Straight Fence Line? Long Distance...

[SanDucerro]

Lots of suggestion that will work but I've not read (have not read ALL the posts) the way I'd go at it. First acquire a surveyors transit. (Since this is a one time project, I'd think about just renting the transit.) A model where the optics can be flipped end for end. Set you end stakes, place the transit near the high mid-point. Sight in one end stake, then flip, not rotated, and see how close the other end stake is lined up. Reposition the transit as needed until both end stakes are lined up by just the flipping the optics. Now you're ready to place all the other posts by sighting them through the transit.

Here's apic of the type of transit I'm thinking about. Vintage Used Old CL Berger Sons Boston Mass Surveyors Transit Tool in Box | eBay

I like this! No one mentioned flipping - although mention was made of rotating 180 degress, which should accomplish the same thing. I'll probably by the transit (if I can find one I like). I not only have the fence to put up, but a never ending number of trellis to setup as well.

 

[TomSeller]

I just pound two tall stakes on the line you want about 50' apart at the far end of the run. Then sight each post in line with those 2 stakes. Same as I used to do back in the day on the first plow run in a field. Put the stakes farther apart if you can.

If it is a property line you may want more stakes put in by the surveyor.

 

[SanDucerro]

There's a real good chance I'm over think this whole issue, but...

The fence line will be the "ruler" for the remainder of the rows within the vineyard. To maximize the available acreage the trellis rows within the vineyard are set 10 feet apart (120"). The tractor is 72" wide, the grapevine canopy is 18" on each side, so I'm going to be driving a 6' wide tractor down a 10' row with 3' missing due to canopy. That leaves 6 inches of space on either side of the tractor. A such - those rows are going to have to be darn near perfect!

 

[Ranger Rick]

My longest is only 460 feet and I'm thinking it may be too long. The thought of having to enter the row with the tractor and go all 460 feet just to get to the other side seems unrealistic...

Looking a a vineyard near me I think some of their rows are well over 460 feet that you are talking about. Looking at the aerial photo they run the rows from one end of a field to the other no matter what the size to maximize the coverage. barboursville vineyard - Google Maps

 

[SanDucerro]

Looking a a vineyard near me I think some of their rows are well over 460 feet that you are talking about. Looking at the aerial photo they run the rows from one end of a field to the other no matter what the size to maximize the coverage. barboursville vineyard - Google Maps

Most of the literature I've read suggest 600' as a maximum without a break. They also say the max is not a hard number, but anything longer will lead to boredom when working the rows. I'd hate to have to hand trim a long row... I'd also hate to deal with a psyco employee who was stuck there for the whole day! :laughing:

 

[SanDucerro]

I should add... All of the row length discussions go out the window if you're using mechanized harvesting equipment. If that's the case - then the longer the better...

 

[Mickey_Fx]

I like this! No one mentioned flipping - although mention was made of rotating 180 degress, which should accomplish the same thing. I'll probably by the transit (if I can find one I like). I not only have the fence to put up, but a never ending number of trellis to setup as well.

The reason I mentioned this way, there is the real possibility of not getting a perfect 180 if you rotate. By flipping you're not introducing any error.

 

[SanDucerro]

UPDATE: Did the "string thing" last weekend and had good success. The wind was low in the morning and we got a great front line established between both sides of the property. I bought "good" twine and was able to stretch it VERY tight. That was the easy part. We then attempted to create 90 degree angles and that didn't go so well. I tried several variations of technique and never did find one I was 100% confident it. We were always several feet off when we got through. Which - truth be told - was good enough for what I needed done, but one of my biggest "faults" is being **** about things like this and I wanted it right - not almost right.

So I bought a David White LT6-900N Meridian Transit Level kit off Amazon and used it for the first time this weekend. LOVED IT! Made the chore of setting the two ends very easy and it worked great at the distances we needed (550 feet). I have no doubt one could achieve satisfactory results at distances several hundred feet more. However...

The reason I mentioned this way, there is the real possibility of not getting a perfect 180 if you rotate. By flipping you're not introducing any error.

I found this to true for 90 degree angles as well. There is a VERY good possibility that I was using the instrument incorrectly, but I never could get the same results twice when rotating the transit 90 degrees. I'd set the transit, verify the line, then rotate 90 degrees and stake the second post. But when I rotated back to the original line the posts were off by a couple of feet. So I'd reset, then rotate 90 degrees, restake, and then rotate back only to find I'm still off. The wind was pretty high at this point, so I'm thinking this may have had an effect (at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it). But we got the job done and I feel it was made both easier and more accurate with the use of the transit.

 

[SanDucerro]

Update! Started setting posts today (oh joy). Used the David White Transit to set the two end posts for the vineyard so they were "in-line" with the property posts. Then ran string between the two posts to establish a line. We then set flags at the required intervals along the string line. Once this was done we removed the string and pushed the flags down so they were very low to the ground. Now I can drive the tractor over the flags and set the post hole digger down at the indicated (flag) point.

We're using an Everything Attachments 6900 series HD post hole digger with a 12" auger. DO NOT go lower than a 12" for setting 6" posts. Reason being - the posts are 6" at the top, but they are 9" at the bottom. At any rate, the post hole digger worked GREAT! Very happy with this unit. It had zero issues with our soil and made great holes! I did get the auger stuck on hole number two (that didn't take long), but quickly learned one of the benefits of having two tractors. Just hooked the auger end of the post hole digger to the second tractors FEL and Wa-La - issue solved!

Also learned that no matter how careful you are with string and flags you CANNOT get the line perfect. The posts are in line, but the line isn't exactly 100% in-line with the end posts. Doesn't really matter in our case as the end posts were more or less a "guide" point. I suspect we'll be off by a foot over 650 feet - and I'm good with that!

 

[two_bit_score]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you are making progress.