Up a tree - part 2

After dusting off my EZ-hang slinghsot I replaced the old and in the meantime shortened fishing line with new fluorescent line (0.25mm). I started out with 120m but that was a little too much for the reel so I cut it back to 100m.

I was wondering what the effect of the different sinker weights would be in practice - which one would travel higher and how would they behave once up in a tree.

Slingshot with 1.75oz sinker

Slingshot with original sinker

First I did some simple shots across a field. It turned out both weights ended up at around the same distance: 50m (170ft) with a maximum of 54m for the 1.75 oz weight and 58m for the original 1oz weight. I would say comparable.

Lots of nice branches

Then I selected a few nice trees to compare the two sinkers further. Again the difference in height reached was not really significant. Both ended up around 25m (80ft) with the 1oz weight reaching the highest branch at 28m (90ft). This corresponds to the highest mast I have (26m) so more than acceptable.


Two differences were significant to me:
1. the original (yellow) sinker was easier to find (higher visibility thanks to the paint)
2. the heavier sinker came down smoothly every time while the original one had to be helped down more than once (tugging the line)

So I think it is a matter of painting the heavier sinkers and I am good to go.

Another thing I will optimise are the rubber bands of the slingshot. They can be stretched quite lightly even up to my maximum reach. As it turns out (as with everything you dive into) there is a whole unknown territory to explore when it comes to designing good slingshots. Another thing to put on the to-do-list. On top of that list is figuring out why my 40m c-pole antenna kills current chokes. More on that later...

The "chosen one" in action