Conventional Harness

[D2228 0]

I didn't care for the "step in" harness I used on my recent return to the sport. Is a more conventional harness with quick release chest and leg snap links still available?

Thanx for any help you can give this old fossil.

I'm back after a 39 year hiatus.
www.SFer-DeOppressoLiber.com/skydiving.html

[Rover 9]

Yep, but you may have to order it that way if you can't find what you want 2nd hand.

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[sundevil777 93]

Some people put the rig/legstraps all the way on the ground, step into the straps and pull it up. That way seems extremely awkward. Try making the legstraps completely loose (long), letting the rig fall down a little over your shoulders, and while holding onto something (to prevent falling) with one hand to steady yourself use the other hand to help get one leg lifted up and into the strap, then reverse the process for the other leg. I find it quite easy to do, especially if your rig has long legstraps, and can even do it without holding onto something if I want to be daring. Having snaps on the legstraps would avoid that process, but I really wouldn't want to go back to all that hardware. Snap fittings on the chest strap might still be available as a special order option, but it fell out of favor because even us old guys didn't want them anymore.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[davelepka 4]

True 'quick eject' hardware, the type where you pull up on the buckle and it pushes the shackle out isn't really in use on sport harnesses. They do use them as the lower attachment points for tandems. More common (but still not common) are B-12s, where you have to open a gate and manually pull the shackle out of the buckle.

You can have B-12s added to any sport harness, new or used. It's a bit of a job on a used harness, and will cost $100/$150 min for the labor to open up the old harness and install the new hardware. If you buy new just specify B-12s on the legstraps, and if you buy an old enough rig, you might find a used one with B-12s, and if not, just pay for the conversion.

If you do use a step-in harness, one trick some of the 'older' guys use is to set the rig on a chair, and then back up to the chair and step one leg at a time into the legstraps, then pull the rig up onto your shoulders.

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

If you do use a step-in harness, one trick some of the 'older' guys use is to set the rig on a chair, and then back up to the chair and step one leg at a time into the legstraps, then pull the rig up onto your shoulders.

That's me. Sundevil is obviously more limber than some of us. Awkward is in the eye of the beholder.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[councilman24 36]

You may be able to get quick ejectors as a special order on a new harness but if you haven't looked at the prices make sure someone nearby knows CPR.

B-12's are an option from most manufacturers and there are some used harnesses with them but not many. As said before a harness could be retrofitted with them.

The value of friction adapters is that you don't have to click your snaps to see if the gates are closed.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[riggerrob 558]

"Quick Ejector Snaps" fell out of fashion decades ago.
Primarily because the little springs and levers break too easily and they are a headache to replace.
Hint: the United States Air Force introduced a screw-in replacement for QE Snaps back during the 1960s.

YOu would be far wiser to order B-12 Snaps with your new harness.

[sprtdth 0]

OR, you could just unthread the leg straps, put it on, then re-thread them.
When I designed and built my first step-in harness (no adjustment whatsoever, except the chest strap) in '74-75, I didn't realize you're not as flexiable at 40-50 years old as you are at 18-19.
My girlfriend at the time wanted SOME adjustment at the leg straps (to compensate for monthly weight gain) so I redesigned the bottom of the harness with friction adapters.
That's the way she put it on "during that week"

CRW Skies
Frank
CRW Diva #58

[LouDiamond 1]

Quote

"Quick Ejector Snaps" fell out of fashion decades ago.
Primarily because the little springs and levers break too easily and they are a headache to replace.
Hint: the United States Air Force introduced a screw-in replacement for QE Snaps back during the 1960s.

YOu would be far wiser to order B-12 Snaps with your new harness.

Maybe with the civilian crowd but they are alive and thriving with the military still. B-12s were phased out for QE's about the mid 90s on due to their breaking/bending which would effectively dead line a rig until it could be replaced. QE's are used on leg/chests straps of both round and ram air military systems exclusively for the most part.We saw far more problems with B-12 gates than with QE's.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

"Quick Ejector Snaps" fell out of fashion decades ago.
Primarily because the little springs and levers break too easily and they are a headache to replace.
Hint: the United States Air Force introduced a screw-in replacement for QE Snaps back during the 1960s.

YOu would be far wiser to order B-12 Snaps with your new harness.

Most of my 'demo' rigs have QE's, the latest one I got B12's because of the cost. QE's added about 150.00 to the total, and the B12's were nickel finished like the rest of the hardware so it looks 'cool'...

I've never owned a rig with step in's, jumped a lot of them but never saw the attraction...I'm a big old fat guy, snapping is easier and I've never had a problem with either QE's or B-12's.

Then again I'm not real rough of the hardware, kinda treat it like a very expensive life saving devise.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[riggerrob 558]

Strong tandems used to have lots of problems with B-12 gates jamming - when they were mated to shallow V-Rings - but since Strong switched to deep V-rings, the incidence of bent B-12 gates was dropped dramatically.

So it was on of those cases, where B-12 Snaps are supposedly compatible with shallow V-Rings, but they do not play well together in the long run.

OTOH the only - Canadian solo - jumpers, who still wear QE Snaps are Canadian Search and Rescue Technicians, who routinely train for water landings.