With safety features you typically only get to do it once unless you get it right.
I think the biggest point that everyone is missing is how the upper body structure is attached to the lower body and frame. The structure where some of you have attached your shoulder belts may be strong enough but how that structure is attached to the rest of the coach may be the weak point and the reason why we have seen several roofless coaches. It is the entire system that saves (or endangers) our lives.
No matter what you do regarding your seatbelts, any changes from stock will bring advantages and risks dependant on the severity of the accident. Its up to each person to decide what is most important to them. My own coach will remain with lap belts even though i'm a firm believer that they are insufficient. I would never forgive myself if one of my passengers were to suffer a serious or terminal injury due to a non-approved safety belt installation.
Les Burt
Montreal
1975 Eleganza 26ft
A work in Progress
> Jim, I don't agree on your comment regarding shoulder harnesses. On our 23
> the forward door frame on the pass side is plenty strong to accept 3/8"
> grade 8 bolts drilled through the two aluminum sections parallel with the
> centerline of the coach. As well the opposite side right behind the drivers
> seat also has a pretty heavy aluminum extrusion. I think I have some
> pictures I can post when we did ours.
Just putting bolts thru any of the relatively thin framework might not
be the best idea.
I thought thru the mounting scheme before showing it to a couple of my
coworkers (also Mech Engineers) and we all agreed that there was no way
these mounting points would be the failure point in the three point belt
system.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/g3599-seatbelts-3-point.html
That said... if you're truly worried about ripping your head off in a
rollover don't even consider this. In fact, even me recommending you do
it this way is foolish. I'm willing to put our bodies behind these seat
belts is 99.99% of the accidents we're likely to encounter. You may
attempt to do something similar and cut a corner of two and end up with
something that won't hold.
Kelvin
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
