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My Hand Made Fleece Saddle

G

Garrymny

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2019
Messages
83
Here are pictures orof my fleece saddle. Walmart fleece. I used pieces of a tree stand harness sewn to one side of the fleece. I sewed a waist band on to hold it around my waist. I used tubular nylon web for the bridal. I used 7/64 amsteel and 1/4 nylon Paracord on the end loops. There are redundant loops four on each end. Inside the fleece I put a piece of sleeping bag foam.
 

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be safe your life is on the line test alot at ground level ...i dont know what the load limit is on paracord

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So far I used a muddy harness underneath. But I believe it is not necessary. But I am a scaredy cat. There is is two pairs of web loops on each end. Each loop has two separate cords through it. One amsteel, and one Paracord. Alot would have to break.
 
Some free advice, so give it as much credibility as you are paying for it. I'm very new to saddle hunting, and to be completely honest, I'm still in the experimentation stage with all my gear.
That said, I've done a fair amount of rock climbing. One thing that got drilled into my head with that was to not attach anything to my harness that wasn't climbing rated. An example would be no non-climbing carabiners used to rack gear, or non climbing rated cords to gather up and rack slings. Stuff like that. Reason I bring this up is whatever you are using the paracord for. Yes it's rated for 550 lbs, but that's not nearly enough to trust your safety to. The working limit of that is like 10%, and I'm guessing you weigh more than 50 lbs. It may not ever be your intention to tie into that paracord where it's going to have to hold your entire weight, but you never know when you might do that by accident. With it's location near other loops and cords that are there to tie into with your entire weight, it's a strong possibility it could happen, and that would be bad.
So, I'd swap that out for something that could hold some real weight. Maybe amsteel, or even some decently rated accessory cord. Something that if you clip to it by accident you know will hold up.
 
rope running directly attached to webbing is a no go. Obviously you won't be doing much of a sawing action but still I would be cautious.
 
Garrymny said:
So far I used a muddy harness underneath. But I believe it is not necessary. But I am a scaredy cat. There is is two pairs of web loops on each end. Each loop has two separate cords through it. One amsteel, and one Paracord. Alot would have to break.
Click to expand...
I highly recommend to always wear your harness with that saddle. I have hunted from a fleece saddle a lot but always backed up with a RCH.

I know you said there is a lot that has to break for it to fail but, there really isn't. The Paracord doesn't really serve any purpose as it won't support any appreciable weight. The 7/64 amsteel I think only has a 1,600 lb breaking strength which is a working limit of 160lbs in best case scenario. Not to mention it only takes one area of stitching to break or pull free or any other single point of failure and you would hit the ground. Please keep wearing your harness with it.
 
The points already make me a touch queasy as well. The rope on webbing connection isn't ideal, and the combination of paracord + amsteel seems like using 2 items that aren't up to the job, rather than one that is. It's not real redundancy. It's also not clear how the ropes are tied/spliced/etc. For sure keep an actual safe harness on.
 
I don’t think I would use that saddle at all IMO. there’s lots of tutorials on here on building saddles. the use of paracord is the scariest part of that saddle for me
 
GCTerpfan said:
I highly recommend to always wear your harness with that saddle. I have hunted from a fleece saddle a lot but always backed up with a RCH.

I know you said there is a lot that has to break for it to fail but, there really isn't. The Paracord doesn't really serve any purpose as it won't support any appreciable weight. The 7/64 amsteel I think only has a 1,600 lb breaking strength which is a working limit of 160lbs in best case scenario. Not to mention it only takes one area of stitching to break or pull free or any other single point of failure and you would hit the ground. Please keep wearing your harness with it.
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I plan to wear my muddy harness underneath. I may replace the 7/64 amsteel with a bigger diameter. The Paracord was just as a backup for the amsteel.
 
25ftup said:
I don’t think I would use that saddle at all IMO. there’s lots of tutorials on here on building saddles. the use of paracord is the scariest part of that saddle for me
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The saddle has webbing from a tree stand harness underneath. The Fleece with foam inside is for comfort. Through the loops of the tree stand harness webbing I have amsteel and Paracord loops which are attached to tubular nylon climbing web, for the bridge. The amsteel us rated at 1600 lbs I have two amsteel and one Paracord on each side. I don't understand what your concern is? In addition, I will have a RCH it muddy harness on underneath.
 
GCTerpfan said:
I highly recommend to always wear your harness with that saddle. I have hunted from a fleece saddle a lot but always backed up with a RCH.

I know you said there is a lot that has to break for it to fail but, there really isn't. The Paracord doesn't really serve any purpose as it won't support any appreciable weight. The 7/64 amsteel I think only has a 1,600 lb breaking strength which is a working limit of 160lbs in best case scenario. Not to mention it only takes one area of stitching to break or pull free or any other single point of failure and you would hit the ground. Please keep wearing your harness with it.
Click to expand...
The only single point failure I'm aware of is the single tubular web bridge. Everything else has two. Two climbing harness webs. Two additional webs sewn to the fleece. Three rope loops on each end. I agree larger diameter rope loops will be better.
 
Garrymny said:
Yes I will connect the bridge to the thether using a carabiner.
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I was talking about these points of contact.
fed840674307b662edfcb7afd92f309f.jpg


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FletchDeep said:
I was talking about these points of contact.
fed840674307b662edfcb7afd92f309f.jpg


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Click to expand...
Oh ok. Well, these loops are factory made tree stand harness loops. When I buy hang on stands they always come with a harness. I used pieces of a harness to provide the security structure for my saddle. I really do not think there will be any chance of friction wearing through eight of these very thick loops. I do appreciate your input, don't get me wrong. It's best to consider anything and everything that may go wrong.
 
safe hunting buddy we were just trying to help a fellow hunter from being hurt thats it good luck this season tho enjoy what you made buddy

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I will try to find a place to buy thicker amsteel for my end loop to bridge connections. I just don't want to buy 500 feet!
 
look on ebay, or even amazon. You can find amsteel (which is a brand name for a specific type of hollow dyneema braid) and "generic" hollow dyneema braids, from reputable sellers in all sorts of lengths for decent prices. Just read up a little on what amsteel is made out of, and the different varieties of dyneema that are used in various ropes/cords, and you should be fine.
 
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