Ultra Light Saddle ideas?

[justsomedude]

Seeing John Eberhart's custom Sling/Saddle makes me slightly jealous:

I would LOVE to have an ultra-light sling/saddle.
I have an Alpine Bod Rock Climbing harness that I have used for rigging and with Tree Stands before I had the AeroHunter.

Hunting out of essentially a "Swiss Seat" made from Tubular webbing would not be dangerous (assuming that you aren't cutting off blood flow!)
You just have to figure out how to make it comfortable.

John, if you happen to see this thread, are you hanging in a way where you aren't putting a lot of pressure on the sling or have just got it dialed in where it isn't uncomfortable?

 

[alukban]

We're eyeballing the same gear and ideas bro :mrgreen:

I keep thinking that the comfort is the big difference between a "real tree saddle" and the Alpine BOD. There is also the difference in how a bridge suspends you more comfortably.

In a way, the Alpine BOD is in between a regular rock climbing harness and a tree saddle with a bridge because the Alpine BOD allows the carabiner attachment to slide to the side for when you twist to make a shot and thus allows the safety tether to clear more of you and not get snagged up. This seems so be what a bridge system also allows to happen - twist and keep the tether away from you.

Maybe we just need a version of the Alpine BOD that uses thicker webbing like in your pic?

I am playing with using my Lone Wolf hand climber seat as both my climbing tool and platform (with extra tying down). I could also use the actual main platform of my Lone Wolf Assualt hand climber combo and get more room. With either the seat or main platform however, I rationalize that one can actually stand on the thing and not have to be suspended in a tree saddle proper 100% of the time. I am wondering if this lets one "get away with" just using a rock climbing harness with less comfort/padding.

 

[boone0]

How much weight do you shave off? I do t know if losing 1-2 pounds would be worth sacrificing any comfort...

Not crapping on your idea, just wondering how much you'll gain!

 

[d_rek]

Before you guys get high on this idea i'd suggest finding a stock harness, something like the one that came with my summity climber, and dangling from it for a while. They're not very comfortable, and put a ton of pressure on your thighs. http://www.vminnovations.com/sys/resource.ashx?guid=da827709b2724db9b70b2620522402b5

 

[alukban]

Before you guys get high on this idea i'd suggest finding a stock harness, something like the one that came with my summity climber, and dangling from it for a while. They're not very comfortable, and put a ton of pressure on your thighs. http://www.vminnovations.com/sys/resource.ashx?guid=da827709b2724db9b70b2620522402b5

I am so lost right now - don't understand this post. I'll re-read later after some more coffee.

About that weight savings thing - ya, not much prolly :mrgreen:

Honestly, it's more because I'm a cheap sonofagun and already have a $40 rock climbing harness and not a $300 one...

 

[justsomedude]

For me, it isn't just the weight, it is the Bulk.
But of course, the bulk is what distributes the load making it more comfortable.

Alukban,
The way Rope bridge on the AeroHunter slides through the carabiner makes it easier to balance when moving side to side or leaning at extreme angles.
That said, I haven't played with my Alpine Bod since I got a good platform setup.
But the AeroHunter lets you 'sit' fairly comfortably when you get the leg supports adjusted properly.

 

[justsomedude]

How much weight do you shave off? I do t know if losing 1-2 pounds would be worth sacrificing any comfort...

Not crapping on your idea, just wondering how much you'll gain!

Boone,
The Alpine Bod only weighs 14oz compared to the 5 pounds that the AeroHunter lists.
Plus, you wouldn't have the Bridge.
You would clip straight to the Blake's Hitch.

Last year I used the Alpine Bod to climb trees using just a Tree Strap and a Foot Loop.
And I will say that a couple of times, when I loaded the Harness with my weight I got a serious NUT PINCH.
Not fun.

 

[John Eberhart]

The head height hook-up aids dramatically in comfort vs. an arms reach hook-up. The higher you hook-up the more upright your body has to be. The more straight down you are from hook-up, the more upright your upper body has to be and also the lead strap has to be dealt with when drawing your bow on a deer directly to the side as the lead is in the way of your elbow during the drawing process. With a head height hook-up the lead comes to your waist at about a 45 degree angle and when you draw on a deer to the left side (if right handed) your elbow will not come close to the lead as the lead is lower. With the low hook-up your upper body can lean forward as the lead is not in your face as it is with a high hook-up. With the low hook-up you can lean forward onto the lead, wrap your arms around it, and nap if you want. No way with a high hook-up. Also much more comfortable.

Will say this, if in a large tree (with mine there are no diameter restrictions) the lead needs to be a bit higher so you can move farther around the tree and have the necessary lead to do so. When I'm stepping the ring at the top on a large tree I also screw in the steps going around the tree about an inch to an inch and a half higher per step. When going around a large tree the lead wraps as you go and forces your body up and the steps have to adjust for the raise.

