Replacing Risers

[sammer 0]

I had a really hard opening over the weekend (it destroyed my canopy and did a number on me too). Would replacing the mini-risers after a really violent opening be prudent or am I just being paranoid? I weight about 220lbs also, so that's part of my concern I guess.

Sam

[PhreeZone 20]

How many jumps are on the risers? Its generally recommended to replace them every 500 jumps and to replace your links at that time too.

If you had that hard of an opening you might want to check the rings and make sure there is no distortion of them and the geometry all lines up to spec.

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[sammer 0]

The container is fairly new, I think about 150 jumps. What got me thinking about it is when I was removing the risers from my wasted canopy I noticed the pocket that holds the cutaway cable was torn loose most of it length. I can't figure out what it would have snagged on. This might be a stupid though but I was wondering if the riser actually might have stretched enough to pop the stitches (it was a very hard opening).

Good point about checking the rings, I hadn't even thought of that yet.

Thanks,
Sam

[riggerrob 643]

Sounds like your riser stretched enough to break the stitches holding the channel.
Scary!
I would buy a new set of risers.

[Tonto 1]

Agreed.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[bmcd308 0]

>>I would buy a new set of risers. <<

I would have the whole system inspected.

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[sammer 0]

I've been wondering about that too.

I'm hoping that the stretch in the risers might have prevented any further damage. I'm guessing they are probably designed that way.

I emailed the manufacturer about it and I will see what their thoughts are on inspecting the rest of the harness.

[mr2mk1g 10]

That same stitching has come undone on my risers too. I have the same HC system as you - it's 1 year old with about 130 jumps on it.

I also noticed exactly the same thing happening on the risers of some club kit the other weekend too - that's from a different manufacturer and only 6 months old with only a couple of dozen jumps on it.

[riggerrob 643]

Because of the way the E thread is sewn across the top of the riser channels, the E thread cannot stretch the same as the length-wise stitching.
So popping a few stitches across the top of the channel is normal wear and tear.

However if you broke all the stitching on the channels and shredded a canopy, then you are due for new risers.

[matthewcline 0]

A rigger can correct me if I am wrong here, but a gear maker told me the risers "should" stretch during some really hard opennings to avoid damage to the harness and more damage to the jumper.

The stretch will of course pop stiches but the riser did its job buy not transering all the openning shock to the harness, if the harness breaks we would have bigger issues.

I think Bill Booth actually made his original design and subsequent improvements with the stretch in mind.

Matt

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