During pipeline construction, the line is never more exposed than when it’s up on supports. Sections that seem light and well-controlled during stringing and welding can quickly become a challenge once you add real-world factors: long spans, heavy-wall pipe, uneven terrain, temperature swings, and the constant shuffle of equipment around the right-of-way.
What looked fine on paper can start to sag between stands, overload weak points, and turn a safe setup into a scramble to add cribbing and skids.
That’s where DuraPlas TuffStand comes in. Designed specifically for pipeline construction, these injection-molded pipe stands give crews a way to plan for worst-case construction loads—tightening spacing, doubling supports, and stabilizing critical sections—without the backbreaking labor and inconsistency of wood skids.
On a drawing, a pipeline is simple: straight spans, even ground, uniform wall thickness. In the field, it’s rarely that clean. As crews weld and stage sections, several forces start stacking up at the same time. Long, continuous strings stretch between sidebooms or bending crews. A heavy-wall or larger-diameter pipe adds more dead weight to every foot of that run.
Overbends, sidehill work, and uneven ground shift the load to specific points along the line instead of spreading it evenly. Add in constant equipment traffic, contact, and vibration as people move around the ROW, and the setup you planned in the office starts to behave very differently in the dirt.
When all of those factors align, the line’s weight begins to concentrate between supports. Wood skids compress and settle into soft or saturated ground, soaking up moisture and losing their shape. Blocks shift, tilt, or crack. Before long, that familiar “surprise sag” shows up between spans.
It’s more than an eyesore. Sag introduces stress into the pipe, the coating, and the welds. It can create pinch points, stored energy, and instability that increase safety risks and slow production while crews stop to crib, reblock, and rework their setup. DuraPlas engineers designed the TuffStand line specifically to give crews a better way to manage those worst-case construction loads.
Pipeline construction has to move forward, even on the hardest day on the right-of-way. TuffStands are engineered with that reality in mind. Instead of treating supports as an afterthought, DuraPlas encourages crews to plan around them—tightening spacing in critical sections; doubling stands where loads peak at overbends, tie-ins, and heavy-wall transitions; and standardizing support geometry so spans and heights are predictable and repeatable from one setup to the next.
That planning only works if the stands themselves can keep up. Because TuffStands are molded from high-density polyethylene or super-tough nylon, they are strong enough to carry serious loads while still flexible enough to absorb and distribute stress. Under heavy weight, they deflect slightly instead of shattering or taking a permanent set. Once the load is removed, they rebound to their original shape and are ready to be repositioned and used again.
The result is a support system that’s built around worst-case construction loads rather than ideal conditions on a flat drawing, helping crews stay ahead of problems instead of reacting to them after sag and stress have already shown up.
DuraPlas offers two primary TuffStand models: the 12-inch and the 24-inch. Both are built around the same principles: strength, safety, and efficiency. But each is tuned to different job demands.
Despite their strength, both stands are light enough to handle by hand, so crews can deploy them in large numbers without relying on heavy equipment. That makes it much more realistic to properly support long strings instead of stretching a limited number of heavy supports too far apart.
Every pipeline crew has seen it: the string looks straight in the morning, and by afternoon, a mid-span droop shows up where the ground dips, the line heats up in the sun, or a heavier wall segment was added. The answer is to plan spacing for the worst section, not the best one.
In practice, that often means:
The TuffStand’s square footprint—25 inches on the 12-inch model and 40 inches on the 24-inch model—adds stability on uneven or soft ground. On slopes or sidehill work, stands can be reinforced by:
With that approach, “surprise sag” never has a chance to develop. Instead of chasing problems with emergency cribbing, crews move through the spread with a support plan that already assumes worst-case construction loads.
One of the biggest challenges with proper spacing is simple logistics. When you tighten spans and double supports, the number of stands you need grows quickly. With wood, that’s a storage, freight, and manpower problem. With DuraPlas TuffStands, it becomes a manageable part of the plan. Each stand is:
Because they stack efficiently, TuffStands also reduce freight and laydown yard space:
Good pipeline construction planning assumes the line will see its heaviest loads, most awkward spans, and worst footing long before it ever goes into operation. TuffStands are built to help you prepare for that.
On most projects, staying ahead of sag and instability means:
With that mindset, you avoid scrambling to shore up sagging sections mid-day. Instead, you get a cleaner, safer, more predictable operation that holds up when things get heavy or conditions change.
Every piece of DuraPlas equipment is engineered for a simple goal: make fieldwork safer, faster, and more predictable. The TuffStand line is a direct response to the long strings, uneven ground, and ever-increasing demands on temporary supports that crews actually face during pipeline construction.
From the 12-inch polyethylene stand to the 24-inch Super-Tough Nylon workhorse, each TuffStand is designed for repeatable reliability under demanding construction loads. The pipeline may never sit on these supports once it’s in operation. But while it’s in your hands, during the most critical stages of welding, fit-up, and movement, TuffStands give you the margin you need.