SOUTHLAND LOGGER ANDREW ‘PRATTY’ PRATT LIKES the idea of tethering a machine on the hill to aid traction in steep harvesting operations.

But he’s not so keen on seeing a winch-assist digger sitting idle for big chunks of time when the system isn’t required. So when he spied a website about a self-contained, bolt-on winch-assist unit that can easily be removed from the end of an excavator to allow the base machine to work without any hindrance between tethering operations, it immediately piqued his interest. The Timbermax Traction Winch unit seemed to answer his requirements, and discussions with its inventor, Quebec-based engineer, Mathieu Lavoie, even led to the offer of distributorship for the New Zealand market.

“I loved the idea of the Timbermax and was keen to buy one, but the idea of being the dealer in New Zealand didn’t really appeal to me – not my thing,” says Andrew, who passed on the lead to AB Equipment.

Within a few weeks AB Equipment had organised for Andrew and another interested Southland contractor, Doug Anderson, to join them on a trip to Canada to see the Timbermax working in a snow-bound logging operation. AB Equipment returned with the distribution deal done and two orders, one for Andrew and the other for Doug.

That was more than a year ago. So has Andrew’s enthusiasm for the Timbermax paid off since he put it to work with his King One crew? It’s going better than expected, to the point where Andrew has expanded from only using it to tether a harvesting machine, to experimenting with assisting his skidder to recover trees from the hill as well.

It would have been nice to see how a skidder works on the end of a tether, as it’s still a very rare sight in New Zealand, but for this Iron Test visit we’ll only be experiencing the harvester on the rope in the Jericho Forest.

Situated on the western edge of Southland, where it meets the stunning Fiordland scenery, this is perfect winch-assist country. Plenty of spots to anchor the winching machine at the top of the hill and long, straight slopes that allow it to perform wide sweeps across the face.

Watching the King One team attack the Douglas-firs on these 40-plus degree inclines you’d think they’d had years of experience with winch-assist technology. Actually, it’s not their first taste of tethering.

“We leased one of the Waka (Engineering) machines off another contractor, Mark Frisken, for a job and it was a good experience for us,” says Andrew.

“Then Rayonier said they wanted us to have one full-time, so that’s when we started looking around.”

Most of the winch-assist machines built in New Zealand have a winch set built into the rear of either an excavator or a bulldozer, with the bucket/blade dug into the ground to act as an anchor when tethering a...