ratchet strap failure, whilst rigging

[sam walton]

whilst dismatling a fairly large sycomore earlier today. I had the ratchet strap ( which was securing the kapstan lowering device at the base of the tree ( wieghing around 20-25 kg ) snap! I was snaching a roughly 250kg section of trunk when bang! next thing i kno, kapstan within a flash came hurtling up to my pully about 12 inch from my chest and took a good old chunk out of the tree, the ally cast pully and the rope! Im pretty sure if had of being 12 inch to the right it would of taken a good old chunk out of me and probably killed me! I can safely say i will be purchasing a ratchet chain to replace. has anyone ever had anything like this happen to them?

[Steve Bullman]

how old was the ratchet strap? in good condition i assume?

[Tom D]

Where did it fail? at a seam or was it the hardware or just a clean tear.

[bob]

i am not a fan of using ratchet straps for holding capstans

[bill]

buy a whoopie sling, ive never like the idea of those either

[skyhuck]

Are we talking flying capstan here or bollard type ?

[Jason James Gairn]

Pictures! Golly that's scary.

[Mr Ed]

250 kgs dropped how far? remember Force = Mass x Acceleration

[Mac McLennan]

Sounds like a close one, thanks for posting. You could have saved me from the same fate.......What staps secure the grcs and Hobbs anyone? Presumably you can buy the straps separately from the drum?

[Andy Collins]

Surely the strength in a ratchet strap is along its length, not the width. I've only had to use one once, and this concern was in my mind the whole job. Fortunately I had no such problems. Did you have a twist in the strap? I inspected the strap after each and every drop, and I backed it up with a rope sling just in case. I also tied off the surplus in case anything flicked the ratchet. I binned the ratchet strap after the job, in case it had developed any weaknesses that I couldnt see.