Wings Reserve Ripcord Housing

[NovaTTT 2]

Received a rig with a free-floating reserve ripcord housing.

Not sure about the upper end attachment and it's not shown in my manuals.

Anyone have a photo of the upper end attachment of the reserve ripcord housing for a Wings HC?

Cheers!

"Even in a world where perfection is unattainable, there's still a difference between excellence and mediocrity." Gary73

[pchapman 279]

I have found at least one rig where the tacking at the top end of the ripcord housing wasn't there (or wasn't there, any more). This is what the factory told me in 2011 when I asked about Wings ripcord tacking:

Quote

The housing should be tacked at both ends. The top should be fixed, and the bottom end is tacked inside the webbing with the chest strap adapter on it. There is a piece of webbing inside the chest strap piece, which it should be tacked to. The hand tack should be tight to this piece, but since it’s probably about an inch and a half or so from the end of the housing, it may seem like it’s floating. It should be able to move with the chest strap, but you should not be able to pull it out or push it up. It should be easy to tell if the tacking is missing.

From looking at one rig, the housing tacks to the fabric layer that one sees covering the housing, that stops pretty much at where the housing stops, where the ripcord cable then continues to the back of the rig. The tacking goes through the binding tape, close in to the inboard side (towards the wearer's neck). I don't know precisely where the housing should stop though, whether just slightly exposed or slightly hidden. Generally the housing stops pretty much at where the fabric cover stops.

Was the one you found totally free floating, or just at the top?

[NovaTTT 2]

Thanks for the great info, Peter.

There was a bit of old tacking tightly coiled and knotted to the upper housing but I wasn't able to find any holes or wear marks indicating where it may have been attached.

The lower end was hanging on by just a bit of tacking and easily came away from the chest strap when I applied pressure. That end was easy enough to re-tack.

Thanks again for the info - maybe I'll get this rig finished tonight!

Have a good weekend!

Nova

"Even in a world where perfection is unattainable, there's still a difference between excellence and mediocrity." Gary73

[riggerrob 643]

" ...I don't know precisely where the housing should stop though, whether just slightly exposed or slightly hidden. Generally the housing stops pretty much at where the fabric cover stops. ...

[CC_Shenanigans 0]

Peter,

Does this include cutaway housing as well?

The double housing for cutaway with heat shrink seems to free floating as well. It appears to be tacked at the top but nothing at the chest strap. Is there any reason NOT to tack similar to ripcord?

[gowlerk 2,216]

CC_Shenanigans

Peter,

Does this include cutaway housing as well?

The double housing for cutaway with heat shrink seems to free floating as well. It appears to be tacked at the top but nothing at the chest strap. Is there any reason NOT to tack similar to ripcord?

I have two of them here at the moment. Both have free floating cutaway housings at the handle end. As in if not for the shrink tubing holding them together at the end, the short one would have nothing at all holding it in place. It's probably done that way to ensure housing stays long enough under all possible loadings.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[pchapman 279]

Sounds like what you saw is correct.

The Wings cutaway housing has no tack at the chest strap, unlike some other rigs. The housing is tacked up higher as you saw -- the long housing just above where it is visible in the area next the the wearer's right base 3-ring. That allows for some flexing in the short housing. I checked that on a brand new Wings a customer has at my place right now.

Some companies like some extra flex in the system, in case of hard openings etc. Eg, Vector II's used to always have a 'tack with slack' under the mudflap, that allowed the housing to move up an inch if needed. Even though plenty of older rigs had people tack the housings down in a fixed manner, contrary to RWS's design.

But that's just my general understanding and other riggers would know better about the design intent and details.

[riggerrob 643]

Yes Peter,

Cutaway housings on Vector 1 and 2 were slightly too short. To avoid loading the white loop, they did a special "hand-tack with slack."

Now most harness/containers use perfect length cutaway housings - to eliminate the risk of excess load on white loops. Perfect length housings do not need fancy hand-tacking .... just hand-see them in tight.