Hooker Harness question

[KiloWhiskey1]

I am in Phase I of my test flights and have been testing different aerobatic maneuvers. My RV-7 has Hooker 5 pt harnesses that are functioning well, but are virtually impossible to get tight enough to get rid of the slack that you feel when rolling inverted. I have decided that a second safety belt with a ratcheting system is the only way to get the belts as tight as I want.

Upon calling Hooker, they did not recommend attaching the second belt to the same attach point as the primary seat belt. Does anyone have experience with RV-7s and adding a second safety belt? Pictures and/or comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks for the replies,

Keith

[atreff]

I heard the same thing from Hooker. I think it's a liability thing from their insurance underwriters, so I totally understand.

I have friends who had their acro belts made by Alan Silver. He will build a ratched in your lap belt without a back up. He will not modify your Hookers, but he'll build you a new one with a ratchet.

http://www.silverparachutes.com/about.html

Art Treff
N666AT
Lil Snorkey
RV-8 Fastback

[drowe]

I'm in phase I testing of my -7A as well. I have the Hooker aerobatic harness with the rachet system installed, but I've only flown with it for a couple hours. I fabricated attach points for the non-ratcheting belts (sorry, I don't have any pictures) and attached the ratcheting belt to the standard attach points. I had to send the belt back to Hooker to have them move the ratchet from the left side to the right side. I found that there wasn't enough room to work the ratchet on the left side because of the interior I installed (they made the modification at no charge). Since I got it back from them, I've only flown a couple hours, and haven't flown much in the way of sustained inverted flight, but I did a couple rolls and a loop and it feels a lot more secure than the single belt. I plan to give it a good test this weekend.