 

[bowhunterchuck]

Thanks John ! I can not wait to try this out ! I have always wondered how to sleep in a saddle ! Seriously though the height of the strap makes all the difference based on the angles. Why did I not see this ?

 

[alukban]

I don't understand how that custom sling/saddle is put on...

 

[justsomedude]

Thanks for the info John.
You have spent many hours in the tree thinking

 

[justsomedude]

And by the way...
The comfort level of a minimal rock climbing harness changes a LOT when you are wearing cold weather gear.
If you have Base Layers, Wool Pants and some Insulated coveralls on the stress gets distributed much better.

 

[John Eberhart]

[attachment=1]

The attached are pics of me in my hybrid sling/saddle. Basically you step into the seat section just as you would the saddle and you tether the lead to the tree. As you can see there are no shoulder or leg straps and I would never recommend this system to anyone. Very comfortable though with your ass sitting in a seat that is adjustable in depth. In these pictures the seat is overlapping itself whereas you can put one section farther up your back if desired. Also note how low the llead is attached to the tree. It's about eye level when standing straight up.

 

[alukban]

If I understand correctly, you only have strapping going around your legs/thighs (which is your saddle or seat) and nothing goes around your waist (above the belt like on a rock climbing harness) or shoulders - only the legs which go straight to the bridge?

If this is so, I at least do not feel bad for admitting that I did not understand how your sling worked! :mrgreen: I guess the "waist belt" IS the "seat"!

I can see why this system gives you a lot of clearance for shooting your bow because the bridges is so far away from you, being only connected to your thighs.

 

[John Eberhart]

Correct for the most part. The seat only cradles my butt, it doesn't ride down on my legs or upper thighs at all. Basically the seat covers only from the bottom crease of my butt cheeks to the top of the crack of my butt. The lead is attached around eye level when I'm standing up facing the tree.

 

[g2outdoors]

Are you able to move around the tree much? It doesn't look like you have enough play in your attachment line.

 

[John Eberhart]

alukban

It's very simple to put on. At the base of the tree I step in between the black and double shiny green straps (double green straps are the seat section) and then pull it up to my waist. I then pull on the ends of the black strap which tightens the double seat section around my waist. I then take the lead strap and wrap it rather tightly around my waist and tuck the lead end anyplace back into any of the strapping just to hold it in place just long enough to climb without it loosening up (the black strap performs no other function than to somewhat tighten the system for climbing and in fact the black strap could be totally removed without hurting the systems functionality for hunting). Once up the tree and standing on my steps, I remove the end of the lead from wherever I had tucked it in and hook it up. I then pull the double seat straps down under my ass and adjust them to the desired depth to fit my personal ass. One of the neat things is that this seat can be adjusted to whatever depth is needed. I typically have the strap overlapped about halfway but when I want to go to sleep I pull one of the straps up higher on my back for support and keep the other under my butt. The back strap pulled up a bit actually pushes my upper body inward and makes it more comfortable for sleeping as it forces me to lean forward into the lead. I rest my head on the lead and snooze off until daylight. Oh, I also wrap my arms around the lead when sleeping so I can't jerk and slip to the side very far and freak out.

This thing has it all and the adjustment buckle is right in front of you to instantly adjust your drape in literally about 3 seconds. If I have to swing very far around the tree I can let out some lead before doing so. Or if I want to stand more upright, I pull some lead in.

 

[Matty]

Hey John,

Did you make it yourself or have someone sew it up? It looks awesome. Simple is almost always better and this looks simple and awesome. My saddle is similar in that I have no leg straps either. Much prefer it that way.

I think the ability to adjust how far apart the butt straps are is critical to comfort though. I think the TL saddle has too much "area". When I wear the bottom part where it needs to be under my cheeks, the top part is well above my butt and up my lower back.

I thought about cutting my neoprene saddle across and removing excess material, sewing a hemmed edge to prevent fraying, then sewing in two cross straps so the two sections couldn't separate too far. So it would be just like yours, but neoprene.

It looks like you have two cross straps that keep the butt straps from separating too far, right?

Anyway, I'm afraid I might destroy my saddle trying to do that, so instead I was thinking about making one just like this with webbing, but was also considering a more rigid seat bottom, like this:

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/safet ... paignId=WR

Have you ever tried a rigid seat bottom?

And save some big bucks for the rest of us will ya! Jeez....lol

 

[DaveT1963]

Matty - I like that rigid seat you posted. It would be very easy to attach a small webbing strap to serve as a web belt. It also looks like it has spots to attach a lineman's belt. A little padding could easily be added to seat f needed. I might have to look into this as I was just about to try and make a web strap that would be very similar.

 

[rr79]

Rubber park type swing seat bolted to a thin type tree stand harness. Thats what i use. The work seat posted above looks nice but 200$? Thats nuts!