# 1" or 1.5" cam strap for loaded 14' raft



## WillEChronic (Oct 4, 2016)

My 14' raft is going into year 6 and I'm planning to replace cam straps. I've been using 3' long 1" DRE cam straps to secure frame to the raft but thinking of trying the tuff river stuff. They have both 1" and 1.5". Is it best practice to use the 1.5" straps or is that overkill? 

Next, anyone have experience with the "roller cam" option for the 1" straps?


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## IDriverRunner (Aug 18, 2015)

I have 1.5" NRS straps securing my frame to my raft. Probably WAY overkill, but that's ok with me.

I have a few "roller cam" straps from Cascade River Gear that I use on my Pacific River Bag. They are so smooth! Simply put: I love them.


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## Iamquigley (Sep 6, 2020)

Can't comment on the 1" vs 1.5" debate (although I guess you could argue that having heartier straps for a critical attachment like the frame -> boat connection would hurt you) but just wanted to comment that I recently bought one of the TRS everything bags for Christmas which comes with a few straps to rig it and they seem next level compared to your standard affair. I own a mix of cheap strapworks.com straps and standard NRS blue guys which are slightly different materials but still in the same family but the TRS guys seem to be something different altogether, almost like a seatbelt material. They seem ultra-pliable and less prone to the stiff, starchy break down you get from most straps. The thumb catch also has an extra little flip on it that seems like it would make opening the cam a touch easier. If I had the $$$ to revamp my whole strap collection I would go TRS all the way. You can also get a D-ring sewn into each one right behind the buckle which seems like a simple but super useful addition.


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## Bootboy (Aug 25, 2020)

Rollercam Straps


Rollercam cam straps made with zero-stretch, high tenacity polyester webbing and bartacked with heavy, UV resistant polyetser thread. Choose from 2 different types of webbing. Heavy Duty webbing (3000lb) for applications where the strap is likely to see more wear and abuse. Standard webbing is...



atwoodgear.com


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

I saw a video once of a flipped raft get chundered in the Lava falls hole for a few minutes before it flushed out sans frame. When it comes to attaching the frame to the raft, 1.5" is what you want. There's no overkill in that function.


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## Will Amette (Jan 28, 2017)

I run 1.5" straps frame to D-rings, but there's only four. I upgraded from 1" straps thinking it was a good idea.

It's not a bad idea per se, but I don't know if it makes a difference. It might be overkill. How strong is a 1" strap in good condition? If it's stronger than the glue bond between the D-ring patch and the raft tube, it's overkill. If a 1" strap would fail before a D-ring patch, it's not overkill. I don't have those numbers. I bet half a bagel someone knows.

Zach?

Or Zach?

Or Zach?


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## dsrtrat (May 29, 2011)

For the small extra cost why not have the peace of mind with 1 1/2 inch especially if you keep them for several years. I have 6 - 1 1/2 Tuff River Straps securing my frame. I agree the Tuff River Stuff straps are in my opinion the best out there. Made in the USA by a local company. All of Ray's sewn products are top notch, well designed, and durable.


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## Michael P (Mar 18, 2009)

Agree with the 1.5 inch for the frame straps on a raft. Cats can use 1 inch as most cats have 16 D rings for the frame. Some rafts have 4 D rings, I have 6 on my 15 foot Raft. Think of how much weight is directly on your frame when you take a big hit, would hate for the frame to get loose in the middle of something. Also, if you ever get pinned you should usually tie to the frame to spread the load and I feel the 1.5 straps would be a little more reliable


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## IDoutdoors (Jan 10, 2022)

1.5 seems worth it to me


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## Conundrum (Aug 23, 2004)

Some 1" straps have a higher working load and breaking limit than some 1.5" straps. I think a more valuable discussion is what are your straps made of? Typical outdoorsy males...all about size.

1" polyester cam, 3,200 lb limit. Cam buckle, 1 in. Polyester Strap 15 ft. long | 1 Inch Polyester Strap & Buckle

1.5" polypro 2,000 lb limit.








