Harness rigging in decathlon

[hermh]

When i purchased my decathlon last summer, it came with the old belt system. a lap and inertia reel shoulder belt. front and rear, and a 5 point with rotating release buckle front and rear. My instructor stated that I should get the lap belts that ratchet you down. so i went to hooker and got the competition sets. these upon fitting and installing present 2 problems. 1st. the rear lap belt being so wide (2 belts sewed side by side to a bigger padding belt) it keeps the stick from being able to come all the way back to the stop, second, the front shoulder harness attach overhead and not only reduce vis for the rear pilot, but appear to be in the way if an emergency exit were necessary.
I see this seems to be the standard issue in the new decathlons, has anyone out there had problems like these i am mentioning, and does anyone have solutions they could share?
thanks in advance.

Herm

 

[Niccolai Murphy]

Have the same setup and use it without problems though never had to bail. The issue with the restricted stick movement is probably more significant for larger folks.

First the extra girth means you tend to hit the buckle with the stick full back. The other thing is if the rear seat pilot has size 14 boots, the toes of the boot will likely hit the front ratchet.

The larger folks who use our 8KCAB just live with these issues and the added issue that they cannot leave the ground and be within aerobatic category with more than half a tank or less.