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Just curious what people are doing out there when it's time to replace loops or dial them in for different jumps.

I often just knot a piece of line for a quick field fix, and then the next time I have an opportunity to sit down, replace it with a fingertrapped (and sewn) closing loop.

I like fingertrapping because I can make the hole in the loop small enough that the head of the pin cannot pass it, which is a potential total malfunction (admittedly one that is very unlikely and has not yet happened in practice).

Why make the loop so small? I have closing loops that you can stick your finger in, don't see the failure potential.

I think I understand the total mal risk. if I'm understanding it correctly, this could only happen if 1) the eyelet of the pin somehow mysteriously goes through the loop. or 2) the loop is to short and tight, and pulls the end of the pin back through the grommet somehow lodging it before it can be extracted. So with proper loop length it shouldn't really matter, right? I prefer the finger trap method too, but I just swapped out my loops to spectra and can't find hemostats small enough to make them. On a side note, making tight knots in spectra sucks balls. I checked them after one week and they were loose(ish).

Why sew a finger trapped loop?
Take care,
space

No. I'll try to take some pictures later, but I'm teaching at the moment.

If you have an Asylum rig with factory loops, you can see what I mean. Asylum makes the loop small enough that the head of the pin (the metal circle) cannot be pushed through the loop. If the head of the pin is pushed through the loop, the closing loop is trapped back there, pushed up tight to the bridle itself, and the pin cannot be extracted by normal pull forces. I believe Asylum is the only manufacturer that does this, although manufacturers change little details like that all the time, so other companies could be doing it as well.

I'll try to grab a couple photos when we are packing today and post them.

Same reason you finger trap the loop in the first place, I suppose--just to be anal retentive and redundant. Those aren't necessarily bad qualities when it comes to BASE gear, though. It only takes a few seconds to do, and I don't have any reasons not to sew them.

I frequently use simple knotted loops as a quick fix until I can sit down and make a "real" loop for the long term. There's no real reason to be backing up the back-ups--unless it increases your peace of mind at the exit point.

Use a piece of wire. Spectra is pretty slippery, and I find it a lot easier to finger trap than dacron, personally, so even if you aren't very practices at fingertrapping, you should be able to do it without too much difficulty.

Now I understand the potential mal. My rigs are closed too tight for this mal to be a possibility. I believe that Morpheus addressed this problem, at least on the Gargoyle, by calling for closing loops no longer than 3/4", they don't protrude far enough past the grommet to get the pin loop through.

psst. to teach jumpers how to sew.
Take care,
space