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Paramotor Hip Belt
A little over a year ago, one of the paramotor discussion groups got onto the subject of adding hip belts to their paramotors.
I've forgotten the name of the fellow who first suggested it, but the reasoning was that backpackers have for years worn hip belts on their backpacks - so why not do the same for a paramotor?
As it turns out, this is a great idea. It transfers a lot of the weight of the paramotor to your hips, rather than putting it on your shoulders. This provides a number of advantages, including:
Lower Center of Gravity - making it easier to run around in circles with less likelihood of falling over (those of you who have seen me fly will know that I rarely attain a perfect circle - usually just a crazy circular wobble).
Greater Carrying Capacity - for longer distances with greater comfort. You'd be surprised how much easier it is to carry a weight on your hips than it is on your back. It is less tiring and seems to require less effort.
Greater Safety - The next time I have a hard landing, I'll be glad the weight comes down hard on my hips, rather than on my back; significantly reducing the chance of an injury.
With most ideas like this, there are also drawbacks. I'll let you know if I think of one . . .
I suspect some paramotor designs work better for hip belts than others. Paramotors with a cage which extends below your hips when worn benefit from better geometry. The idea is to use a strap to transfer weight to your hips. This is hard to do if the frame is entirely above your hips.
To modify my Jet Pocket paramotor to accept a hip belt, I drilled a couple of holes at the lowest part of the front of the frame. With the help of my supportive, talented and beautiful wife (how else do you think I get stuff done?), we stitched a strap loop around the bar and put a bolt through the strap and the newly-drilled hole to keep things from sliding (see picture)
Note the female clips at the other end of the straps. These allow me to put the belt on, then clip in (or out) of the paramotor.
The belt itself was ordered from a camping store (Campmor.com, item 60030) and is a regular backpackers hip belt replacement. It has lots of padding and two straps with grommets. The grommets provide a handy mounting point for the straps which have the male end of the clips from the previous photo. The following photo shows the grommets, carabiners and straps containing the male end of the clips (male end not visible in the photo).
There are a few important things to note from this photo:
The whole thing, when assembled, looks a bit like this:
1. Mount the adjusting end of the straps so they are be facing you when wearing the paramotor (these are the loose straps you see hanging down in the photo. This allows for tension adjustment when worn.
2. The straps need to clear your harness. If your harness is the wraparound type, you're going to be cutting holes for the straps. . .
3. The hip belt straps are the ones running more vertically in the photo from the lower bolts. The upper bolt holds a stabilising strap does not normally carry any load and which is standard equipment for this paramotor.
4. The orange bottle is not for jet-assisted takeoff. It is my barbeque.
When it came time for testing the contraption, I threw a rope over the beams of our neighbour's garage and strung myself up. This provided the assurance that I would not need to do a whole circuit hanging by the crotch-straps in the event that the hip belt prevented me from sliding into the seat. I'm pleased to report that the hip belt did not impact my seat-sliding ability at all and my crotch is intact.
The procedure I follow when using the hip belt is:
1. Put the hip belt on
2. Strap in to the paramotor as usual.
3. Connect the hip belt clips.
4. Stand up
5. Lean forward and pull on the loose end of the hip belt straps to shorten the straps and transfer the desired amount of weight to my hips.
6. Straighten up to test feel. Repeat Step 5 if necessary.
I hope you find this useful. To be honest, I'm surprised more manufacturers don't include this as standard equipment.
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