NRS 1.5" Heavy Duty Straps


There's no such thing as overkill when it comes to securing unruly loads on your truck, trailer, boat or ATV. The NRS 1.5" Strap delivers an extraordinary 2,000 lb. lashing capacity to take the worry out of any tie-down job.



www.nrs.com





No mention of the buckle strength though. If the concern is unpinning or flipping a boat, use stronger straps, use more straps, not bigger unless those are the stronger straps. That load is transferred to a d-ring that is glued on. That's probably your weak point in the system unless you're like many and your straps have UV damage.

Me personally on my 15' boat, I have three 1" polyester straps on the outside of each side and one interior 1" polyester each side. All to independent d-rings.


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## Pine (Aug 15, 2017)

One trick to get extra holding power with a 1" strap is to double wrap it. 

Just run the strap through your d-ring and frame like normal, but instead of feeding the loose end into the cam buckle jaw, feed it through the gap in the cam buckle under the jaw, then go back around through the d-ring, through the frame again, then feed it into the jaw of the cam buckle on the second wrap. 

It takes a bit of finagling to get all the slack out of the two wraps of strap stacked on top of each other, but once you do the strap and buckle have double the holding power, and stay very tight compared to a single wrap. If done right, it also looks very clean.


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## IDriverRunner (Aug 18, 2015)

Pine said:


> One trick to get extra holding power with a 1" strap is to double wrap it.
> 
> Just run the strap through your d-ring and frame like normal, but instead of feeding the loose end into the cam buckle jaw, feed it through the gap in the cam buckle under the jaw, then go back around through the d-ring, through the frame again, then feed it into the jaw of the cam buckle on the second wrap.
> 
> It takes a bit of finagling to get all the slack out of the two wraps of strap stacked on top of each other, but once you do the strap and buckle have double the holding power, and stay very tight compared to a single wrap. If done right, it also looks very clean.


That's the same method I use on my 1.5"s straps holding my frame to my boat. Looks clean that way.


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## Rightoarleft (Feb 5, 2021)

I've seen broken frames, failed anchors and ripped off handles but I've never seen a strap lose a fight. My experience, long-swim boats come back missing parts and gear but they always come back with their straps. I worry about rigging but I do not worry about breaking straps. If you are rigging a gearboat to survive Ledge, you should probably find a new hobby. Or not. It will be the most exhilarating 5 seconds of your life. I watched a guy shoot Ledge. He did lose pieces but his grin lasted for days. Probably helped that it wasn't his boat.


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## Z_in_MT (Mar 30, 2017)

Personal preference for sure. If you like the look of the 1.5" straps and don't mind the extra cost (not that much, but more), go for the 1.5". If you go with 1" you (Probably, mostly, likely) won't have any issues, as Rightoarleft stated above, the straps are not usually the weak point. (Unless they're old and UV damaged, maybe the 1.5" straps will last a bit longer on that front?)


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## Whitewater Worthy Equip (Dec 11, 2013)

1.5 all the way. Are use is 6000 pound polyester webbing that is black to build frame straps.


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## Unca Walt (Apr 9, 2012)

1.5 for sure and doubled if you have the length. i was on the Lower Gorge trip where the Fangs at 232 caught a bowline, flipped the new 16' NRS E boat, then jinked and slammed back and forth for 3 hours. During that time, the sun-poisoned NRS straps first blew on the trailer frame (it floated and my paddleboat rescued it), then blew to release the mainframe (which ALSO floated) and one of our oar frames caught it and, with a monstrous pull, made the eddy that we all waited in! After the trip, the boatman went straight to Jason Hughes' Wet Dreams River Supply for commercial grade straps. 
i use Jason's commercial grade straps on everything i rig!


