Even if I acknowledged that the aluminum caribiners should be strong
enough, there are other problems associated with using aluminum 'biners on
a steel tower.
One is that they will wear badly as aluminum is much softer than steel. As
soon as there is any wear, their strength will be compromised.
They also wont fit around larger steel tower members, such as on AB105.
I would also venture to say that they are not rated as specified unless
they are connected to climbing ropes or perhaps petons. I doubt they will
make their ratings if clipped on to a sharp piece of steel and/or there is
some sideload as would occur if clipped onto the tower at an angle, such
as around a vertical rail or even a diagonal.
There are steel caribiners that are fine, but they weigh almost as much as
the gorilla hooks and arent nearly as big or easy to operate. The steel
ones I have seen do not have the twist-lock releases either, so you end up
operating them without a safety if you are moving on the tower.
Gorilla hooks may be heavy, but I would have no fear of one failing used
at any angle or attachment. Newer gorillas have a very simple and easy to
operate safety on the gate. The hooks are nice and big so they are
extremely easy to get around just about any "target".
73, Ty K3MM
Jerry Kincade <w5kp@swbell.net>
Sent by: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
02/11/2002 09:49 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
cc:
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Climbing Belt Recommendations
Eh? The Black Diamond autolocking carabiners I use on my climbing rigs
are
rated at 25 KN (Kilonewtons) breaking strength. The ratings are stamped on
the caribiner, so it's easy to check. One KN = 224.8 pounds. Let's see,
that's a breaking strength of about 5,620 lb., which is 620 lb more than
the
rating on the strap attached to my previously used gorilla hooks.
Theoretically, the gorilla hook strap would fail before the carabiner.
Once
I realized that, I quit using the huge and heavy steel gorilla hooks, and
went exclusively to the large size high-tech aluminum autolocking
carabiners, which are easy to use, pretty much foolproof, and weigh an
ounce
or two each, as opposed to about 2 pounds for the gorilla hooks. Check
them
out for yourself, at any rock climbing or mountain climbing outfitter
shop.
In addition, many older gorilla hooks have no protection against
accidentally coming open, because their spring gate is not automatically
locked on release, as is required by OSHA for newer models. I'm not a
professional tower climber either, but I certainly do highly value my
wrinkley old cheeks when I'm up there. One advantage the gorilla hooks do
have because of their larger size is they can clip on to a much larger
support, but that is a non-issue on the type of towers I climb.
73, Jerry W5KP
> In addition, most
> caribiners should not be used to clip yourself into a steel tower member
> and they have very limited weight ratings. I only use caribiners for
> attaching things like work buckets and ropes, etc. to the tower.
>
> Of course I"m certainly not a professional tower climber, so maybe some
> that are will have other ideas.
>
> 73, Ty K3MM
>
________________________________________________________________________
Where do you get ICE bandpass filters & beverage matching boxes? The
same place that pays for the hosting of this list: The eHam Store.
Order online at http://store.eham.net.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
________________________________________________________________________
Where do you get ICE bandpass filters & beverage matching boxes? The
same place that pays for the hosting of this list: The eHam Store.
Order online at http://store.eham.net.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
|