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Freefly Mods for a Vector 2?

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Does any have any freefly mods on their Vector2? Or do you know of/seen any? I am wanting to put tuck tabs on and get rid of the velcro for the riser covers, also wanting to do something to keep the reserve flap from hitting me in the head when I sit fly.Any response will be greatly appreciated.

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We've discussed this at length before about a year and a half ago. I bet if you do a search you'll find it. If you can't quite find it, search with my username, since I was posting to it (I used to jump a VectorII, put a lot of FF jumps on it too).B|

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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1. I have sewn bridle-hider-flaps on several Vector I and Vector containers as well as Javelins and old Mirages. It is just a simple flap that protects the main bridle between the mouth of the BOC and where it disappears under the right side flap.

2. Velcro works fine on main riser cover provided you replace it every 200 jumps or so.

3. Reserve flap hitting you in the back of the head? That is odd.

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Having the reserve pin cover flap come up and smack the skydiver in the back of the head is not uncommon at all on Vector II's. The tuck flaps dont have enough grip to hold it in place depending on how the Reserve is packed so It opens quite easily while Sitflying. If the flap is bent up at all the wind gets in even easier and up it comes. This occurs on old talons with vlecro closed Cover flaps and vector I's. Talons and vector I's can be held down with a rubber band. Vector II's, the closing sequence is such that a rubber band is not usable to hold it down.

As you progress to head down and become proficient, the Velcro riser covers will peel, no question about it. Modifying the amount of velcro may help temporarily. I'm uncertain about any body willing to put actual tuck tabs on the riser covers. Tabs require a proper design as many rigs with tuck tabs come open as well.

The bridle cover is a good feature. However the main cover flap tends to flip up as well. Since it doesn't hit you in the back of the head you may not notice.
My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

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I guess it all depends on the individual rig.

The Vector II I used to jump, never had a problem with either of the flaps opening. The only problem the rig had was the velcro riser covers (that and the guy that had ordered it back in the day had Quick Ejectors instead of B-12s put on the leg straps...scary).
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Yup Yup I agree whole heartedlyDave. I've seen way to many though. There is a wide scope of ex-vector 2 users I used to and still fly with, so I"m pretty biased toward not using them for freeflying for an extended amount of time.

Quick Ejectors? no shit!! :P

C-ya

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

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Obviously this question is not for me, but for my husband. He Freeflys quite a bit and has found some problems with the V2. And yes in the HD position the velcro starts to give a little.

I contacted Relative Workshop and they had VERY few mods available. NONE that had to with the risercovers.

Thanks for all of the help guys. I have found a rigger that used to work for relative workshop who is going to see what he can do.
"Shut up and jump already....Whats that? Your mommy wont let you?"

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Does any have any freefly mods on their Vector2? Or do you know of/seen any? I am wanting to put tuck tabs on and get rid of the velcro for the riser covers, also wanting to do something to keep the reserve flap from hitting me in the head when I sit fly.Any response will be greatly appreciated.



You might want a piece of elastic sewn across the bottom of the flap for the main chute's tab to be tucked into. (if that makes sense). I had that done on my old V2 and it made it much more secure. That flap liked to pop open and expose the bridle/pin. A girl at my dz had a premature from that very thing; hers behaved fine after this mod. I didn't really have any problems with the flap coming open when sitflying with the elastic holding the tab.

Also added a bridle cover.

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Something to consider is that all these mods cost money, it might be better to save the money that will be droped into all the mods and put the money towards a more updated rig. I've told several people to do that since in the end the old rig gets replaced after a premature deployment or two anyways. Just do some RW till the new/different rig comes in.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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I have a vector 2 with freefly mods. I did not do the mods myself - they were already done when I got it. And yes, I am a free-flyer. I did purchase a second rig primarily because Vector 2 is not a great rig for freeflying. (Second rig is a Voodoo).

Probably the best mod on my rig is vlecro on the bridle and just inside the #4 (right side, when looking at the back) flap. After I put the PC in, I twist the bridle (less exposed surface area) and velcro it to underneath the #4 flap. When I'm done packing, I have about 2 inches of twisted bridle exposed between the BOC spandex and the #4 flap.

What else? I do not have tuck-tab riser covers. Velcro works as long as you make an effort to replace it every 100 jumps or so. I do have the tuck-tab main pin cover - older Vector2s have velcro there - you can get that replaced, but it costs some money. That's all I can think of on my rig. I use it for belly work or if I feel that landings will be faster, since it has a larger main in it. It's not very comfortable for FF, but then again, it is 15 years old.
Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

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Yeah. '91 vector 2....the freefly mods were LOADS cheaper than going out and buying a new mirage g3 or whatever...All I could afford at the time was bottom-o-the-barrel rig, but anything freefly worthy I could find was way out of range. I got the works...new riser cover velcro, new BOC moved closer to edge of container, new bridle pocket added to right flap, elastic tuck tab keeper on main, has worked great so far but was wondering about it in a stand....I'm starting to hit some speeds I've never pushed the rig up to before and am wondering about hidden vulnerabilities... Anyone with the freefly mods on a v2 ever had a problem with it? Premature deploy? escaping bridle?
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

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Keeping in mind that I have not seen your container; you can probably get your rig into fairly safe condition with a lot of work. I would consider the cost of this and think about using that money towards the purchase of a more freefly friendly container. I just saw a really nice Mirage go for $700. As a rigger, you would think that I would encourage people to let me do a lot of expensive work to their rigs, but I prefer to encourage the use of safer gear. Having witnessed a premature deployment earlier this year (not on a rig I maintain), I see only good reasons to replace older gear with new when at all possible. By the way...there are containers that I have refused to pack at our DZ,
Quote

because I think that they should be retired, but there is always someone else out there that will pack it!

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