4mm accessory cord for replacement sling--am I going to die?

I have a #2 booty tricam that I cut the sling off. I could send it across the country to have it re-slung for more than the cost of a new one (on sale), or...

I could tie a regular 9/16" nylon sling with a water knot, but that's too bulky, floppy and old-school for my rack :o

It seems like I need to sling with a minimum 7mm nylon cord or I gonna die...but 7mm is still too bulky and wouldn't even fit between the pin and the tricam body. And 5mm tech cord would require a triple fisherman...again too bulky.

As I stared into my closet of old, lost gear, I noticed a pile of 4mm accessory cord...what if I tied it in a double-loop through the pin on the tricam? Would it be twice as strong as a single strand? Around 9 kN (2 x 4.5 kN)?

Should I just dig a shallow grave underneath the first pitch so they don't have far to move me?

I think the point loads on the pin are not a good idea. The nice thing about the sling is that it spreads the load on the pin. If you have a round cord, the load can concentrate at the pin midpoint and cause a higher bending load than what the pin is sized for.

You're being cheap not frugal. If you don't trust the webbing component of a tricam, it's time to replace the piece. And this one in particular was booty gear, it's best served as a bail piece or a Christmas tree ornament.

And now I'm going to hijack your thread: what's up with "I'm gonna die," or "yer gonna" die lingo that's become popular in forums? Stop it. Why even joke about this?

At least use a cord such as maxim tech cord rated at 5,000 pounds and only 5mm thick.
I also think that spreading out the force over a larger area on the pin might be a good idea. Is the savings of not buying a new tri-cam worth the exposure you may incur for a piece of gear that your life could depend on worth it?? Listen to Chris Magness he is the voice of reason on this!

ebmudder,

Like others have mentioned, this is probably not a good idea. The webbing does indeed spread the load across the rolled pin. Rounded cord won't. I gently suggest you do what Camp recommends if you don't want to spend the money to get it professional re-slung. I couldn't find their manual online so I took some pictures of mine of the relevant section for you.

Camp Tricam sling replacement and general maintenance.

Figure 1

climbing friend,

you would be doing the dying

yes

chris magness wrote: And now I'm going to hijack your thread: what's up with "I'm gonna die," or "yer gonna" die lingo that's become popular in forums? Stop it. Why even joke about this?

LOL

Tri cams function on three points of contact. The flat sling helps to ensure that a load is spread evenly. If your cord is loaded while on one end of that pin it may increase the likelyhood of loading in such a way that the piece rolls. This is just an idea.

chris magness wrote: And now I'm going to hijack your thread: what's up with "I'm gonna die," or "yer gonna" die lingo that's become popular in forums? Stop it. Why even joke about this?

The joke is the fact that it's true. We're all going to die, it might not necessarily be related to the particular topic in question, but the fact remains, you're gonna die!

chris magness wrote:And now I'm going to hijack your thread: what's up with "I'm gonna die," or "yer gonna" die lingo that's become popular in forums? Stop it. Why even joke about this?

You are telling me that when you get to the bottom of a long rappel, you don't ever look over to you partner and joke about the fact that you made it through one more day of climbing without falling to your deaths?

thanks everyone...I was going to add that I considered doing 4 loops with the 4mm cord, which would have spread the load across the length of the pin, and then I'd even have an extendable "sling", but when I rigged it, it became such a clusterf*ck mess of tangled cord I answered my own question.

Yes, I know I will die eventually...I guess the goal in climbing is to push that off as long as possible...so I will go back to the webbing with water knot until I have some more slings to replace all at once.

What is most surprising is that no one ranted against tricams in the first 10 responses :)

anotherclimber wrote:ebmudder, Like others have mentioned, this is probably not a good idea. The webbing does indeed spread the load across the rolled pin. Rounded cord won't. I gently suggest you do what Camp recommends if you don't want to spend the money to get it professional re-slung. I couldn't find their manual online so I took some pictures of mine of the relevant section for you.

I just noticed that they're proposing using a grapevine instead of a water knot for the sling...I thought the water knot was better in this application?

ebmudder wrote: I just noticed that they're proposing using a grapevine instead of a water knot for the sling...I thought the water knot was better in this application?

