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i've got a mojo that doesn't have a tail gate fitted, just wondering the most effective way of controling the tail during slider down jumps?

i hope it`s not your BASE number dan?
but here is what you can do...
couple wraps with masking tape on center C,D and all control lines..
Mojo rock!

What he said. 3 wraps.

I had a tailgateless Mojo too - works great.

Ive been jumping a Mojo280 while waiting for my ordered gear to arrive. I have been doing the same as the other posters.

3 raps blue painters masking tape. Cant go wrong, or can it

~Jake

Install one yourself ==>Tail Gate Installation, or just use the tape. Whichever one is handy is the one I go with.

2 Inner C Lines <== not to be mistaken with sea lions
2 Inner D lines
All the brake Lines

3 wraps. If you're paranoid, you can put the sticky side out. I've yet to figure out why that would matter but if you search enough you'll read about it.

Good Luck

My 1st BASE wing was a Mojo 280.
It did not come with a tailgate either.

Abbie/Cornishe installed one for me with
a little Holly-Hobbie sewing machine in
Tom A.'s basement in 5 minutes, while
wearing a cast.

At the time I had zero BASE jumps but
still felt better about the consistency of
a tailgate over the 'radness' of tape.

Later I had the pleasure of meeting and
jumping with Annie in TF and heard her
discussion on the subject, I'm convinced.

Let's hear about the discussion because radness never crossed my mind. I'm a realist and have used tape because it's there. I've used rubberbands that weren't minis cut in half nor were they "Mil Spec" so I could use some convincing.

My common rigging sense may have an advantage over some others and perhaps I'm giving people too much benefit of the doubt. It seems fine to me unless you're going to get it wet and wad it up after you wrap it or something.

evidently, the tape method works well as long as it stays dry. wet tape apparently refuses to tear.

(but why should your equipment get wet besides a water landing?)

all i use is tape. after loosing tailgates a few times i said fuck em. tape is simple fast and good for slider up as well. just be aware of wetness like others said. 2-3 wraps painters blue tape, i do sticky side down and it doesnt leave a residue.

Not trying convince anyone or anything but
for what it is worth...

A cool guy with a fair amount of experience
did a roll over on my last day in Twin and the
canopy did not open fully -- maybe 2.5 cells.
He landed in the drink pretty hard but okay.

Afterwards Annie explained that the tailgate
provides more consistent pressure, I think it
was in the neighbor hood of 10-12 pounds.

Of course I have very few jumps compared
to many guys who have successfully used
tape for years, but I've never lost a tailgate.

The primary causes of tailgate hangups appear to be:

1) Incorrect rubber band (especially the old black ones)
2) Rubber band tied to tailgate (and wraps put inboard of the knot)
3) Tailgate place too far down the line (ideal placement is as high as possible without getting fabric)

In ever case of tailgate hangup I've ever seen, at least one of these factors has been present--usually 2 or 3.

Tape has the advantage that you can always place the "tailgate" (the wraps of tape) in the ideal position--as high as possible. You can do this with various brake settings, too, where a fixed tailgate installation means that you have to set the tailgate for your deepest setting and accept some hangup potential with any shallower setting.

@ Hookitt: The idea behind wrapping the tape inside out is that (a) it can slide down the lines if it fails to tear (for example, if it's wet), and (b) the sticky side keeps the line bundle in place relative to the canopy fabric (not too important if you have the C and D lines in there, but could be in the case of jumpers who only tape the control lines).

Personally, on balance, I think the tape is a better system, so long as you understand the potential issues (place the tape properly, don't get it wet, don't put excessive folds or wrinkles in it).

ive always done sticky side because i DONT want it to slide down the lines. i feel that the tape staying stationary will give the lines more tearing force. if the tape slides down it will probably be rolled and wadded up some increasing its strengh decreasing the chance of it tearing off as intended. i just cant picture the tape sliding all the way down like a slider and think my previous thought is more likley. i try to go with whats more likley not whats possible.
any thoughts or corrections?
i also like being able to get the tape as close to the line attachments as possible. especially on slider up when a tailgate is too far down for my comfort.

All but 3 of my jumps are slider off or slider down...
Hence, I'm thinking a lot about any slider up packjobs.

Based on the little I have done (slider-gate) and the
slightly more I have seen, it appears that a tailgate
might be better for packjobs without sliders and tape
for longer delays & sliders.

S0Ooo for a conservative delay at BD with a 42" and
a mesh slider, taping the redlines above the slider
would shiznick?

That will work just fine. There are a lot of fixed object jumpers who tape or tailgate all jumps regardless of slider position or delay.

I don't buy the tape sliding down the line bit either. It will either break or it won't ... but it's going to break.

If your loosing your Tail-Gate then you have Not tacked them down permanent to the in-board for the life of the Canopy.
.

After I lost my second tailgate on a slider-down jump I started to secure the tailgate by a couple stitches of thread. Have already made over 50 jumps with this setup - no problems. The thread I use is cotton which brakes easier than synthetic. During normal deployments, it is enough to hold the tailgate in the nest. In case the TG catches something (although I can't imagine what it could catch), it will be easily torn out of the nest with little to no damage to the line. Going slider up, I don't dismantle the setup. I use the slidergate, while the original tailgate is positioned along the line and secured to it so that its ends don't stick out. I used to braid it around with the masking tape but now I just secure its ends to the line by the same rubber band as is used for a normal slider-down tailgate setup. Everything's been OK so far.

I have an old Maverick that gets use at BD. It also has no tailgate attachment piont. I simply put the tail gate thru the center c line attachment. Havent had an issue yet. How come every jump ends up an experiment?

It's easy enough to install the cat's eye and have things be "proper" with your gear. The last one I did took all of maybe 15 minutes.

Kaye

I use another small rubber band to keep the tailgate from sliding out of the loop. when the tailgate is put in symmetrically i slide one end of it thru a rubber, then around the c line to the other side of the tail gate then stick that thru the rubber, pull tight and repeat. its usually 3 or 4 times. Haven't lost a tailgate in 240+ jumps, and some others I have showed this to havent lost any either. It is simple, not permanent, and safe in my eyes. I think hookitt showed me but that was a long time ago. I would take a picture, but i have to jump again as I am all packed.

A tailgate takes under a minute to make, and uses about twenty cents worth of materials.

Personally, I'm willing to let mine slide out. If there's some weird hangup (no idea what that might be, but just in case), I'd rather see it go away than stay in place. It's roughly the same reason I prefer to lose a rubber band on every jump, rather than tie it to the tailgate.

Why work so hard to save yourself a twenty cent tailgate every couple hundred jumps?

I showed nic that simple rubber band trick. The method nic uses takes about 8 seconds to perform, it uses little brain power and you won't break a sweat so it's far from working hard to save anything. (typing out this sentence takes more time than securing the tailgate)

If the tailgate some how gets hung up on anything, it will slide right out. If you see it, common sense will show it's perfectly fine. The splice in the line that holds the tailgate doesn't always secure it very well so a bit of friction from the rubberband comes in handy. I personally don't like losing tailgates for no good reason and the added friction is just enough to keep it there.