Stow Bands to tight

[Muppetdog 0]

How do you know if your stow bands are to tight? I use small bands because of the microline and install the bands so they go through eachother a couple of times to make them tighter. I had to do this cuz they where just to loose putting them on the reg way. Is there such thing as stow bands to tight?
thanks guy,
MD

[TOTALCHAOS127 0]

Not an expert on how tight stow bands should be but my rigger said you should be able to pick the bag up of the ground with out the coming undone. I personally can't get the bag of the ground all the time but can get most of it. Also if you start getting bag locks i would say your stows are to tight

[Kris 0]

It should take about 12 pounds of force to undo your locking stows. Don't double-stow your locking stows.

The other stows just need to be snug, no need to overdo them. They're just there to keep the lines organized.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[steve1 5]

I know a lot of jumpers who double stow without problems. They shouldn't be too tight though. Or too loose for that matter. Also make sure your stows aren't too long. If they are you could get another stow caught in the loop that is formed. I saw a guy packing with about six to eight inch stows a while back. I think some rigs regquire a longer stow than others, but don't over do it.

When I first started packing canopies into a bag, a guy with tons more experience than I told me to use a tandem rubber band on the first two stows. I think this may have been too much pressure. Last summer he had a bag lock malfunction. I'd bet it was because of the rubber bands that were too heavy. He did make a couple thousand jumps this way, before it happened though. He ended up losing his canopy for a few weeks. When they found it it had gone through a combine and was ruined.

I'm sure there's others on here who could tell you a whole lot more on this subject than I know.....Steve1