Water knots tend to eventually come apart with cyclic loading and unloading. Reference the following link:

user.xmission.com/~tmoyer/t…

If you just use double fisherman knots with sufficiently long enough tails you shouldn't ever have to worry about inspecting the knot. If you decide to use water knots you'll want to inspect that the tails on the knot is long enough once in a while.

anotherclimber wrote: Water knots tend to eventually come apart with cyclic loading and unloading. Reference the following link: user.xmission.com/~tmoyer/t… If you just use double fisherman knots with sufficiently long enough tails you shouldn't ever have to worry about inspecting the knot. If you decide to use water knots you'll want to inspect that the tails on the knot is long enough once in a while.

Thanks for that clarification...for this purpose (knotted sling on tricam), I would be inspecting it each time I placed/clipped it, and if it was to become loaded it there would only be one "cycle" .

It seems more likely that it would unthread on my harness and the tricam would slip off and bean my second...but this is the risk they take when they climb with me. (humorless trolls, that was a joke.)

I'll experiment with the grapevine.

have you tried that new (sorta new, at least to me anyways...) 1/2" webbing? it is way thinner than the 9/16.

slim wrote:have you tried that new (sorta new, at least to me anyways...) 1/2" webbing? it is way thinner than the 9/16.

Thanks slim...9/16 actually fits the width of this tricam head nicely. I realize the tails on my knot are a bit long...this was only a test!

tricam with sling

I think a big reason I would want to either get it reslung or get a new tricam would be to maintain the specific rigidity and flexibility on different parts of the sling. I've thought about just reslinging with webbing and then using a speedy stitcher to sew parts of the sling to stiffen it. I'm a bit worried doing so would weaken the webbing as the speedy stitcher makes some wide holes in webbing. Anybody have any answers or data to confirm or disprove my theory?

eli poss wrote:I think a big reason I would want to either get it reslung or get a new tricam would be to maintain the specific rigidity and flexibility on different parts of the sling. I've thought about just reslinging with webbing and then using a speedy stitcher to sew parts of the sling to stiffen it. I'm a bit worried doing so would weaken the webbing as the speedy stitcher makes some wide holes in webbing. Anybody have any answers or data to confirm or disprove my theory?

Just wrap some plastic tape around the sling near the Tricam (about 3-4") to stiffen it up. People have used a length of tywrap or plastic soda straw under the plastic tape for many years.

mountainproject.com/v/stiff…

mountainproject.com/v/tape-…

eli poss wrote:I think a big reason I would want to either get it reslung or get a new tricam would be to maintain the specific rigidity and flexibility on different parts of the sling. I've thought about just reslinging with webbing and then using a speedy stitcher to sew parts of the sling to stiffen it. I'm a bit worried doing so would weaken the webbing as the speedy stitcher makes some wide holes in webbing. Anybody have any answers or data to confirm or disprove my theory?

I haven't used a speedy stitcher and don't trust myself to sew something that will be intended to take more than body weight, but I would recommend a ball point needle to make sure you don't cut the strands. That way you are simply pushing them aside and the webbing should recover pretty easily, in theory this won't weaken the webbing at all. Any sewing store will have them for regular sewing machines.

ebmudder wrote: Thanks for that clarification...for this purpose (knotted sling on tricam), I would be inspecting it each time I placed/clipped it, and if it was to become loaded it there would only be one "cycle" . It seems more likely that it would unthread on my harness and the tricam would slip off and bean my second...but this is the risk they take when they climb with me. (humorless trolls, that was a joke.) I'll experiment with the grapevine.

No problem. It's a choice you make and nothing wrong with that just as long as you know how to tie the knot properly and what to look for when inspecting it. Although I wonder if setting the Tricam counts as a load and unload cycle? For myself, the last thing I want to be doing when placing a piece of rock pro is having to do one more thing and be worried about inspecting a knot.

eli poss wrote:I think a big reason I would want to either get it reslung or get a new tricam would be to maintain the specific rigidity and flexibility on different parts of the sling.

Oddly enough I looked into this a while back. Nobody that I could find re-slings them in the new rigid style sling. It's like they don't think it is worth it. This is a huge improvement even if people have found different ways to stiffen up the sling prior to this re-design by Camp. I also found that it was not worth it monetarily wise to send only one Tricam out to be re-slung. In that situation it costs almost the same to buy a new one on sale. I don't have any experience with sewing to help you with your theory.