Using a Slink to attach bridle at d-bag?

[pchapman 275]

How well accepted is it, to use a soft link or Slink to anchor the base of the main bridle at the deployment bag, instead of using a Maillon rapide link?

I have occasionally seen Slinks used.

A 2010 Chuting Star post said they assemble their rigs that way all the time, if the bag has a #4 or #5 grommet. Only a Reserve Slink is used, not a Main Slink.

Recently however Parachute Systems issued a bulletin saying not to use that method on their rigs as they had a Slink pull through. (PSB-2018-01)

So what's the acceptance these days of using a soft link?
Well accepted? Only for #4 grommet? Not really, because it has been tried but very occasionally fails leading to a collapsed pilot chute?

I hear that using a heavy duty key-ring style split ring seems to have some acceptance.

Sewn bag-to-bridle connections work well but take a bunch of time to replace and 'standard' bridles are not set up for that.

The standard Maillon rapide solution does tend to beat up the end of the bridle and sometimes the grommet too.

[gowlerk 2,072]

I have some sympathy for the desire to use a Slink. However, not once in any manual have I ever seen one used. I don't remember running across any in the field here in the wilds of Manitoba either. For whatever that's worth.

I'm thinking of looking for some of those split rings like RI uses though. And I sewed one Javelin style recently.

[faulknerwn 38]

There is some company (Aerodyne I think?) that ships their new rigs with slinks to attach the bag with. I have seen one pull through - but it was only routed through once instead of twice - admittedly the way that it is attached on theirs makes it seem like you should only go through once.

[gowlerk 2,072]

faulknerwn

There is some company (Aerodyne I think?) that ships their new rigs with slinks to attach the bag with. I have seen one pull through - but it was only routed through once instead of twice - admittedly the way that it is attached on theirs makes it seem like you should only go through once.

Yes. I just looked it up. it's in the NexGen manual.

[richoH 6]

Can't speak to mfgr but all of my bags are attached with reserve slinks.

The flipside is that nearly all of my bags are VSE stowless, which have the triangle, so in theory if the bag pulls through it still wouldn't go all the way down, but I've never had an issue (about 1500 jumps on this setup across a bunch of bags and bridles)

[sundevil777 98]

I have been using, as you described, a "heavy duty key-ring style split ring" for about 150 jumps. No sign of trouble yet.

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

[Westerly 61]

Do you even need to use a link at all? My kit was assembled by an FAA master rigger and he just girth hitched the bridle straight to the canopy. Seems like an easy way to eliminate one extra link in the chain, save weight and save money.

[Jaysus 1]

Westerly

Do you even need to use a link at all? My kit was assembled by an FAA master rigger and he just girth hitched the bridle straight to the canopy. Seems like an easy way to eliminate one extra link in the chain, save weight and save money.

I think he is talking about the attachment from the bridle to the d-bag, not to the canopy.
In my rig, I have a rapide link, works goods so far.

I remember a post from reddit, about using slinks/rapid links ( https://www.reddit.com/r/SkyDiving/comments/909dza/just_wanted_to_share_this_cutaway_on_my_third/ )

There was a problem when using slinks and they released a service bulletin to replace them ( https://imgur.com/a/la95I5t

[LeeroyJenkins 2]

Westerly

Do you even need to use a link at all? My kit was assembled by an FAA master rigger and he just girth hitched the bridle straight to the canopy. Seems like an easy way to eliminate one extra link in the chain, save weight and save money.

This thread is about bridal to bag, not bridal to canopy.

[DHemer 0]

The discussion is not about bridle to canopy but rather where the bridle exits the dbag.

[gowlerk 2,072]

Westerly

Do you even need to use a link at all? My kit was assembled by an FAA master rigger and he just girth hitched the bridle straight to the canopy. Seems like an easy way to eliminate one extra link in the chain, save weight and save money.

You probably have a Vector. It uses no hardware at all to attach the bridle to the bag. But they are the only ones I've seen that can do so.

[betzilla 56]

If it's a #5 grommet, you need a reserve slink -- a main slink will eventually get soft enough to work its way through.

I'm generally a fan of removing metal-on-metal pinch points, but I dislike sewn-on bridles - they create extra work for riggers and extra cost for gear owners when it's time to replace the pilot chute (they either have to pay the rigger for all the seam-ripper practice, or just buy a new deployment bag). I think UPT's setup is about as good as they come, with the only metal on the entire PC/bridle assembly being the pin....

[pchapman 275]

The UPT ones:
Photo attached for reference. This was taken in 2010 so I don't know if design details changed.

I never liked the concentric scrunched up bridle system for the kill line & bag retainer line, but the no-metal bag to bridle design looks nice.

[betzilla 56]

I'm pretty sure UPT is still using that same design, though it's been a few months since I've assembled a sparkly new Vector. This design requires a #4 grommet too (a good thing to know in case you're thinking of putting a UPT PC on some other manufacturer's d-bag). The type 4 stop can pull through a #5 when it gets broken in and softens up a little.

I like the fully enclosed kill-line in the scrunched up bridle. Two slack lengths of tape/line in the deployment bag (like you get with non-enclosed designs) kind of bugs me -- I'm not aware that's ever caused trouble, but it's not that hard for me to imagine it could, somehow...

[Deyan 36]

gowlerk

You probably have a Vector. It uses no hardware at all to attach the bridle to the bag. But they are the only ones I've seen that can do so.

VSE is using similar setup on Infinity, although they use the kill line to connect to the canopy. Very smart design. Aerodyne also did something similar like UPT for a short period of time.
Like Betzila pointed out, those should be used on D-bags with grommet #4 only. Unfortunately so many jumpers think they know better when they swap parts from rig to rig.

"My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

[riggerrob 598]

***I'm pretty sure UPT is still using that same design, though it's been a few months since I've assembled a sparkly new Vector. This design requires a #4 grommet too (a good thing to know in case you're thinking of putting a UPT PC on some other manufacturer's d-bag). The type 4 stop can pull through a #5 when it gets broken in and softens up a little.
————————————————————————————

I have also seen a few bridles attached to d-bags with fat Dacron soft-links. These were the one-use-only soft links that pre-dated Parachutes de France’s re-useable soft links.

Fat suspension line is the key to preventing accidental pull-through.

[ChrisHoward 8]

gowlerk

You probably have a Vector. It uses no hardware at all to attach the bridle to the bag. But they are the only ones I've seen that can do so.

The new SunPath PCs have eliminated the hard links from their design. They also have a new kill line attachment that is genius.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCb1Yvfn9Z0