Take down Trio Grandpa pole?

Jim Rockford · Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:22 pm

Hello,

After attracting martins for 6 years straight, I've gone 8 years without attracting any. I do get the occasional visitors, but none of them hang around. They did stop by enough this year to break my perch, and I need to replace it. (I made the perch out of a wooden dowel after breaking the aluminum one while I was putting the house up. The wood has rotted over the last 15 years or so.)

So, if you're familiar with the Grandpa, its pole is in three sections. I don't remember how I managed to put it up, but to fix the perch, I have to take the top section down. Any ideas on how to do that without breaking my neck (or something else)? I can enlist the help of one of my SILs, and I want to spend as little time on a ladder as possible. I tangled with a ladder a few years back and ended up with a broken hip and elbow!

I want to fix the perch because I'm going to keep setting things up every February in hopes of attracting some martins. I believe the reason they don't hang around is that, in the last 8 years or so, we've gotten a colony of Mississippi Kites roaming around. I can't think of any other reasons for them not hanging around. But that's off-topic for this thread.

Thanks for any help.

jhcox · Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:56 am

Hey Jim good luck with that ladder I hope everything turns out ok. Just wanted to tell you you can get allthread on as the perch and they will last forever. They make it in several sizes. And the threading on it helps them hold on better. You can get it at any Home Depot or Lowes. Again good luck.

daveh · Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:01 am

Jim, It's not easy as I get older. My wife helps me on these projects. Without help now I couldn't do it. So if you have young strong help that's great. He will have to get on the step ladder several steps and pull the top and middle poles out of bottom pole at the clamp assembly which is close to the cleat or if using a winch, close to that. Loosen clamp assembly, pull out the top two poles and lay on saw horses. Now you can work on it. Before pulling out, I would mark a line across the seam so that when you put the top and middle section back in, everything is lined up like before. Also, lower the house so that the pole when pulled out is not so top heavy.

Dave

Jim Rockford · Thu Jun 02, 2022 5:24 pm

Thanks Dave.

It sounds like rather than try to separate the top and middle poles and bring down the top one, I should separate the top two, intact, from the bottom pole and bring the two of them down at the same time (with help from my son-in-law).

The house is down. I brought it down a couple days ago because the sparrows were nesting in it, and I just won't allow that.

Jim

Jim Rockford · Thu Jun 02, 2022 5:27 pm

jhcox wrote: ↑
Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:56 am
Hey Jim good luck with that ladder I hope everything turns out ok. Just wanted to tell you you can get allthread on as the perch and they will last forever. They make it in several sizes. And the threading on it helps them hold on better. You can get it at any Home Depot or Lowes. Again good luck.

Good idea. I'll use that next time. Thank you!