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## Unca Walt (Apr 9, 2012)

Unca Walt said:


> 1.5 for sure and doubled if you have the length. i was on the Lower Gorge trip where the Fangs at 232 caught a bowline, flipped the new 16' NRS E boat, then jinked and slammed back and forth for 3 hours. During that time, the sun-poisoned NRS straps first blew on the trailer frame (it floated and my paddleboat rescued it), then blew to release the mainframe (which ALSO floated) and one of our oar frames caught it and, with a monstrous pull, made the eddy that we all waited in! After the trip, the boatman went straight to Jason Hughes' Wet Dreams River Supply for commercial grade straps.
> i use Jason's commercial grade straps on everything i rig!


PS - the bow line held - because it was secured through both bow D rings. 
We also learned that a bow line strap would have prevented the whole ordeal... i now use a girth hitched 2' strap on bow and stern


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## Bootboy (Aug 25, 2020)

I use 8 straps (4 per side) made with Rollercam buckles and 3000lb polyester. 

When it comes to discussing strength as a function of width, even with 1.5” webbing, the buckle is still likely the weak point.

You can go as wide as you want but without fundamentally changing the buckle design, you’ll gain nothing.

This shouldn’t be a discussion based the premise that wider = stronger. It would be more appropriate to discuss webbing types and specific buckle designs. 

1” quality polyester webbing with a stainless steel buckle is far superior to any 1.5” strap with a die-cast buckle.

I have 1/2” Dyneema webbing that’s good for 3500lbs, but without hardware that is matched to that strength, what’s the point?

One thing that many here are also probably not aware of is that wider webbing of equal tensile strength to a skinnier webbing is much more likely to fail when run through hardware that has any kind of side-to-side radius, i.e. a D-ring. The edges of the webbing end up encountering a higher load than the middle and will result in a cascading failure that propagates from the edges inward. 

Think about it this way: it’s really easy to tear a sheet of paper in half when you simply start at one edge and tear it from end to end. Now take that piece of paper and tightly fold it up into a strip 1/2” wide but 20 layers thick, now try to pull that apart. Good luck. Same amount of paper, way tougher based on how the load bearing mass is distributed and the load is applied.

Thread type and stitching pattern are also relevant here but not to a degree that most people need to consider in the present discussion.

- Guy who sews webbing for a living.


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## mtboat (Apr 27, 2016)

I realize I'm a little late on this but here is my 2 cents. How the frame is strapped down to the raft is way more important than the size of the webbing. More straps is better than less bigger straps. Stapping the frame only to outside ds in a pin situation allows the raft to roll away from the frame as the boat fills with water and can destroy the frame and also rolls the d ring out to a slightly perpendicular pull which is not its strong direction of pull. I owned a Williwaw SE which had 2 outer d attachments and 2 inner d attachments on each side and have since had all of my bigger boats built that way. A double rail frame strapped in and out also keeps the frame in place so it cannot move at all and you have the strength of 8 frame straps. I am also a fan of good nylon straps made with usa webbing and roller cam buckles. I realize nylon stretches more when wetted out than poly but they outlast any poly strap as we use both in rental and its easy to see what happens to the edges of poly webbing with use and sun. A nylon thread is slightly stronger than poly thread and is not supposed to hold up as well in the sun but usa nylon webbing just flat out last longer in the realm of rental which is abusive in both sun and abrasion and using the straps in bad situations. I have seen lots of buckle failure over the years as Bootboy posted and the roller cam buckle is a strong buckle.


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## kbirdrescue (Dec 14, 2021)

I have used standard 1" for 40 years. Each is rated at 1500 lbs. Think about your typical load. The boat carries the bulk of the load when upright, when upsidedown, which is what you are most likely concerned about, the load is carried by the straps. So, 6 straps, X 1500lbs = 9k. How much gear are you carrying... maybe 1k?
Pretty simple math to me and even if you calculate a safety factor, you're well within the capability of a 1" strap.
All that being said, we love overdoing and overengineering just about everything.
Read Gavin DeBecker's "The Gift of Fear" a great book that discusses the reality/ perception gap when it comes to what we think poses a risk to us and what does in fact.
IMHO


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