Safely Using a Snatchem Strap

[AB]

Correctly pulling someone out using a snatchem.

[Ruby]

I was shown many years ago to saddle the strap with a wet hessian bag to dampen the strap incase it comes away from its anchor.


Thanks for the video

TOOR

[YNOT]

The wet hessian bag would make a good damper but places like ARB, TJM and Opposite Lock sell proper damper blankets that won't make the inside of your car wet when you put them away.

Tony

[nowoolies]

sorry but that aint the safe way
NO damper on the snatch strap
time to redo the video

[Gert B Frobe]

Ive never seen dampers used when snatching but always with winches. Whats the general rule? Or is it just best to go for overkill on the safety side of things?

[the evil twin]

Ive never seen dampers used when snatching but always with winches. Whats the general rule? Or is it just best to go for overkill on the safety side of things?

Thats because a damper in the middle of a snatch strap does very little in 95% or more of cases if something lets go other than a strap eye.

The damper on a winch cable is to defuse the danger of the cable itself causing damage. Snatch strap fatalities etc are from getting hit by the lump of metal that is/was attached to the strap. In the most recent fatality it was part of a bull bar. A damper would have done nothing in that tragedy

With a strap it is the flying object (lets say a shackle) that kills not the strap. A strap has transfered 100% of the stored kinetic energy to the shackle in the first 20% of contraction... the damper will probably not have even hit the ground by then.

If the shackle 'flys' then the damper is irrelevant
If the shackle remains attached to the strap and the strap is in one piece it can only hit something within 120% of the length of the strap which is 99.9 times the vehicle attached at the other end
If the strap breaks then you have no flying object other than the longest part of the 'soft' nylon strap which is about the only time the Damper will come into play

IMHO when using dampers on a strap you need 2, one at each end not 1 in the middle but by far the safest option is the latest generation of straps with anti recoil webbing.

Bottom line tho always remains "if you aren't happy with a method either change it till you are or do not do it that way at all."

[Winnie]

There is NO way to safely snatch somebody out. Sure there are ways to make it a little safer, but it's always a dangerous exercise.

[Silver]

There is NO way to safely snatch somebody out. Sure there are ways to make it a little safer, but it's always a dangerous exercise.

That's probably true Kristoffa, in the sense that all activities carry risk, but if everthing is kept well within the safety limits then snatching should be, and in my experience has been, uneventful and effective.

Where things go wrong is where people push the limits with big run offs and high speeds, or dodgy attachment points. On top of that are recoveries where the vehicle is already teetering on the brink of disaster

[taslucas]

sorry but that aint the safe way
NO damper on the snatch strap
time to redo the video

yep i have to agree

[the ferret]

At the request of another member, I have put this up again just as a reminder,
have a good look at it and think about what you're doing next recovery.
Cheers, the ferret.