New Parachute... now what?

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Jolyon

Life Member
Feb 1, 2010
66
0
wokingham
Hi All,
I am sure this has been covered many times before but....
I have a new chute for our scouts troupe. Any advice? worth nikwaxing? any prep on cords? how many and where? best and quickest way to set?

never put one up on my own any advice welcome... i have 4 days to look like a pro
 
Apr 8, 2009
1,165
144
Ashdown Forest
I use 'cling ons'/'holdons' with mine - about 10 i think, with long lengths of sisal permanently attached to each one. And a long length of thin rope attached to the middle in order top chuck over a branch. The cling ons mean that you can perfectly position the tie outs depending where the trees are.

http://www.flints.co.uk/acatalog/Holdons.html

I have a (I think) french parachute that is a bell shape - i.e. the hem is a little tighter than a meter or so in, so the cling ons are positioned not directly on the hem to get a better shape. If you have a british parachute you don't suffer from this problem, but you do have one or two mesh panels to contend with. These are near the edge, so not a massive problem, but people sometimes sew a panel of ripstop nylon over them.

Basic trick is to keep it all nice and tight, with no saggy bits once up. In the heaviest of rain you may get a fine mist of water coming through, but that's all. I wouldn't bother trying to waterproof it - it would probably cost a lot, for not a huge amount of benefit!
 

Ogri the trog

Mod
Mod
Apr 29, 2005
7,182
71
60
Mid Wales UK
I wouldn't bother with trying to proof it, but an accumulation of wood-smoke will help over time - though consider where it is going to be stored and how it might affect the room that it is in.
Getting one up on your own is simply an exercise in forward planning and fortuitous placement of branches/guy ropes.

Best thing I have seen on someone else's chute (but not yet included on my own) is to sew in colored tabs at opposite points, so you can easily begin to pitch it wherever you end up.

ATB

Ogri the trog
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,979
4,626
S. Lanarkshire
The lines on mine had been cut, so I spoke with a friend who runs a survival school and his advice was to attach four metre guys. I bought a drum of bog standard parcord on ebay for something like a tenner. That was 100m and I needed 24 four metre lines, so that was sorted :D
I numbered my panels at the bottom corner so that I knew where to look for repairs or anything needing attention once it was down.
Ogri's suggestion about the tabs is a good one though :)

There's no way mine will go up taut, so I don't bother trying. Either it's raised with rope through the spider at the top or it's put up with three saplings about 6 or 7m long.

I am blessed with a very capable friend (warthog1981, take a bow :D ) who made me some truly excellent steel pegs from welding rods :cool: I can raise the edge and pull it out using hazel poles and taking the guy out from them. This is secure enough to let us fit those cheap small groundsheets in as walls/windbreaks when it's really not so pleasant out.

All in all it's a good thing; just don't let your husband put it in the washing machine because he can't stand the smell of the smokiness in the house while it dries….you get some very funny looks next time it goes up :rolleyes: and comments like, "Toddy ? why does your 'chute smell of persil ?? " :eek: and all that nice tarry waterproofing from the smoke has gone too :sigh:

M
 

decorum

Full Member
May 2, 2007
5,064
12
Warwickshire
I'm still a relative newbie rigging a chute. Mine came with cords still in place. These were then cut to leave about 18" attachment points ~ leaving me with roughly 7 metres per line to guy with (Your chute might be different). Each 18 has a Fig. 8 at the end to tie into and with cardinal points having an additional Fig. 8 it allows me to space guys out more quickly, efficiently and effectively.

I'm considering shortening a number of my 7m lines ~ because I usually end up with lots of working ends going spare and needing hanking neatly ... And if you're utilising 1m of a 7m line it's a whole bunch of pita! :rofl:

When tying/guying out I rig the cardinals first, then half cardinals, then as needed :) .

Get a crab line ... Round ratchet sockets are useful ... Have fun getting practice with a catapult ... Tying out to a perimeter line is useful - can use suitably placed spars in place of trees ;)

My largest Plastic Sack of Nastiness came in really useful for storing and transporting the whole kit and caboodle ~ 9m chute, perimeter lines, main rigging line (the one the chute attaches to), lines bag (Inc crab line, weights, and catapult)

... think I might need to borrow Mary's idea of marking the chute to locate and fix damage ~ though I might just colour code the cardinal markers - 2nd panel left/right of 'blue' or some such ;)
 

Tom Gold

Forager
Nov 2, 2012
153
0
Scotland
www.thetreeline.co.uk
Jolyon, I'm with Poncho on this one; a few attachment points and a throw line attached to the centre. I've found setting it up to be a great warm up task for the group.

Also, if you set it at sufficient height a fire lit inside will create a bubble of warm air which inflates the canopy and makes it warmer than the outside air.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,979
4,626
S. Lanarkshire
:eek: :eek:

You know, when I was writing that I thought, "That's maybe not right ?", and meant to ask you about it….then got distracted.
Thanks Russ :D

M
 

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