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chicagogirl
Mar 15, 2008, 5:17 AM
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I am a newbie at this and am about to buy my own stuff. I was planning on just picking up some climbing grade webbing and biners from REI for a simple 5 biner setup. What I need to know is if I am strong enough to pull a shortish line taught enough. I am only 135 pounds and not known for feats of strength. The only times I have been on a line before it was set up when I got there so I have no idea how much force it requires.
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angry
Mar 15, 2008, 9:02 AM
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For a standard length line using biners as pulleys, it's a two grown men job. Three is better.
It's probably closer to a one man job but climbers tend to be so small.
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rockforlife
Mar 15, 2008, 1:49 PM
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i don't know the exact set up but there is a five to one set up you can do by your self you may have to pull few different times as you walk and fall
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kobaz
Mar 15, 2008, 2:09 PM
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It may save you a bit of time, effort, and some suffering with a loose line if you get one of those little come-alongs. (Make sure it has a fairly high breaking strength).
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chicagogirl
Mar 15, 2008, 3:42 PM
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rockforlife wrote: i don't know the exact set up but there is a five to one set up you can do by your self you may have to pull few different times as you walk and fall
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NJSlacker
Mar 15, 2008, 5:40 PM
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Just grab a few friends to help you pull it taught. Slacklining is more fun with friends anyway.
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slacklinejoe
Mar 15, 2008, 5:53 PM
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There are some systems that are 100% designed for solo use, both homemade and commercial but you have to filter out all of the "rarities" of people who claim that all you need to set a 50-100 foot line is 2 carabiners and 1 person.
With some of the commercial rigs, it isn't a question as some of them offer as high as 13:1 mechanical advantage so you should be able to tighten up to a 50 solo. For testing I had my grandmother set up 40 foot lines solo, but it wasn't happening with carabiners due to their high friction which yeilds low efficency.
If you go homemade you may have to think outside of the typical climber mindset or just buy the tensioning system out of a commercial system and built the rest of the system yourself.
I do agree however that slacking with friends is good. Although I can relate with the fact that when I started no one I knew slacked and I also used it as a meditative thing to get away so solo setups had a big appeal.
(This post was edited by slacklinejoe on Mar 15, 2008, 5:56 PM)
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NJSlacker
Mar 16, 2008, 12:08 AM
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I agree Joe, there is nothing better for relaxing than walking a line, and I started with one of your kits, back when none of my fiends slacklined.
I'd love to be find a 1:13 setup. I'm still using a primitive and the friction sucks.
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chicagogirl
Mar 16, 2008, 12:22 AM
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The main appeal right now for the primitive setup is that I get amazing discounts through work so even the cheaper of the kits is way more than just building it from scratch. If y'all know any ways to improve upon the bare bones with stuff you can get at REI or from a hard wear store I am open to suggestions. I was mostly going with the setup I had seen before. I would still like to keep my starting cost low so keep that in mind. :D
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slacklinejoe
Mar 16, 2008, 1:32 AM
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Going cheap rules out pulleys pretty much off the bat. Quality pulleys cost big $$$.
Carabiner setups often suck for solo rigging. It can be done but it often takes a lot of struggling and is really limiting. If you'd classify yourself as a lightweight that path may leave you a little discouraged. However, if you think you'll have help rigging it by all means, it should work for small to medium lines.
The other options are budget specific. You could pick up a good 13:1 ratchet for around $20 off the web (my site for instance) or perhaps modify an off the shelf one that you could find locally.
There are other options but most start off around $100 and go up from there.
My best piece of advice would be to figure out what your actual budget is, what your needs are and let that guide you.
(disclaimer - I'm affiliated with a slackline shop so take my recommendations with a grain of salt as I'm going to be at least a little biased here.)
(This post was edited by slacklinejoe on Mar 16, 2008, 1:45 AM)
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murph24
Mar 20, 2008, 12:45 AM
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I use some an assortment 8mm cord, prussics, ovals, and those small red Petzl pulleys. It takes a little bit of time but I can rig a 45’ line solo easily. I know the pulleys are not rated that high, but I leave them in the setup as I walk the line and they still work. There are easy ways to take them out but I don’t bother. Everything that I own is under $100.
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difdclimber
Mar 20, 2008, 1:25 PM
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slacklinejoe wrote: Going cheap rules out pulleys pretty much off the bat. Quality pulleys cost big $$$. Carabiner setups often suck for solo rigging. It can be done but it often takes a lot of struggling and is really limiting. If you'd classify yourself as a lightweight that path may leave you a little discouraged. However, if you think you'll have help rigging it by all means, it should work for small to medium lines. The other options are budget specific. You could pick up a good 13:1 ratchet for around $20 off the web (my site for instance) or perhaps modify an off the shelf one that you could find locally. There are other options but most start off around $100 and go up from there. My best piece of advice would be to figure out what your actual budget is, what your needs are and let that guide you. (disclaimer - I'm affiliated with a slackline shop so take my recommendations with a grain of salt as I'm going to be at least a little biased here.)
Listen to Joe, he's a great guy and definately knows what he's talking about. If you're small and doing it solo get his 30'ft intro line with pulley. Its a complete kit with slings, webbing and ratchets for $44 you can't beat that. I used mine last night with a friend and he set it up by himself and it is super easy to tighten it or losen it if you need to. I would honestly go with this kit over a standard/primitive kit.
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goterps18
Mar 25, 2008, 12:32 AM
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You could just do a three carabiner set up with a line locker and use those two extra carabiners for a multiplier. You simply take strand of the pulley system that you pull on and girth hitch a carabiner to it. Then you feed the webbing through another carabiner on the other side and back through the girth hitched carabiner. This increases your theoretical mechanical advantage by 3x the previous amount. Sure, you lose alot to friction, but it definitely helps and i can set up close to 50ft lines on my own using a primitive with a multiplier. If you have any questions about how to use a multiplier, you should check slackline.com's forums or just pm me.
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rtwilli4
Jun 6, 2008, 11:23 PM
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I have the 5 biner setup... about 25 or 30 foot line. I have 50 ft of webbing so I have plenty of extra to pull on when tightening the line.
I have never set it up with anyone helping me... always been by myself. I only weigh 150 and don't consider myself to be very strong.
I got 50 ft. of 1" webbing, 5 oval biners, and 12 feet of 3/4" webbing for $53 at REI. There are some pictures of my setup on a thread I just posted a few min. ago.
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tyas
Jun 9, 2008, 12:39 PM
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Joe's primo and classic set-ups are great and the primo is a real easy solo setup. I often use a 5-biner primitive set-up, but getting even a 30ft line taught enough isnt always that easy. You can always ask a big guy walking buy to help you pull (havent had anybody decline that request yet), or you could get a 2inch ratchet at home depot for 15 dollars.
i'm slacklining in the chicago area myself, so if you need slacklinebuddies, there are definitely a few around. just pm me.
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NJSlacker
Jun 10, 2008, 4:34 AM
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If you guys aren't getting a 30 foot line tight enough to walk with 5 biners you're doing something wrong.
I weigh 155, I don't consider myself very strong, but I was able to set up a 70 foot line with 5' anchors using 6 biners (two multipliers on a two biner primitive system).
If you're not using multipliers in your system then that's your whole problem.
(This post was edited by NJSlacker on Jun 11, 2008, 1:23 AM)
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