What have you guys found to be the best tiedowns to carry for backcountry grass strips and off airport?

I don't know if they are the best but they are cheap and strong. I made mine out of steel angle and landscaping spikes. Drill holes in the angle for the spikes, two on one side of the angle, one on the other. A U bolt in the middle for your tie down rope. I tested them two years ago at Oshkosh when a squall came though one night. 60 MPH gust front and the tie downs didn't budge.

I have a set of fly ties work well don't know if they're the best or the worst but they work Especially when set at an angle to the tiedown Point on the plane

Barnstormer wrote:What have you guys found to be the best tiedowns to carry for backcountry grass strips and off airport?

Search (Tiedowns & anchors) been pretty well spoken!!

Thanks Scott & Shawn, seems like the big nails are the trick.

And thanks M6RV6, I searched on just Tiedowns before posting but got bored after looking at a number of pages of results that didn't yield what I was looking for. Your suggestion helped.

fly ties... nuf said...

Fly ties. As a bonus they donate a set to BCP for the JC fly-in each year. Good product from a company that supports us so why not support them.

+1 for flyties

I use the Claw, it works well. The hammer handle broke so I replaced it with a steel-handled hammer. The manufacturer replaced the hammer at no charge.

My take on tie-downs is that the systems are dependent on ground conditions mostly so some work better in soft ground and others better in hard soil. Ideally we would carry several types, but that isn't really practical so I find carrying some extra rope can help. I've been forced down in BFE a few times. There is a good chance the plane would have been damaged if I had not had tie downs with me. I try not to leave home without them.

Spare rope comes in really handy for those times when you get to an airport that doesn't have chains or ropes or the ones they do have are a joke.

Another vote for flyties. They don't take up much room, they're light and they work.

Flyties®

I lent mine to someone at Gaston's last weekend. He said "wow, these are a lot better than the claw".

I haven't ever used the claw, but I'm very happy with my flyties.

I have the Claw. I think they are heavy and overkill, but they work. I like the weight of the fly ties better...and I might make something like them next time.

Since weight and space is a huge deal in my little plane I went with the flyties. Do yourself a favor if you get a set though and run a small bead around the heads of the stakes. I was using the back of a hatchet to pound my stakes in and knocked the heads off of 3 of them the first time out. After a quick weld job they have have been fine. The rope they come with sucks too. Some 3/8" synthetic is light and works pretty well.

Didn't Abe post the results of his pull test on various anchors a year or two ago? I remember he was testing his against Fly Ties and the Claw at Johnson Creek with a tripod and scale.

Here is the website - maybe he'll be running a special at JC this year?

http://www.abesaviation.com/

blackrock wrote:Didn't Abe post the results of his pull test on various anchors a year or two ago?

Very interesting!

http://www.abesaviation.com/pull_tests.asp

I use the Claw and so far no complaints but really never have challenged it yet.

One thing that grabs my attention w/ Abe's tiedowns is how do they do in rocky soil? I know on the lower areas of JC there are a lot of rocks just under the surface and w/ rod or spike type penetrators you have a fighting chance of the spike sliding off the rock and going in, I would be curious on how the spades handle rocks. In soft or loose soil I see where the spade rig would make a lot of sense.

My $0.02 worth.

I've been using The Claw for several years. I carry a 2# hammer to drive them in, because the little dinky hammer that comes with them takes too much work in really hard or rocky ground. They work best with the ropes or straps vertical, rather than at an angle like most tiedowns. I've yet to have any come loose, and they've held up to some pretty gusty winds. But I've never used them in any very sandy soil, and I doubt they'd be all that good for that.

I use nylon strap tie downs for convenience, too. Not sure whether they're better or worse than ropes, but I've been known to double-tie with the ropes that came with The Claw when the weather's been a bit dicey--a belt & suspenders approach, I guess.

Cary

I usually have a harder time pulling the stakes out that I do driving them. Pulled the bonded caps off my REI-special aluminum stakes last weekend by trying to pulled them out by the corded loop. Pieces of shit! Gave up and left a few in the ground (after driving them flush.)

I need some good 16" aluminum stakes, I don't like to waste useful load on steel. Tough to find because only backpackers use alum stakes and they don't need any longer than 8-10"

I suppose I could buy fly-ties but I'm a glutton for punishment and made my own similar design.

My favorite "tie down" is a 4 lbs Fortress Anchor (Danforth styled) purchased from Lake and Air, Minnesota (Wipaire). Also, I like the new small Bruce Anchors (knockoffs from China) for the floatplane but, never tried one yet ( love the looks however ! ). Marine anchors also can work on land too .

On the steel sailboat (Hawaii) my backcountry "tie down" is a 44 lbs Bruce and a 45 lbs CQR with 3/8 BBB chain.

rw2 wrote:

blackrock wrote:Didn't Abe post the results of his pull test on various anchors a year or two ago?

Very interesting!

http://www.abesaviation.com/pull_tests.asp

Hmm... Interesting results alright. While they are a lot better than nothing, none of these portable anchors systems provide sufficient hold down power in a really strong wind. At 52 mph most of our four-seat airplanes wings produce about 1200lbs of lift or more.