwise you can descend with the top arm.

Here is a video John Kay posted (this is the smaller Bola made for KMIII) I like how he clips in with the xrse biner to create a zero slop ddrt system :

 
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