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Hey.

The tailgate in the attached picture was found below the exit at the Potato Span yesterday.

This set-up is not in keeping with the inventors of the tailgate's instructions, or common practice.

Comments etc. welcomed for the sake of the BASE community at large, especially our exponentially growing ranks of new jumpers.

let's be safe out there
sam

Is that an uncut rubber band as well?

Hard to tell from the picture, can you explain more Sam?

 

Youre right, completely ridiculous. You can buy a whole roll of blue tailgates for less than that one you just found!

Good thing it fell off. Had it stayed on, that death trap might have killed him!

I think I see at least two of the problems.

First, the weave appears to be bias construction as opposed to block. Contrary to a pilot chute, this is generally considered a weaker design for a tailgate. From what I remember, in bias construction the threads of the weave are at 45 degrees to the centerline.

The second problem, and not as obvious at a quick glance, is that the two fingertraps are not of equal length. If you look closely you will see what I mean. The problem is that this sloppy rigging has a tendency to lead to an asymmetrical loading on the tailgate.

Taken individually, these may not be construed to be catastrophic rigging errors. But the uneven forces on the tailgate coupled with the less than optimal thread direction can lead to a 5-10 degree off-heading.

We should get some strength pull tests done on this little guy to see how weak it would have really been under an actual load. I think there was another recent thread where people were looking at testing some key components to check the failure point.

Thank god that the original user didn't also go with a black rubber band as well. But as Kiki said, we're all lucky that it fell off before anyone got hurt.



nick

uncut works fine

Works fine...

gotta love this crowd

bet most of you think that 80lb break cord tied into a loop breaks at 80lbs force....

Intruding briefly into this technical discussion, only to say that though wet today, the weekend plus weather at Perrine was the best of the year. Hope you enjoyed. Cheers and farewell. The other Sam.

Can you describe the problem? Seriously.

I wish I found it!!

I probably have hundreds of jumps with that same setup (smaller rubber band, though) and many people rigged them this way a few years ago. I'm still alive. Of course, I probably have hundreds of other slider down jumps performed before the tailgate was even invented. There is probably some crazy reason for not doing it this way, but remind me again why this is a problem?

remind me again why this is a problem?

Sam, please correct or elaborate on my reasons
listed in order of importance from mild to milder:

1. when the tailgate is closed the center C line
it is attached to should also be inside the bundle
and this is probably why it was lost.

2. the rubber band should not be larks headed
onto the tailgate itself because it could cause
a hang up (of course no one likes to litter).

3. a tailgate rubber band is usually thinner,
half the thickness of a micro-line bands.

Not necessarily. Pikey lost two of mine on back to back loads and he put them through the C line. Repeated insertion and removable can cause the holder to get loose. (Insert your mom joke here.)


I know it is something that has been argued about for years i just dont see how on earth a tiny rubberband larks headed could possibly cause a hangup when you are dealing with slider off opening forces.


Looks just like the ones provided to me by Apex and Badseed.

I take a piece of cotton thread and sew my tail gate to the line with one pass thru and tie it with a granny knot. This seems to hold it very well into place, haven't lost any more since then. (Thanks Tom)

I get a small rubber band, cut it in half, larks head it and make the larks head as close to the end of the tailgate as possible. That way the rubber band doesnt need to start rolling up the tailgate to come undone or snap. Nice and tight near the end, works for me.

In a nut shell, i dont like seeing any red of the tailgate above my rubber band. I like both ends to meet flush and the band to be flush on it.

TAPE

Much more specifically, BLUE TAPE

MASKING TAPE.

No, silly. 80lb break cord tied in a loop doubles its strength so you will actually need 160lbs of force to break it. Most people are 160lbs so it works just fine. But those people who are 155lbs really need to watch out.

FOR DELICATE SURFACES

HEMORRHOID CREAM.

Hey,

1) It sounds like we don't really know if this guy/girl put his/her C-lines inside the tailgate or not. But yes, you've described the proper way.

2) A larksheaded rubber band hasn't killed anyone that I'm aware of. And yes, I heard someone about 300 jumps ago say it could cause a hangup, but they used to say pin rigs were black death in BASE jumping...... Plus, I don't like to litter.

3) Sure, most of us use rubber bands cut in half and this guy/girl probably should have done that.

This thread is a good reason why the BASE forum can be educational. Thanks to Sam for posting and Tom for replying. Cya!!!!!!!