Over the past few repack cycles, I have noticed more jumpers that have metal/rapide (French) links, on their reserves, d-bags and bridle attachment points.
As you can see in the pictures, metal links can cause damage not only to kill lines, but also to attachment points they come in contact with. Additional issues can also be that the gates become unscrewed through the friction on the surrounding material possibly causing detachment of d-bags and other critical gear components.
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Constant monitoring of the links is a must and should be conducted every time that the links are exposed during pack jobs.
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Some of the benefits of switching to soft links are reduced bulk (in the reserve tray), reduced wearing on the surrounding materials, decreased chances of the gates being unscrewed (soft links are double backed on themselves to securely close them).
Always check your links, whether they are metal or soft, to ensure they are functioning as they were intended. If you are unsure, please check with your rigger or manufacturer for proper usage. Also, if you choose to switch from metal links to soft links, gently used soft links are generally abundant in any loft.
Blue Skies!
Thank you Shauna for providing some good advice.
Blue Skies!!!!
