Hi. Has anyone installed the radford eyynet system? I need your opinions please. I have had 2 unfavorable reports that I have took back to my club, but they still seem to what to go ahead.
Eddie.
3 Sep 2010 by vid
Tell your comittee to go and see one in action - I'm sure their rep will oblige with addresses to choose from. Its a good lock away improvement on guy ropes and poles but not a patch on a permanent installation of a proper cage and net system - while youre at it get them to go and look at a properly installed ECB approved standard net cage. Only then will they be in a position to make the choice - its not cheap and they will be operating it so they should want to find out.
We have them as our grass practice wickets are constructed in the outfield. We find them ok. A two man operation to get out and put away. Boxes very heavy to lift if you want to move them to another area. Look good when set out though.
I personally do not like the ratchet, it does not have a brake, so if careless the wire rope can get into a terrible tangle.
Ours are still out if you can find the time to visit.
Bath thanks for that. What I should of included in my post as well, was the artificial surface and after sale service. This is going to be a 4 bay netting area mainly for juniors so it needs to be wright. I have been told that it needs to be watered and lightly roll an a regular basis. Because I know that if I don't do this it will never get done. I am only part time and have 17 strips to look after I won't have time. So I need to know from clubs how good his system is and how much maintenance it needs.
Eddie
If this four bay system is not part of the outfield then i question why you need a retractable net system.
5 Sep 2010 by vid Last edited 5 Sep 2010
I am assuming that the surfaces are supplied by someone else, or subbed by Radfords to another party - I was not aware they installed the carpets as well. Make sure they stick to the spec in TS6 at the ECB for non turf surfaces as Radford are not an approved installer so do not have to comply. This doesnt mean of course that they are no good, just that you have to police the specification yourself.
We would not normally expect you to have to wet the surface once installed - nature does that often enough and systems have to be able to exist in parts of the field that are less well serviced by water, however regular quick, light rolling will keep the surface aggregates in place and improve consistency and pace. Never use a heavy roller as this will crush the base and cause problems. If you are part time, the onus is on the club to either do the rolling themselves or to pay you to do it - to wet and roll 4 nets you will need to allow 1 hour as a fair amount of water would need to be added to significantly wet the surface - the 4 batting ends will need about .5cum water (4mm) in total, with a 12mm hose with good pressure that will take 20 mins, 5 mins rolling in each net with a hand roller (<250Kg) and 20 mins to get all equipment to and from the net. If the surfaces are 'tufted' wetting is pointless as the surface drains through small holes punched through the carpet at 100mm spacings, if the surface has an enhanced bounce man-made layer - the materilas involved are impervious to water so aggregate wetting only takes place naturally in the winter from underneath.
We recommend that our pure aggregate based bases are rolled once a week before important sessions for best performance of the system. I can think of only a single club that does so on a regular basis!! But it is important to do this during the first season of use as the aggregates will still be settling slightly.
Above all go and see what they are proposing before they install and ask other clubs that have the system what they think. If they wont give you a club list there is perhaps a reason for it. I happily give my customers a list of all the installations in their area so they can choose who to ask without me prepping them. Take Bath up on his offer for instance - but not you, the playing and paying members need to make the final decision.
vid, interesting thoughts on maintenance. We had a 4 lane bay installed this year by an ECB approved company. When asked about maintenance, they said "none required, no rolling".
Came as a surprise but there you go.
5 Sep 2010 by vid
There is one system Vic that is approved for installation on Tarmac - it defeats me how that happened when concrete was withdrawn as a base. But if that is the case that system requires no rolling. All the other approved systems are consolidated aggregate based and need rolling at least 1 x per year if there is a thick man made 'enhanced bounce' layer and much more regularly if the final carpeting has no shockpad or just the 3-4mm type, as this kind is the truer to cricket conditions but the aggregate does tend to become slightly loosened at its surface with the carpetting. So 'none required' unless on an engineered tarmac surface needs further investigation and I would also refer it back to the ECB as that is not showing commitment to their guidelines
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