Adjustable rope bridge

Buddy

Treehouser
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For those of you who use an adjustable bridge, what is your setup?

I recently replaced my non-adjustable rope bridge with a longer piece of scion blue and a kong duck. I stole the idea from Richard Mumford off youtube, except he uses a ct roll n lock. Also, what are your thoughts on this?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lIGr3nF3IFU
 
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Keep in mind that I am very new at this so suggestions and conversation is very welcome.

When I first started on drt I was hip thrusting and tending my slack and it seemed like everything was in the way. I then discovered if I didn't tie into my bridge with caribiners and instead made one large loop out of my climb line I could slide my friction hitch far enough up it was out of the way. It worked well but I still wasn't very happy with it. So I spent the money and went with my current setup. I really like it so far...

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That should work fine. When I was climbing in the TreeMotion I used the same setup as Richard, with the CT roll n lock, for awhile. Though it worked well I found that I just didn't use it very often, so when I switched to the MCRS I left it off.

I have heard concerns that having a rope grab in that location could conceivably damage the rope sheath if it were shock loaded. Doesn't seem likely but something to think about I guess.
 
Maximalist, from my understanding of the Duck, you are using it in an unsafe manner. The way your picture shows, you are putting the load on the cam rather than the pulley, which Kong shows in the instruction is unsafe. Plus there is no tensile strength ratings on the device. Others run the bridge through a rigging plate first, that supports the load, with the ascender only keeping the rope in place. I hope you rethink your system.
 
I use my 5/8th steal core or my other climb line. I use both in a manner that the manufacturer says to be unsafe, but its cool because I know karate.

I like to hunt ducks and hope ducks unlimited helps me design my pond.

I also sometimes use a Spanish bowline and a blakes hitch for moving from tree to tree.

I have used the correct application of knots and the tail of my MRT line to create an advance-able bridge for foot locking.
 
I have the ct roll and lock, and absolutely love an extendable bridge. I mainly rope wrench, but for assents i use a chest roller because I'm top heavy. Just extend my climbing system, clip in the chest roller, and then your foot and knee ascender and you are hands free off to the races. The only thing i would add to your (op) setup would be a way to set your lanyard off of the rigging plate. Makes it so much more comfortable if you are hanging on your lanyard.
 
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I have the ct roll and lock, and absolutely love an extendable bridge. I mainly rope wrench, but for assents i use a chest roller because I'm top heavy. Just extend my climbing system, clip in the chest roller, and then your foot and knee ascender and you are hands free off to the races. The only thing i would add to your (op) setup would be a way to set your lanyard off of the rigging plate. Makes it so much more comfortable if you are hanging on your lanyard.

I almost purchased the dmm rigging plate with my last order, but I didn't. Something of that nature will be on my next order. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thank you everyone else for the comments.
 
You can probably get away with using those rigging plates you already have, just turn them 180 degrees so the large hole can be used for your lanyard. You just have to force the webbing from the waist through one of the small holes. I used the ct plates when i did my weaver cougar, I'm pretty sure any rigging plate would work well.
 
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Hahahaha finally figured out how to resize pics, just text them to yourself first. That took entirely too long to figure out lol.

You can see on this how the large hole looks away from you when you are done, that gives you the large holes for your lanyard
 
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Now I see what you're saying. I will have to play around with it a little, thanks.
 
Buddy, looking again at your pictures it appears you are also using the Duck incorrectly. You have the advantage of the rigging plate to hold you if the Duck failed, provided you have a stopper knot on your bridge tail, but still you are loading the cam not the pulley as Kong shows.
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Good catch, Brocky. The CT roll n lock has no such limitations. One of Richard Mumfords videos goes into detail on the differences between the two.

That said, having the Kong against the rigging plate does seem to entirely change the load dynamics.
 
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Thanks Brocky, I do certainly have a stopper knot on both ends of my bridge rope. I was aware of the proper (safe) usage of the Duck before I started using it this way. It is good that you posted what you did. I probably should have posted that in my original post so no one got the wrong idea about how it is suppose to be used.
 
I think if you turned it 180 degrees and attached it to the top hole you would be following Kong's recommendations.
 
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I'm not really following Kong's directions in the first diagram you posted. The way I am seeing it, if it is used as per directions it is basically only being used as a pulley. As soon as you release the rope and the kong duck's grab is activated it flips over and is no longer safe to use. So what is the point of the rope grab if it can't be used.

Maybe I'm looking at it wrong...:?
 
You might get some rotation by letting go of the rope, but it would still grab and hold the rope. In Kong's pictures the rope always travels over the pulley and carabiner. It must take both to make it strong enough. Apparently the rope just going over the cam doesn't have the support of the carabiner.
For your use the rope should go over the pulley and zip strip, maybe?
 
I think that what Kong is trying to depict is that the cam is not a pulley surface and to not use it as such. Clearly, with it against the rigging plate it is not being used as a pulley but merely as a rope grab. I could be wrong, but that is what it looks like to me.
 
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Correct, it does grab the rope.

I see the error in my thought process now. I was thinking they were implying that once it grabbed the rope and flipped over it was no longer safe. They are just saying that for hauling purposes you need to run the rope through the carabiner for it to be strong enough to be safe (I understood this part).

I would have purchased the ct roll n lock but I thought the simplicity of the kong duck was better suited for my purpose. Arguably not so, but if I were using it for the soul purpose of hauling loads with the need of a rope grab I would have went with the roll n lock. It does not need the rope run through the carabiner to be safe.

Thanks for chiming in Brocky, you helped me stretch my brain muscles...
 
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I think that what Kong is trying to depict is that the cam is not a pulley surface and to not use it as such. Clearly, with it against the rigging plate it is not being used as a pulley but merely as a rope grab. I could be wrong, but that is what it looks like to me.

After overthinking it for awhile that is the conclusion that I came to also.
 
I think now that I was wrong in my first post saying the Duck only holds the rope's position. I now think that it takes the full load and the plate only acts as a fairlead into it. The only way the plate could take any of the load is if it were rigidly mounted to the harness which was tight on the climber. However, with the flexible mounting of the plate, it only follows the Duck around, loading the cam only. I think you are setting up the Duck like the top right illustration of Kong's. Take a look at it and imagine a plate attached to the left of it. I don't know if the plate would even take any of the load or just redirect it.
 
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