For Those Who Use API Climbers

I've been using this stand for at least 17 seasons -- I know I killed a buck out of it in 2000, but can't remember if I had it prior to that. Anyway, I wore out the black shrink tubing on the chains every year, and struggled to make it every other season between eBay replacements at around $15-16.

This year, I tried something new and bought 5/8" ID/ 3/4" OD clear vinyl tubing at Lowe's for 99 cents a foot. Each chain is something like 5.5 feet, so I bought 12 feet just to be safe. I boiled the tubing in water to soften it up, then used copper wire to pull the chains through. I've been using the stand for 3 weeks now with no problems, so I figured I'd post about it. The chains no longer flop when securing them to the tree, nor do they rattle when walking. I did have to remove the black plastic inserts from the stand openings so that the chains would fit in them.