Rubber Harness - Crazy?

[kevindwhite]

I have what I suspect is a crazy idea. Has anyone tried to make a hog harness using rubber instead of nylon webbing? The idea struck me while reading about the pros and cons of rubber weight belts over nylon. What does everyone think?

 

[spectrum]

I can see where it may be nice on the waist as it could be self compensating like a good cummerbund to some extent. I have never used one of the rubber belts so I can only wonder how much of a bungee effect it may have when walking vertically. I suppose the waist strap would suppress most of the bounce.

What benefit do you foresee in the hog harness?

Pete

 

[herman]

You are about 40 years too late. I have an old BP with a rubber harness and I have seen others. It's fairly comfortable, more so than the common nylon webbing but heavy.

EDIT: Rubber might not be the exact term I should use, while it was rubber, it was not stretchy at all. Most likely a cloth core with a rubber outer shell.

 

[kevindwhite]

You are about 40 years too late. I have an old BP with a rubber harness and I have seen others. It's fairly comfortable, more so than the common nylon webbing but heavy.

EDIT: Rubber might not be the exact term I should use, while it was rubber, it was not stretchy at all. Most likely a cloth core with a rubber outer shell.

Dammit! Back to the drawing board. Maybe leather…

 

[aquaregia]

Dammit! Back to the drawing board. Maybe leather…

Bondage theme?

 

[elmer fudd]

I was thinking along those same lines just the other day. Truck inner tubes were what I was thinking might work best. If I were going to do it though, I think I would only use rubber for the shoulder straps. The waist and crotch remain mostly stationary relative to each other due to our pelvic bones. Our shoulders though move several inches relative to our waist as we extend our arms or reach behind our backs. They're the part of the body that needs the additional flexibility.

Benefits? Better fit and greater flexibility.

 

[Akimbo]

In my view, the advantages of rubber weight belts aren't realized until you can stretch it enough when putting it on so they are still tight at depth after suit compression. They also tend to stretch too much after the weight starts getting much above 20-25 Lbs. I think it would be hard to tighten a harness enough to be of much value.

Besides, I have webbing harnesses that are fine after 30+ years. Surface cracks start showing up at tight bends and stress points on rubber belts after 3-5 years.