Had an old hand tell me I was wasting time with my tagline setup

I always ran my tagline from the load straight to the ground and had someone haul on it. Seasoned operator named Ray watched me for five minutes on a job in Albuquerque last spring before he pulled me aside. He said running it that way gives you less control over the load swing and makes the ground guy work twice as hard. He showed me how to run it through a snatch block anchored to the mat instead. Took me maybe ten minutes to get used to the change but now I don't fight the load nearly as much. Anyone else had an old head tell you something small that made a big difference in your day?

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taylor_mitchell802mo ago

Man that thing about anchoring to the mat instead of going straight to ground... yeah that one got me too. Old timer in Odessa showed me the same trick a few years back and I felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. Way easier on your arms and the load stays put way better.

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benb212mo ago

Funny you mention Odessa, my buddy runs a crew out there and he told me the same thing but with a twist nobody talks about. What really sold me on it was realizing that mat anchoring spreads the load across the whole bottom plate instead of just the bolts. Most guys don't think about how that extra surface area keeps the slack from shifting when the wind picks up or the ground gets wet. I've seen setups fail because people underestimate how much movement a little moisture can cause under a load. You tie straight to ground and the pull is all on one point, but anchor to the mat and it's like the whole structure grabs hold. You ever test it against a typical ground anchor in loose soil?

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