The definitive how-to guide on making your own bungee on the cheap. Original Bungee DYI thread by Newschoolers member AndrewGregg --
"I'm a huge fan of DIY projects, especially in my photography work, if I can make it just as good as the original product then making it can be pretty fun and I save some money in the process. At first I was thinking of buying a banshee bungee off here used, but that can be kind of sketchy. So I decided I'd make one, and if it breaks or something I have no one to blame but myself. I'll give you a quick run down of how I made mine.
(Note, OP shall not be held liable for any injury during the construction or use of any bungee that branches from this guide. This is not meant to be professional instruction, and any user/users of this guide are doing so at their own risk. Just coveringing my own ass here.)"
Things you'll need:
- 1 foot of 1.5 inch dia. pvc pipe (which I had lying around the house)
- 60 feet of rubber latex tubing, which I bought off of amazon.com for $53.
- 10 ft of high strength poly rope. (boating ropes are best, but climbing rope works too)
- Climbing grade carabiner or c-clip (which I had from some older not-in-use climbing gear)
- Know how to tie yosemite bowline/bowline, figure 8 on a bite, and square knot
The steps:
1) I first divided the latex tubing into thirds which came to almost exactly 20 ft each. Then I tied off one end of the pieces and braided the 3 sections into one continuous rope of rubber latex.
2) With each end of the latex knotted with a simple overhand knot.
3) Cut the poly rope into two 5 foot sections and melt the ends off to prevent fraying of your rope. One section of rope will be used to tie a bowline/yosemite bowline on one end and a figure 8 on a bite on the other end. The other section will be a bowline on one end and the other end will be threaded through the handle and tied into another bowline. These knots are of climbing quality and do not degrade the integrity of the line you are using. I do not recommend using any other knots other than the ones already mentioned.
4) To join the sections i tie the bowline to each end of the latex braid using a square knot loop knot, similar to beckets hitch for all you knot privy folk. I use zip ties to keep everything snug together.
5) To finish it off I attach a c clip so rigging to the feature/surrounding is super easy and quick, once again using zip ties to keep everything snug and copacetic.
FAQ
Just curious where you bought everything, I'm assuming a stop at Home Depot can get it all done?
Everything excluding the latex tubing was bought at home depot.
What were your total costs?
$68
Are there any specific dimensions for the latex tubing?
HERE is the exact dimension I bought. Someone also suggested THIS.
Always inspect the attachment points between the rubber and the rope. We did a similar thing for our river board and because the elastic stretches it also gets smaller at the knot from use and eventualy untied itself in a violent form. Just a heads up.
I took every precaution possible with this part of it. There is no stress on the overhand knots at all and if the square knot should slip, the zip tie should still keep everything together long enough for it to be noticed. I rock climb all the time and have pretty good trust for the stuff I rig, experience is helpful in this area I guess. Being careful never hurt though.
I feel like that handle would fray the rope rather quickly.
I added a wrap of duct tape around the rope after I posted this to prevent any fraying.
"I'm a huge fan of DIY projects, especially in my photography work, if I can make it just as good as the original product then making it can be pretty fun and I save some money in the process. At first I was thinking of buying a banshee bungee off here used, but that can be kind of sketchy. So I decided I'd make one, and if it breaks or something I have no one to blame but myself. I'll give you a quick run down of how I made mine.
(Note, OP shall not be held liable for any injury during the construction or use of any bungee that branches from this guide. This is not meant to be professional instruction, and any user/users of this guide are doing so at their own risk. Just coveringing my own ass here.)"
Things you'll need:
- 1 foot of 1.5 inch dia. pvc pipe (which I had lying around the house)
- 60 feet of rubber latex tubing, which I bought off of amazon.com for $53.
- 10 ft of high strength poly rope. (boating ropes are best, but climbing rope works too)
- Climbing grade carabiner or c-clip (which I had from some older not-in-use climbing gear)
- Know how to tie yosemite bowline/bowline, figure 8 on a bite, and square knot
The steps:
1) I first divided the latex tubing into thirds which came to almost exactly 20 ft each. Then I tied off one end of the pieces and braided the 3 sections into one continuous rope of rubber latex.
2) With each end of the latex knotted with a simple overhand knot.
3) Cut the poly rope into two 5 foot sections and melt the ends off to prevent fraying of your rope. One section of rope will be used to tie a bowline/yosemite bowline on one end and a figure 8 on a bite on the other end. The other section will be a bowline on one end and the other end will be threaded through the handle and tied into another bowline. These knots are of climbing quality and do not degrade the integrity of the line you are using. I do not recommend using any other knots other than the ones already mentioned.
4) To join the sections i tie the bowline to each end of the latex braid using a square knot loop knot, similar to beckets hitch for all you knot privy folk. I use zip ties to keep everything snug together.
5) To finish it off I attach a c clip so rigging to the feature/surrounding is super easy and quick, once again using zip ties to keep everything snug and copacetic.
FAQ
Just curious where you bought everything, I'm assuming a stop at Home Depot can get it all done?
Everything excluding the latex tubing was bought at home depot.
What were your total costs?
$68
Are there any specific dimensions for the latex tubing?
HERE is the exact dimension I bought. Someone also suggested THIS.
Always inspect the attachment points between the rubber and the rope. We did a similar thing for our river board and because the elastic stretches it also gets smaller at the knot from use and eventualy untied itself in a violent form. Just a heads up.
I took every precaution possible with this part of it. There is no stress on the overhand knots at all and if the square knot should slip, the zip tie should still keep everything together long enough for it to be noticed. I rock climb all the time and have pretty good trust for the stuff I rig, experience is helpful in this area I guess. Being careful never hurt though.
I feel like that handle would fray the rope rather quickly.
I added a wrap of duct tape around the rope after I posted this to prevent any fraying.
