At 13:27 22 June 2014, KiloKilo wrote:
I don't have a fifth strap in my ship and came up with a way
to improve
the=
effectiveness of the stock shoulder belts.

I installed a big D ring at the anchor point of the lap belts.

An additional strap was constructed with loop at one end ... it
is used as
=
shown in the photo.

This is a photo of the prototype and we have a lot of extra
belt material
-=
you can adjust for your specific ship to keep it neat.

You can pull the belts very tight and they hold tension well ...
pressure
o=
n your shoulders is close to that of a crotch strap (so tight it
hurts)...
=
but not quite as neat as you do have two extra pieces of
webbing.
Everythi=
ng releases if you have to exit. So, perhaps a reasonable
solution until
yo=
u install that fifth belt. =20

http://designtekk.com/photos/RidgeStrap.jpg

We also tested putting the D rings on the lap belts - the part
you pull on
=
to tighten. This worked fairly well if the rings were located
close to
the=
slider ... plus the arrangement seemed to keep the lap belts
tensioned.=20

I have some extra rings and webbing from the prototyping
session and would
=
consider supplying at cost ... or you can DIY. =20

KK

That arrangement produces a side force that alters the angle of
the shoulder straps over the upper body (which I would like),
and the extra thickness from the red strap going through the
upper buckles may well reduce slippage, but as for being able
to increase the downforce on the shoulder straps more than
simply tightening them directly - it's difficult to see how that
can happen when the lower and upper anchor points for the red
strap are both attached to the same black shoulder strap.

The same would apply if the lower end of the red strap were to
be attached to the lap strap because the shoulder and lap straps
are co-located on the main buckle which can ride up.

I think it is ridiculous that all gliders don't come with 5th strap
and a buckle designed to allow it to be independently and
safely detached when required for in-flight comfort
considerations.

JG