Body Harness

[Thomas English]

Which body harness are you guys using on vehicle mounts. Which is the very best one? I often come across not that good ones and I figure for my comfort I'd like to just have the best one in my kit at all times.

[Ken Nguyen]

I have 3: CP, WK, and Baer-Bel.

Baer-Bel is the best.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Ken Nguyen.

[Tom Wills]

Ken,

 

I don't think he's talking about vests, I think he's talking about safety harnesses that you would use when you're doing a hard mounted shot from a vehicle, to keep you attached to the vehicle.

[Thomas English]

Affirmative... I'm talking about full body harness so that you can sit on the rigging on the front of a car and skim the camera inches from the ground an 60mph and when the car stops your not torn apart because the grip only supplied you with a half harness.

 

Comfortable and plenty of strong points so you can anchor near the shoulder and around the waste for emergency stops.

 

etc

[Ken Nguyen]

Oop! :D sorry, my bad.

 

Anyway, for that shot, you need to have a platform built in front of the car.

I use Petzl climbing harness, and climbing rope for secure.

Take a sea-sick pill an hour before the shot if needed! ;)

 

Cheers,

 

Ken Nguyen.

[Mike McGowan SOC]

I have a Petzl Navaho, I use it a lot and love it... I have a few others but the Petzl is my favorite.

 

http://www.pksafety.com/petzl-navaho-bod-fast-full-body-harness-c710f0.html?cmp=googleproducts&kw=petzl-navaho-bod-fast-full-body-harness-c710f0&gclid=CPavv5nJ0bACFYje4AodDCLtzQ

[Jess Haas SOC]

Be very careful to make sure that your leash is short enough that if you were to fall or be thrown you couldnt be dragged.

 

i am also not a fan of the climbing daisychains many people use as the inner loops are not rated for fall protection meaning in an accident they could break leaving enough slack to drag you.

[Sanjay Sami]

The Petzl Navaho is really good, but the Sala full body harnesses are as good and more comfortable in my opinion. I use both, but the Petzl I use for high access rigging work, and the Sala I use for insert cars.

 

http://www.safetysupplysouth.com/index.aspx?Command=GroupInfo&GroupID=4401

 

When you are ordering, make sure you get one with shoulder 'D' rings as well. By default they come with only back 'D' rings.

[Thomas English]

Thanks guys, very interesting.

 

Jess, do you think the kind of falls here could be enough to break one of those daisychains? They are very convenient!

 

I tend to hang a lot in my rigging.. I don't know why. Maybe the excitement. #

 

Sanjay, you are using a front mount or WK vest on soft mounts? I actually as a rule refuse to soft mount but I do note the Sala would be a little tricky with a Walter Klassen.

 

The Pretzel Navajo is only a half harness. Don't you think there could be serious whip lash issues in a collision with a half harness? I sort of want a full but I guess I'll get both.

[Sanjay Sami]

Thanks guys, very interesting.

 

Jess, do you think the kind of falls here could be enough to break one of those daisychains? They are very convenient!

 

I tend to hang a lot in my rigging.. I don't know why. Maybe the excitement. #

 

Sanjay, you are using a front mount or WK vest on soft mounts? I actually as a rule refuse to soft mount but I do note the Sala would be a little tricky with a Walter Klassen.

 

The Pretzel Navajo is only a half harness. Don't you think there could be serious whip lash issues in a collision with a half harness? I sort of want a full but I guess I'll get both.

 

I front mount, but I never soft mount on a vehicle ... just dont feel ok with it. The Navaho that I have is a full body harness. Very safe.

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=petzl+navaho+full+body+harness&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1298&bih=722&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=5328921687998213939&sa=X&ei=mPTcT5-9E4ztrQfkvbnRDQ&ved=0CGEQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers

[Sanjay Sami]

Be very careful to make sure that your leash is short enough that if you were to fall or be thrown you couldnt be dragged.

 

i am also not a fan of the climbing daisychains many people use as the inner loops are not rated for fall protection meaning in an accident they could break leaving enough slack to drag you.

 

Do you think the stitching would give way ? I'd be surprised, but it's worth testing, because I have been using them blindly for years. I have tested the clinbing slings from Rock Empire and Petzl, and they withstand a 200 kg load dropped 6 feet. Never tested them to breaking point though. I will test some daisy chains and report back at some point in the near future.

[Mark Baluk]

Just quickly found this online.. daisy chain info

[Sanjay Sami]

Thank you ... thats good to know. Although I am not sure the impact loading in insert car situations would be the same as a fall.

[Thomas English]

This is interesting and definitely deserves further considered comment. I definitely don't think the forces are the same however in a collision or spin could they be similar.

 

The thing that is really good about them is it enables you to tweak your rigging perfectly so you are completely snug in your camera position and able to lean against the rigging whilst feeling safe to push the sled out for a move. Like I say I tend to have my rigging really tight and lean against it the whole time.

 

Stopping someone that has fallen for 3 seconds at 9.8m/s2 is very very different to a cars emergency breaking but probably similar to the car hitting a wall god forbid.

[Jess Haas SOC]

I would say that the dangers of using a daisychain for our uses are even worse than for climbing. If clipped properly the daisychain is strong enough from end to end. The problem is that when you use the daisychain in a shortened configuration the loops could break leaving you with a leash that is long enough to drag you. If clipped improperly it won't hold you at all. Either case your screwed.

 

I use something like this instead: http://gearx.com/metolius-ultimate-daisy-chain.html?googlebase&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CIGpqNC-1rACFWQKRQodsBj91g

 

It is a bunch of individual loops allowing you to adjust the length with full strength. I got mine at REI. I have two of them so I can anchor both sides of the harness which is often necessary to keep positioned well enough to avoid dragging.

 

As far as the strength of a daisychain being enough I wouldn't count on it. The inside loops are NOT rated for a fall. Under normal braking they should hold but shit happens. I have been on a process trailer when it was hit by a nice big truck. Luckily it wasn't that bad and no one was hurt but shit happens. I also don't want to be worrying about my harness giving way as I take a fast corner when hardmounted to a vehicle, ive got enough other shit to worry about.

 

~Jess