I wrote last year asking for welding advice. Not even a year and brand new 3 in the row bar is broken again.
Same place and I do not even recall any serious catapult this year. Hardly any at all.
Really I should post this picture to Neilpryde asking to improve a bit on design.
Overall very comfortable and popular harness but I am afraid many of you have similar experience.
3 years and 3 broken bars
I am only 80 kg and I do not even sail on waves
All NP speader bars break there as they are simply sh!t. You can't weld it as the plastic bit can't be removed totally.
Convert to a normal spreader bar as I have with my NP harness, and when it is worn out buy a different brand and be forever happy
Dakine aren't any Better I use to go through a couple every season. There very thin too . Ended up resorting to an old 10 year old one i modified to suit and it has never Broken and out lasted the harness. Recently I purchased a FO Transit best Harness Ive owned for many years, The hook actually has some weight to it
I'm probably going to regret this.....
(Deep breath)
Have a look at a Mystic Kite harness. I use one for sailboarding as well as kiting. Very nice piece of gear. I've seen 120 kg guys busting huge air with massive kites and never heard of one break. seat and waist types.
^^^^^No difference in hook position. Most kiters use a waist harness though some of the bigger people prefer the lower hook position of a seat harness. My son has a Mystic that is a seat that can be converted to waist by removing the seat part by velcro. I have an old Dakine surf seat that has this feature but it never worked as a waist. It would end up working its way up under my armpits. Could be I'm not buff enough. In that harness I used a moulded plastic spreader from the eighties thats survived 3 harnesses.
The only kitemare I've had so far is a "superman" I had after a de-power cleat failure in 30 knots. Its like the kite equivilent of a sailboard catapault that never ends. Harness lived through it fine.
The only difference I can see between my Mystic Warior and sailboard harness is the Mystic has a loop for the safety leesh and a quick release in the spreader.
Maybe you should check one out in a shop.
I thought the hook profile was a bit different on the kite harnesses. The few I looked at seemed as though they would be harder to unhook from if you were using it for windsurfing (windsurfers are always unhooking where as kiters appear to stay hooked in at all times).
I broke the spreader bar on one of my Neil Pryde harnesses, and the guys at Windsurfing Perth sold me a NPX spreader bar.
It works well and the quick release is easy to use.
I don't like non-quick-release spreader bars, and the NPX straps in the same way a normal spreader bar would.
Kite spreaders bars have to be strong due to the nature of their use, but just check the shape of the hook, some tend to be a tighter hook shape which make them trickier to get out of in a hurry. This brings me to my second point, I have read over threads like this and all the broken boom threads and I think a bunch of you guys will always break stuff whilst you are getting catapulted all over the place. I broke more stuff learning to sail in the eighties as a kid than I have wavesailing in the past 20 years (other than masts and fin boxes obviously). As you improve you should stop breaking booms and spreaders and denting the nose of your board. I appreciate that when riding a slalom board super fast you are more likely to get catapulted but if it is happening regularly maybe it is time to down grade to an easier and more appropriate board for your level, otherwise suck it up, make the long swim home and go and buy a replacement. Better your bar breaks than your back. However,..... some products are just crap.
Had the same problem.
After 2 replacements I changed to the NPX seat harness (kiting harness )
Haven't had a problem since.
Mark, I'd like to tell you how I welded it, but I didn't do it - a mate (hydraulics man & fitter) did it & somehow removed the fitting I think?
The difference between the kite and WS SB seems to be the kite SB has a fat wide spread at the end part that keeps the harness lines or whatever a kiter uses from slipping off, this looks problematic to use for WSing, if the harness lines get twisted around the tip of the spreader bar in a crash they won't be able to slide off.
Ok Mark don't worry about pictures, I have it sorted.
From local WS shop I have apparently kite bar that fits very nicely.
Tested on the water today , works fine.
In long term I did order also this new NP aluminium.
Macro, I know you said don't worry, but I have already done it
Pics below...
But be careful with harness hooks that don't have a taper. That one you have now looks skinnier where the line sits (in the mid section) than at the end of the hook. Windsurf hooks are straight or have a slight taper because if you crash and rotate at the same time, the lines can become twisted around the hook and there is no way to release the hook from the line. If you catapault and turn around a couple of windsurfer kind of bad.
It was a problem like in the 1980's and early 1990's with rope lines, now we have tubing over the line it is way less of a problem - but still possible.
By all means do it, use whatever hook you want but if it is NOT tapered, practice your quick release. Really practice it.
My solution to NP bars:
i use a dakine and weigh 100 kg ive broken this bar about 4 times and just weld it up with a crappy stick welder and each time it has broken it is in a completely different spot it looks a bit sh#t now but i love the character it has ive got a new bar but cant bring myself 2 change it its like my favorite jumper
Was trapped under the water once before with the lines crossed after a forward catapult,sail was overhead.
Tried to unhook lines from hook but no success. Told myself not to panic,just tread water then headbutted the sail overhead and took a large breath then managed to unhook.
As for the Flying Objects transit harness,it's not much different to other harnesses.
I tried it without modification and bar too high and no slide. I cut the bottom two buckles off to increase the bar height,and i don't use the long strap that feeds over the bar,this pulls the bar down and stops it sliding. And i changed the stainless steel wide bar to a very narrow aluminium bar as this further increases the distance the bar can slide,which i find helps when sailing upwind.