Nylon or Polypropylene webbing for BP harness?

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PnL

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I've been looking at buying spare webbing for my BP and was wondering if using polypropylene webbing would be okay. Nylon stretches a bit when wet while polypropylene doesn't stretch as much, which makes it easier to adjust the harness IMO. Tensile strength is far greater in Nylon (4000lbs), but polypropylene (900lbs) is still strong enough as far as I can tell. I'm not sure about the abrasion properties of polypropylene vs. nylon, however.

Any ideas?

Paul
 
I wouldn't go with poly... not only the strength issue... but like you already guessed there is the abrasion issue and then there is the deterioration in sunlight issue...
 
Didn't think about the UV-resistance of these. Nylon seems to be the standard material used in scuba equipment so I guess I can't go wrong with it. Thanks.

Paul
 
Hey ScubaKims,

After reading your post I contacted my webbing supplier and asked them about your question. I think you'll find the answers interesting.

Heavy weight Nylon as used in weight belts and BPs has a break strength of 2,000 lb. per square inch. Heavy weight Polypro has 3,000 lb. per square inch.

Nylon has a higher abrasion level than Polypro.

Polypro does not soak up water or stretch when it is wet. However Polypro is positively bouyant.

The Polypro is not as stiff as Nylon.

When I desided to start making weight belts they actually suggested that I use Polypro but I went with Nylon.

I'll send you some of Polypro to see if you like it. Mabe you'll start a new trend.
 
That would be great - I'll rig up a BP with it and see how it feels in the pool. I'm not sure if I can be quantitative enough in my measurement of stretching versus nylon, however. I'll just mark and see how much the length changes and if this has any direct consequence in the fitting of the harness.

I'll send you a PM.

Paul
 
...strength comparison.... though I don't understand "per square inch."

Anyway I think you will find that soft webbing is not as good for the harness itself... but then you may like it... however I don't think it will as easy to don and doff as stiff webbing.

The chief concern with any backplate webbing is the abrasion resistence of the material... the slots in the plate do eat webbing... and I think you will be changing webbing much more often with soft poly than with stiff nylon.

We'll see, eh?
 
Kevlar webbing frequently are rated for 10,000 LB or more, they are abrasion resistant. They are just a PITA to work with.
 
nickjb once bubbled...
Kevlar.. might be a bit of overkill. Could you (or your rescuer) cut it off in an emergency
Out of your submersible drybox comes your handy butane fired hot knife... which you light and wait for a minute or two or three until it warms up to cutting temperature... and then slice, slice, slice. :D

btw... be sure to allow the blade to cool before stowing back in the submersible drybox.
 
Heath74 once bubbled...
Heavy weight Nylon as used in weight belts and BPs has a break strength of 2,000 lb. per square inch. Heavy weight Polypro has 3,000 lb. per square inch.

Nylon has a higher abrasion level than Polypro.

I think that's abrasion *resistance*... there's a reason our caving rope sheaths are made of braided nylon instead of polypro.

Typical 2" nylon webbing, from my sources, is generally rated between 5,000 and 7,000 lb break strength.

All of my webbing suppliers are saying that 2" polypro webbing has between 600 and 1200 lb break strength. I'm curious about this 3,000 lb figure, especially since I know that nylon is a stronger fiber than polypro. Rope with a nylon core is pretty much always used for life support.. several rope manufacturers make a nylon core rope sheathed with braided polypro, or an all polypro rope, for [budget] water rescue use (spectra is the fiber of choice for this)... but these are typically < 10mm ropes with breaking strengths on the order of 1,000 pounds. This is not at all useful for life support, and a nylon core 10mm rope has a breaking strength closer to 8,000 lb (which is marginal).

I own lots of both nylon and polypro webbing... the polypro, in general, feels a little bit more flexible, but it's also much more "plasticy" and prickly than the cheapest nylon webbing. High quality nylon webbing is far more flexible and softer than polypro.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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