Willans Harness silly question.

[chrisj]

I've got a Willans harness at the moment with the 2 triangle attachment points connected together with a triangle maillon. I really fancy a bridge harness rather than the fixed attachment point that I have, but my harness is still in great condition and not too old so I can't currently justify a couple of hundred quid or more on a new harness for the amount of climbing that I do. I have seen that they do a version with a kind of metal bridge, but clearly I can't retro fit that. So do you think it would be feasable and ok to fit a rope bridge to the harness that I have? In thoery I could tie it on with a fishermans to the triangle attachment points or use short maillons to connect it. Can anyone think of any safety issues with it given that several bridge harnesses use rope bridges?

[White Noise]

I've got a Willans harness at the moment with the 2 triangle attachment points connected together with a triangle maillon. I really fancy a bridge harness rather than the fixed attachment point that I have, but my harness is still in great condition and not too old so I can't currently justify a couple of hundred quid or more on a new harness for the amount of climbing that I do. I have seen that they do a version with a kind of metal bridge, but clearly I can't retro fit that. So do you think it would be feasable and ok to fit a rope bridge to the harness that I have? In thoery I could tie it on with a fishermans to the triangle attachment points or use short maillons to connect it. Can anyone think of any safety issues with it given that several bridge harnesses use rope bridges?

 

A friend of mine has done this and he made the bridge out of 13mm XTC . Not a problem in my eyes . Although you would probably have to revert back to the maillons for a kit inspection .

[chrisj]

That's interesting White Noise. I take it he gets on well with it then? I might give it a go (low and slow of course).

[White Noise]

Yes matey he loves it . Never had no problems with it . You got to know your knots though . Low and slow fits the bill

[chrisj]

That's OK I'm good with my knots. Good to hear that someone else has tried what could have been a crazy idea.

[Essex arborist]

I've linked my metal triangles with a 13mm fishermans knot to create a sliding bridge then karabiner onto climbing rope attachments, been loler inspected and although they questioned it they did pass it.

[DanClimbsTrees]

You could always put in some kind of backup for the first few tries to ease your worry, that's what I'd do!

[chrisj]

That's just what I was thinking of doing Essex Arborist.

 

Good point DanClimbsTrees. My slight concern was whether the diameter of the triangles was to small to ties straight to but it's no smaller than a maillon that I would have happily connected to and the fact that others have done it further puts my mind at rest.

 

My other thought was that the version with the metal bridge may have had the triangles further apart and so this wouldn't work with my harness. But again the fact that others have tried it gives me confidence to think that it's worth trying.

[chrisj]

Well.....I tried it, and WOW! Love it. Not only does it work to give me better movement, but it's made the harness more comfy too. It doesn't seem to pinch the hips so much. It'll definitely make the harness better to use until I can justify an upgrade.