I've had it! I'm making my Own Climbing Harness!

[MasterBlaster]

That looks sweet.

 

[Burnham]

You could try perforations in the neoprene to help it breathe a bit, might be a little cooler. Looks fine.

 

[flushcut]

Nice!!!!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Cool the way you stuck with the project, Jaime.

 

[Porkbrick]

You could try perforations in the neoprene to help it breathe a bit, might be a little cooler. Looks fine.

i'm definitely going to play around with that idea. maybe find a lighter weight padding like some of the thinner camp pads and use perforations or venting channels. the padding is removable (velcro), so lots of room to experiment with options.

 

[woodworkingboy]

You might check with a full service upholstery shop to see some different types of padding that are available. A sewn covering over some quality high density foam, might be a possibility that breaths. Horse hair is also great traditional padding that keeps it's loft, but I don't know if it has practicality for your application.

 

[gf beranek]

Good for you, Jamie

I started making made my own belts after two years in line clearance work. There wasn't a production saddle back in 71 that could ever satisfy me. So I started building my own. Fact is most of the climbers I knew were using home made belts. Some were pretty funky, but those guys swore they were the best thing going. I tried their belts and swore at them. I made probably six different saddles for myself through the years, and many more for my colleagues.

In 2003 I bought my first saddle. It was a New Tribe. I went to the factory to oversee the options I could choose from, and got sized. I have to say that belt was comfortable, lightweight and had all the utility I needed. Fact is though I grew bigger and my old custom belts were getting tighter. And I didn't feel like making another, so I took the plunge.

Still there is nothing finer than a custom belt you made yourself.

 

[NickfromWI]

nice work, but there's a detail which scares me. Your green bridge holds in place just by two simple knots beyond the rings. I'm afraid in a case of shock loading, the knot will be pulled throw the ring.
I'm shivering, thinking of that.

I would be totally cool with that. I have a saddle that rides like that. In fact, the treemotion has that on ALL it's saddles.

I call it the Super-Happy-Awesome-Tree-Saddle!

Wait...you're going to call it the SHAT Saddle?!?!?!

Cool design. I'm glad you ditched the super long double beeline bridge system you had before. What you have now is more elegant. Good use of those little rigging plates.

When do we get to climb on it?!

love
nick

 

[Porkbrick]

Wait...you're going to call it the SHAT Saddle?!?!?!

When do we get to climb on it?!

love
nick

I was waiting for someone to pick up on that . i would totally love to send one out for housers to demo IF the final product comes out to my liking AND y'all can convince/assure me there is some way to cover/avoid/waive liability. at this point i have all the hardware and stuff, doing some final tweaking before i send it out to be sewn.
one hurdle has been finding dee rings i like. the rings off the butterfly are perfect, but i cant find them anywhere. the cougar has almost the same rings, but an internet search turned up nothing. i ended up having a stainless shop fab me a couple, ideally i would like to find rings that are tested and certified. if anyone has any leads or suggestions i would appreciate it. cheers Jaime.

 

[NickfromWI]

Have you looked close at how the treemotion side dee works? It's pretty ingenious and can be easily replicated.

As far as liability, there is no liability, in my mind. A saddle shows up on my doorstep and I make a big boy decision if I want to climb on it or not. You can include a note on the saddle that says, NOT FOR CLIMBING, in fact. Then you can tell anyone later, "What do you want from me? It says right there- not for climbing."

Can't wait to give your SHAT Harness a try.

Why not Super Happy In Tree Harness?

 

[Porkbrick]

or Fabulous Upper Canopy ...

 

[quabinclimber]

Asymmetrical suspension system

 

[NickfromWI]

Big Ingenious Tree Climbers Harness

 

[Porkbrick]

i like that one. i called weaver today, looks like i might be able to get my hands on some of the dees used on the cougar. if that happens i will feel 100 percent better about letting other people climb on the harness.

 

[Porkbrick]

so here it is, all stitched up! i did end up getting the dees from weaver, they are made by isc and they are aluminum. if i make another one i might move the dees a little more forward. i was trying to counteract an annoying tendency i have of bashing my funny bone on them. im getting used to having them further back tho. so far it is really comfy, and it is very easy to adjust. there is only one adjuster necessary for the belt/bridge connection. behind the leather i glued/riveted a stiff plastic backing so the whole thing holds its shape real well. the gear loops are changeable, there are holes punched all along the top and bottom edges of the leather allowing the loops to be fixed any way you want, also there are two gaps in the webbing on either side for biners/caritools. anywhoo, here it is....

the harness...


with all my usual kit (minus pantin and HH)

 

[gf beranek]

Cadillac

 

[sotc]

Nice. That looks like the new D rings new tribe is using.

 

[flushcut]

Very cool!

 

[gf beranek]

can you invert in it and return to upright position without using your hands? When I made mine I could do that. Though really, I only found that out later when I was fooling around. but it was a nice feature nonetheless.

 

[kevin bingham]

I have been climbing on variations of the Matt Cornell rope saddle for almost a year now. I don't think I'll ever go back to a manufactured saddle. My current one weighs less than two lbs. padding is styrofoam flooring I picked up a while back at the sports store. They sell it for weights. I used the all gear rope cabling stuff which is easy to splice. It's comfy, light and most importantly mine. I'll post a picture later. Definitely not as nice as yours, I wished I had seen this thread a few months ago when I wrote a short article for arb climber mag about homemade harnesses. Real quality job there!

 

[gf beranek]

Can you link to the article? I'd like to see it. Since I sent you some pics to use for it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Those look like some BIG dees! Is that an optical illusion?

 

[Porkbrick]

no problem inverting gerry, and rolling side to side. the only real uncomfortable position so far is hanging off the lanyard, but that is what the rigging plates are for!

Can you link to the article? I'd like to see it.

ditto, and thanks kevin.
butch, yah the dees are quite large, but they dont seem to get in the way and they are aluminum so they actually weigh less than the smaller stainless butterfly dees i origionally had.

 

[kevin bingham]

I haven't seen it myself, awaiting its arrival. Very short article your pics are up front and center though

 

[kevin bingham]

Pork brick, your comment about the continuos webbing is key and what works so well with the Matt Cornell harness. Really big roll capability from side to side.