DIY UL Bino Harness

[Hunt'nFish]

Here's my DIY Bino-Harness. I make these up & give'em away as "thank you gifts".
Super simple to make and lightweight. ~ 6ft of 1/8" shock cord, a pinch cinch, and a couple extra large barrel swivels w/ duo-lock snaps. Make a figure-8 at the cinch, as shown, and knot the loose ends. Why over complicate a simple thing. Wears well under a pack too.
Hunt'nFish

(Click pic to enlarge)


PS: never mind the large plastic snaps on the bino's themselves. Those are for attaching to the shoulder straps on my pack.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Parts list:
~6ft of 1/8" shock cord. I prefer black color, but you can make it any color you like.
Two large barrel swivels w/ 1-1/2" Duo-Lock snaps. I prefer black oxid finish, but you might want your's stainless steel.
One pinch cinch. I get mine at the Ace Hardware store, but you can rob one off an old camp chair sleeve/cover.

First start off w/ a 6ft section of 1/8" shock cord. Tie a knot in one end, thread through pinch cinch, slide on a large barrel swivel w/ duo-lock snap, make a big loop and thread back through pinch cinch, make another large loop on opposite side, slide on another swivel & snap, then back through pinch cinch a final tiem. Knot loose end.

Now open the snaps and attach binos. (Depending on the Bino's, you may need to fashion some 550 para cord into loops to snap the swivels into.) Put arms through loops and position pinch cinch over back, between your shoulder blades, w/ bino's on front of your chest.
Check for fit, if they seem loose and swing about, tighten up the arm loops by pulling on the knotted ends until the loops are sized appropriate for you. Once you have the loop size adj'd to your personal tastes you'll most likely want to cut off the excess ends and re-knot the ends.
Well that's pretty much it. Hope you like.
Hunt'nFish

Barrel Swivel w/ Duo-Lock snap.
You want to make sure you get ones sized appropriately to fit your Bino's, but in general I just get ones w/ snaps about 1-1/2" long

Sorry for the rotation, photobucket code seems to be hayhire right now.
Click pic to enlarge and they come up oriented correctly.

 

[Mckinnon]

Very cool HuntnFish, looks kind of like a Rick Young rig if not mistaken... good work!

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Yeah.... I think he copied the idea. It's been around a while.
Don't think it'a million $$ idea, but obviously he thought there was a $ to be made.
Hunt'nFish

 

[Steve O]

I must be doing something wrong...when I use 48" of cord I get two loops about 10" in diameter! Either I am missing something or I need longer cord.

 

[colonel00]

I must be doing something wrong...when I use 48" of cord I get two loops about 10" in diameter! Either I am missing something or I need longer cord.

Well, that kind of makes sense. If you start with 48" and you essentially double it up then you have two loops with a 24" circumference. Applying a little math that gives us roughly 7.5-8" diameter. It does seem pretty small but then again, the point is to hold the binos tightly on your chest.

I like the simplicity of the idea really. I was also thinking about adding some clips in the line to attach it directly to a pack instead of having to wear it under the pack.

 

[Steve O]

I am going to try a longer piece...these loops will barely fit over my biceps--HAH!

I will save this one for when I run into a supermodel who needs help holding up her Swarovskis

 

[colonel00]

Yeah, I agree that it does seem to sound a bit snug and the pics do seem to make it appear much bigger. Perhaps Hunt'nFish can clarify or even snap a pic of himself wearing it so we have a better idea of how it functions.

I just did a quick mock up with some twine and yeah, it is way too small at 48". Even if I got it up to my shoulder on one side there is now way it would make it over to the other shoulder. Again with the silly math but if you are doubling up 48" that leaves only 24" in total length. Let's say you have a 40"+ chest, you are going to need almost 20" of length just to span that. As Hunt'nFish mentions, I think it will be best to start with plenty of extra cord and then trim it once you have it sized to fit you.

Edit: I see you have already done this with the 6' cord.

 

[Steve O]

6' of cordage fits a lot better. Like I said, I may be misunderstanding the instructions but this will work. I have a Rick Young harness...that has some fancy cord lock on it. I am going to have to look for those.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Oops, Yeah I remeasured and they're 6ft long. I copy/cut/pasted from one of my posts on another forum. Not sure where the 48" came from.....perhaps I accidently measured one of the kid's sized ones when I did the original write-up. My bad. Yes 6ft and that'll probably be a little long for you skinny guys, but easy enough to shorten but repositioning knots on the ends.
Sorry, sorry, sorry.
Hunt'nFish

 

[rhendrix]

Could I use 550 cord instead of shock cord?

 

[Rick Leathley]

Could I use 550 cord instead of shock cord?

I don't think so. I have the Rick youngs and you need the stretch in order to stretch them up to your face.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I'm going with this one instead

 

[parshal]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I made a few of these following Hunt'n Fish's instructions. I used a stop toggle cord lock instead of the one he used and then put a plastic O ring (called a bone ring at craft stores or Amazon) below the lock. It makes it easier to adjust when the rig is on your body. I'm going to put an end pull on the two ends to make it easier to grasp.

Here are the parts I used.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M5T8EGG?psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/Sew-UV-Clear-...82&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=plastic+bone+rings

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HH3T6NK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H345YDO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Post a pic of your finished product.
I'm always interested in improvements.
Hunt'nFish

 

[parshal]

Any sort of ring will work. I chose this one since it's brass and won't break like most of the plastic rings. It's a ring used for the strings on blinds. The little hooks are small and lightweight and will hold the binos quite well.

 

[parshal]

By the way, this little adapt-its work great on the swaros. They stay out of the way and the clips on my harness clip on/off easily.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00162YZXE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00