Customisable bridge harnesses

[rubbish chainsaw operator]

Why is it that the TreeMOTION seems to be the only CE certified harness to allow the user to modify and replace the bridge to their preferred length and with their preferred attachments?

 

I've been looking at others, see:

http://www.wesspur.com/images/treegear/SAD140-500.gif

http://www.sherrilltree.com/core/media/media.nl?id=120086&c=839638&h=673a6d18641a5daa4569

Those are the Buckingham ErgoLite Spartan, and SherrillTree Edge, both of which are based on the Ergovation.

I'm pretty sure New Tribe have similar designs too, but AFAIK they're not CE certified either.

 

I'm not interested in the TreeMOTION. Buying one within the UK costs as much as the ErgoLite Spartan plus shipping plus import tax put together does, and the latter looks like a nicer harness.

 

Why is this design not more prevalent within the EU? It looks so incredibly useful. Just take a length of rope of your preferred length, tie a double overhand into one end, thread the other end through one of the rigging plates, whack on whatever attachments you need, thread the end through the other rigging plate and finish it off with another double overhand and you get a bridge that does exactly what YOU want it to, not some generic design made to make the largest number of people think "It's okay I guess, I can make do with it".

 

For example, I'd put an ICS Wales RP320 on. Bring the bridge rope up through one of the end holes on the row of 5, over into the adjacent large centre hole, pass it under and into the other one next to it, and over into the other end hole in the row of 5 so that

1] It doesn't slip around and tip me sideways like your average D ring, whilst allowing me to slide it with my hands if needs be.

2] It gives me a row of 8 holes to rigidly hold as many biners as I'll ever need in place, without them constantly getting muddled up with one another.

 

Is there a single CE approved harness I could realistically do this with... apart from the TreeMOTION?

[rumination]

The reason those harnesses aren't CE approved is that they are made for the USA market. That being the case they meet the ANSI work positioning harness standard.

[PineSapKnuckle]

Tree Austria 3.1 harness has replaceable bridge:

 

http://www.drayer.de/shop/en/Arbeitsgurte/Harnesses/Arborist-harness-TreeAustria-31.html

 

You can get various lengths and replace it yourself, you just have to glue the shackle bolts back:

 

http://www.drayer.de/shop/en/Arbeitsgurte/Harnesses-accessories/Central-bridge-TreeAustria-31.html

 

I cannot find mention of the CE-approval though.

[rubbish chainsaw operator]

Tree Austria 3.1 harness has replaceable bridge:

 

Arborist harness TreeAustria 3.1 - Drayer Online-Shop

 

You can get various lengths and replace it yourself, you just have to glue the shackle bolts back:

 

Central bridge TreeAustria 3.1 - Drayer Online-Shop

 

I cannot find mention of the CE-approval though.

 

yeah, the Tree Austria is CE approved - being made within the EU it has to be.

the method for bridge replacement for it is also used in the Treehog harnesses, which I also looked at as a possible option.

 

I doubt the replacement bridges for either saddle would work for what I want to do - that is, using a large rigging plate as the anchor point on the bridge.

 

I guess the other possibility would be to use a length of rope as the bridge on the Treehog or Tree Austria, get one end spliced, put the rigging plate on it, get the other end spliced and attach that to the harness.

 

Both the lower price for the harness, and CE marking are good arguments for favouring that over importing a SherrillTree, even if there are plenty of stories of non CE marked harnesses passing LOLER inspections. Cheers for making me reconsider it.

[rubbish chainsaw operator]

The reason those harnesses aren't CE approved is that they are made for the USA market. That being the case they meet the ANSI work positioning harness standard.

 

surely it's within a company's interest to open themselves up to the largest market possible? CE and ANSI standards aren't mutually exclusive.

 

I don't understand why Buckingham don't do this. I'm sure there are plenty more people in Europe who would import them and buy them if they did.

[PineSapKnuckle]

Good idea, splicing your own custom bridge! You get to choose material and dimensions... Conventional splicing limitations might be problem at least with very short bridge.. Burying the splice tail takes some room.

[PineSapKnuckle]

..on the other hand if splicing will not work, you can just use double fishermans on both ends of the bridge if the knots do not bother you.

[rubbish chainsaw operator]

Good idea, splicing your own custom bridge! You get to choose material and dimensions... Conventional splicing limitations might be problem at least with very short bridge.. Burying the splice tail takes some room.

 

I don't think the space taken up with the splicing is too much of a problem for 2 reasons:

1] I don't see much need for moving the anchor point all the way to either side of the bridge.

2] I'm 6 foot 4, so I can handle a long bridge if needs be.

 

The main problem with splicing IMO is how there's no room for adjustment. Use knots, and you can over-estimate the length you'll need, tie it up, try it out, and untie and retie it shorter and cut the excess off. With splicing, not only are you stuck with the length you get, but the only way to remove your anchor points is to destroy the bridge. The only way to change your anchor points is to start from scratch.

 

Factoring the costs of the harnesses themselves, it could still work out cheaper, but having to dish out more cash for splicing [assuming you're unable to splice 16 strand yourself] would be disheartening.

 

..on the other hand if splicing will not work, you can just use double fishermans on both ends of the bridge if the knots do not bother you.

 

the knots wouldn't bother me if it were rigging plates I were tying them behind, and if the harness were designed like that in the first place [such as the american ones I linked to in the original post].

 

i'm not sure i'd trust knots tied behind or on the d ring shackles on the treehog and tree austria. just comes across as unreliable, dangerous and probably more likely to fail LOLER inspection than even a non CE marked harness.

 

even if the harness weren't designed for it, I've looked for nice harnesses in the EU that could have something similar to the Liger mod of the Weaver Cougar done to them [the Cougar harness isn't CE marked either]. they just don't seem to exist. For example, the Treehog harness has stitching in places that the Cougar doesn't, and to remove that stitching would damage the structural integrity and load-bearing capacity of the harness, which would amount to insanity.

[rubbish chainsaw operator]

..on the other hand if splicing will not work, you can just use double fishermans on both ends of the bridge if the knots do not bother you.

 

it's worth noting that when i mentioned the dangers of tying off a rope bridge to the shackles of the treehog, i was only taking into consideration:

1] the double overhand, which is used as a stop knot on the harnesses with the rigging plates, and

2] the double fishermans, which you mentioned.

 

the double fishermans is a bend and only suitable for tying rope to rope.

 

the anchor bend, on the other hand, is not actually a bend, and theoretically could be used to tie off a rope bridge to the shackles. doing so would have the same problems as using splices as far as space is concerned. it would be messy.

 

[sorry for thinking aloud on the forum, writing helps me work through things]

[Paolo Bavaresco]

You can change the bridge on the TreeFlex.

 

There are too many variables involved with operators tying their own bridge - Manufacturers cannot account for this in any testing required by European directives. Such action will always be on the operator's own risk.

 

I hope this helps.