KevinMcGuire

A big fucking Rottweiller should do the trick

For that kind of info, check out ropesthatrescue.com. They teach rescue techniques specifically for this kind of thing. Many of their instructors are TRT fire fighters and I have had the pleasure to be trained by a few of them. I highly recommend them

Rectangular patches are fine when they are applied correctly. How close to the load barring seam is the damage? Are there any line attachments close to the damaged area. How far from the PCA reinforcing tape is the damage? These are the real issues to be considered when working on the bottom skin of a canopy. If the hole is close to a line attachment point or load barring seam, then the best course of action may be to incorporate the patch into the load barring seam. Doing this may require you to remove the line attachment and or remove reinforcing tapes. For putting it all back together, you'll need a good straight stitch, and have access to a bar tacker or at least a good zig zag. If you try to put a patch too close to a line attachment point, then you run the risk of "point loading" the patch. Sooner or later, it will fail. If you think any of this is beyond your skill level, then maybe you should find some one close to you who has the experience, machines, and skill to do the repair. Doing lousy work will result in failure down the road. Can you take a picture of the damage and post it here?

I had the same thing happen to me years ago. I used to build high rise buildings in LA. One day whild eating lunch, I suddenly got the urge to just bail right off the edge. Freaked the shit right out me. It wasn't until years later that I bacame a BASE jumper. I guess it was just my future calling to me. Kevin

If true, that guy is a real scum bag to put his loved ones through some thing like that.

Technically, you should be able to unpick the bartack/Zig Zag and redo it providing that the person doing the work is careful not to damage any of the line while unpicking. If they blow it though, your buying a new line set

route a pull up cord through the link, then through the bumper grip the bumper in one hand and pull on the pull up cord until the bumper is over the link

Best advice I can give you is to take it slow. DO NOT RUSH TO JUMP YOUR CREATION. Instead, find some local to you that has experience in building gear and show him or her what you have done. The first rig I build for my self (a straight up copy of a Reactor) took me 7 months of sewing, tearing it apart, re-sewing it, re-tearing it apart, and testing before I felt comfortable jumping it and even then I wonder just how comfortable I really was. It will be a very labor intensive experience designing something unique that wont kill you but there is no better feeling than looking back up at the object you have just jumped from and knowing that your alive because of your intellect and ability. I'm sure that you have more questions than I have answered here so rather than discuss this in an open forum where any yahoo can read what I say and misuse/misconstrue what he reads, send me a PM and we can talk further. Kevin

If you have a contact number for him could you please give it to me or have him get a hold of me? Thanks Kevin

That may be only half of what may be needed. If you have a properly fitting MLW but your lateral is too small or too big the rig will not fit well. If too small, you will feel like your belly is pushed too far forward when under canopy. If too big, then you will "fall" backwards into the harness under canopy and possibly get a chest strap in the throat What type of rig are you talking about? different manufactures measure differently

Good job on the getaway. Perhaps someone else has already seen and commented on this but after reviewing the video several times, over and over again, it appears that your body position on exit was in fact, not symmetrical. Almost as soon as you exit, it appears from the video that you begin to go left shoulder low. This would account for the sharp 160ish off heading you experienced. Rule of thumb. Which ever shoulder you have low at pull time will determine the direction of the off heading opening that follows. I believe that your body position and not some random gear problem is to blame. I'm not trying to flame you or anything, I'm just providing food for thought. As I said before. Good job on the getaway. Kevin

got one. Love it. set up was no problem. I'll never go back to a regular bed. My wife and I have very different support needs. This bed solved the problem

If that guy ever stole your wallet, you could just forget about ever catching him to get it back.

I second that. Atlanta Attachment is the place to get it. For the absolute bomb diggidy, you'll need the binder, swing arm, the plate to mount it to the machine, a presser foot, a raised throat plate with a slot for the binder to rest into, and a taller feed dog to match. Expect to pay dearly for it all but if you want to do great work, accept no other. It will pay for it self in no time. I found that using the piece of crap from Para Gear, I would burn up tons of tape because I would have to tear it off and redo it where as with the binder from Atlanta Attachment, I can bind a whole rig in just one pass. Kevin

heres me geared up and ready to jump full combat equipment at CPS

I bevieve that it's for creating a hesitating bight with the bridle as a means to promote a sequenced deployment of the reserve free bag

Phoebe Cates is a definite contender in Fast times at Ridgemont high

Humm, Me thinks thou hath not a clue about which you speak. I'm from a tiny tiny little ass crack of a town way out in the middle of fucking no where, and even we have a very well trained and very well equiped TRT team. I know. I was on it for 6 years.

it is possible to connect a binder to a walking foot machine but you must buy the right parts to make it work. The distance from the binder to the foot is manageable when using the right attachment and jamming of the tape should not be a problem. Look up Atlanta Attachment. Sorry, I don't have the number handy. Good luck Kevin

Nothing beats a good walking foot (which also has a needle feed action) for working on containers. Needle feeds without a walking foot are mostly used for lighter materials.

How about nail bitters

I just did. If you dig further in the PPM, you should find a section regarding the elasticity of different stitches and why and where they are used. Once upon a time, I knew a woman who built her own canopy and did not know where to set her line trim for maximum opening performance and flight. So she simply did not put any bartacks in the canopy so she change the trim after each jump as needed. Worked just fine and the canopy went on to be a very successful product in the BASE world

The down fall of sewing with a straight stitch on line is that the straight stitch has no elasticity so if the line stretches, the straight stitch is more likely to break where the bartack or zig zag most likely will not. However, on most canopys, the bartack is there really as a back up and the finger trap is what actually provides the holding power. Providing there is sufficient line contained with in the finger trap, you should be O.K. but you may want to have some one throw a few bartacks in for you just to be on the safe side. K

7800 reserves later and my paragear seal press is showing no signs of quiting. I guess you have to ask your self just how badly you need to have an expencive version of an inexpence tool that works well.

Great article. What is the name of that forum? I think I'd like to check it out. Thanks Kevin