Any tips for improving/enhancing kit?

[cap n chris]

i have never worn one out on the buckles they always go where the straps cross over just down from the eyes towards the leg loops.

Same here.

+1

+2

 

[owd git]

Looks like a trend here that Petzl should be made aware of. :-\

 

[SamT]

Looks like a trend here that Petzl should be made aware of. :-\

Over the past few years petzl have been trying to sort it by trying different stitching pattens and adding red (or more specifically non contrasting stitching colours) to support it. it only seems to be a problem if you carry a tackle bag a lot.

 

[potholer]

i have never worn one out on the buckles they always go where the straps cross over just down from the eyes towards the leg loops.

I get the same on my Superavantis - I never wear the waist buckle at all, but the tape always ends up tearing at the leg loop buckles.
On all but one harness, by the time I've ended up retiring it, it's been overwhelmingly or exclusively the right leg showing wear. Whether that's down to some asymmetry in how tight I do up the leg loops, or asymmetry from using a delta maillon rather than a D, I'm not sure.
When I carry bags, I attach the cord to the left side of the delta, but frequently also clip the bag itself to the left waistbelt loop, so that might add to any asymmetry.

I noticed last year the latest Superavantis are meaningfully different in that the length of the loops from the crossover point for the mail maillon attachment are meaningfully different (though I can't remember if they're shorter or longer).
Seems like they're trying to do something to fix it, though I'm in two minds whether to try the latest one or go for an MTDE.

 

[hrock]

Seems like they're trying to do something to fix it,

they have been making changes for years and i have not notised them lasting any longer. petzl have had at least 3 of mine back when i was done with hanging in them. that was in one year too but i did not get any feed back or free ones. 

 

[Joe90]

I tried the suggestion of having something between the leg loops for hanging a bag off yesterday, Very good 
The first pitch in from the surface was 50m, i was well impressed with the bag hanging out the way there. Very comfortable. Dragged the bag through crawls with it and found it easy. Coming back out i did notice it swung a bit but other than that it was fine. Only thing i wasnt keen on was the festering goat on a ledge about 30m down phew it stunk!  :yucky:
Thanks a lot 

 

[And]

This isn't a mod, so slightly off topic... I hang tackle bags from my belt rather than my harness. Is this unusual? This way my harness isn't distorted and the weight of the bag hangs on my hips. I usually hang the bags behind me, but  can easily move  them around my body (between my Croll and Torse) if the need be.

 

[cap n chris]

Nearly always I prussik trailing the bag until I reach a stance and then haul the bag to where I'm at before continuing - that way only the weight of the rope is hindering the prussik, not the total weight of the bag.

 

[al]

Nearly always I prussik trailing the bag until I reach a stance and then haul the bag to where I'm at before continuing - that way only the weight of the rope is hindering the prussik, not the total weight of the bag.

Agree - except replace stance with anything likely to obstruct the bag - that's where I do my mid-pitch bagstuffs, and leave the bag dangling just above.

 

[cap n chris]

replace stance with anything likely to obstruct the bag

Yes. Well described. That too.

 

[potholer]

Having skinny arms, I prefer carrying over hauling.
I don't like swinging bags, so I typically clip the top of the bag to the side of my harness as well as the haul cord to my central maillion.

If derigging, that might still require an intermediate stuff when there's some potential catching feature to avoid, but probably less so than if hauling  - if there were protrusions near the bottom of the pitch, they'd fairly soon be cleared by the ascending lower part of the loop in the rope coming up at half my speed.
If sections between rebelays aren't too long, stuffing the freed rope into a bag that's already attached to me hardly takes any time.

 

[cap n chris]

Double-clipping bags to create stability (rather than twisting) was the idea behind this commissioned design (made by Warmbac). It clips onto your belt, or your harness or can be slung over a shoulder by clipping into a wide sling for added comfort:

(It's the bag hanging from Kev's side, rather than the one on his back). It's got four clipping in points - the two traditional, central ones, and one at either "end" (or side, if you prefer) so that it is held flat against your torso. It is about 10cm thick.

It has 100m capacity for 10mm or 120+m for 9mm, is slimline so makes for easy dragging and back-mounted use (less stooping) and has removable shoulder straps. Quick-draining.

 

[potholer]

As a bit of an aside, at the weekend, I was mending a tackle bag where a strap had abraded away on the bottom edge of the bag, stitching the shortened strap onto a ~40mm long stub left after cutting off the knackered bit.
With a decent-sized needle and a sailor's palm, I was finding it a complete pain to get some initial tack stitching done to hold the two bits of tape in the correct position for later stitching. Trying to sew onto a short stub right next to the bag definitely didn't help.
After thinking for a while, I went into the hut workshop and clamped the two bits of tape together in the vice, leaving a little edge sticking out at the top to be sewn.
Doing that and gradually letting more material out of the vice as the sewing progressed across the tape made it far easier than trying to do it all by hand, and kept the two pieces of tape properly aligned.
Still dull, but not at all difficult.

Also, having the tape secure in the vice made it feel much safer to be pushing the needle through from one side while supporting the material on the other close to where the needle was emerging, since the tape couldn't go anywhere, and once the needle was through it could only really go straight, away from where the back end was being pushed.