Bear in a Leather Sling

Feb 17, 2011

Cubby and I have been exploring some kinkier play. He wants to play in a sling, but he’s a big boy and I am a little worried about whether hooks in my ceiling will hold him? Any advice?

Daddy Bear

Sheetrock isn’t designed to support any weight except maybe a potted plant. Sadly, the answer depends – what size beam are you looking to hang from – obviously a 4×4 is stronger than a 2×4. So, first and foremost you need to know what you are working with. Once you do, you can usually go to your local lumber yard (you know the place with all those gruff men you like so well) and they can probably tell you what your beam can support.

Another consideration is how many hooks are being used. Typically, you divide the load by the number of hooks thus 4 hooks would support more than 3. Import to make sure the cub (we won’t call him the load) is distributive equally – the chains are equal in length. If one chain is shorted then it bears more of his weight.

Also, make sure the chains and the clips being used are rated so you know their strength. I have had the experience of having a clip break and having poor cubby land on his skull – not fun).

And when in doubt, we always turn to our resident engineering lesbian leather slave (what you don’t have one at your company?) who has a knack for building things!

Determining how much weight a ceiling can hold is a function of the type of ceiling as well as the type of suspension. The following scenario will likely allow you to hang a sling and expect it to hold a 250 pound cub even when he is bouncing around a lot. To support a 250 pound cub, you would want to insert 4 eyebolts horizontally into the beams that are at least 2” x 6”. On a 2’ x 6” beam, the holes for the eyebolts should be 2” from the bottom of the beam (so, essentially centered on the beam). You need to use at least 4 eyebolts (not eyescrews) and you need two  2 inch fender washers on each eyebolt – one on the “eye’ side of the beam and one on the nut side of the beam. I would use welded chain to suspend the sling from the eyebolts. It is important to make sure the beams are secure and that the welded chains not have any breaks in them. Using ¼ chain and eyebolts, etc, you can probably use three points of suspension as well as four. I hope this helps.

The Twisted Bear provides the bear and leather communities the single source they need for fine bear leathers and toys. We offer leathers for the bear – full sizes and custom work to meet all of your leather needs.

Popularity: 5% [?]