UKC

Hi everyone,

just trying to milk your collective knowledge once again.

My daughter has asked for a finger board for Christmas. She is climbing around 6c/7a ish both indoors and outside, so she is in a grade range where finger board training may make sense.

The difficulty is that she is living in a listed, 16th century building (even though the doors and door frames are modern). She has permission to drill into the walls, but I would still need to find a board (or a separate mounting system) that will hold on a wall presumably made of straw, clay, and cow dung!

Which mounting system would you recommend? I am currently in favour of super gluing a wooden board to the wall, onto which the actual board would then be mounted using conventional bolts. Alternatively, I could build two half A-frames, maybe 50 cm wide at the bottom, with a vertical support post either side of the door. Mounting the the board on a horizontal board above the door would thus avoid any vertical loading on the wall.

Thanks for any advice,

CB

In reply to cb294:

Crusher Climbing do a mount which is secured to the door frame and can be removed when you move out with no damage to the walls. Whilst it sounds flimsy I can personally vouch that it’s solid. Only drawback is it’s not permanent but otherwise is a lot more flexible.

In reply to cb294:

If the ceilings are high enough in the rooms, building a simple freestanding frame for the fingerboard may be a safer option. This doesn't necessarily need to go in the doorway, in fact it can be better away from the door to allow more room around it, and not being limited by the width of the door.

I went for simple upside down T supports with metal brackets but A frame sounds more sturdy.

In reply to andyman666999:

Great, this is exactly what I was looking for, even though I will probably build a custom version as the doors are not standard width. Maybe I could even clamp the two sides together with quick release bike axles, need to check how thick the walls are...

Anyway, food for thought, thanks!

CB

In reply to Arms Cliff:

Thanks for the suggestion!

Free standing takes up too much space, though, while the door space has to be kept free anyway. In any case, the mounting system suggested by andyman looks like the way forward.

CB

In reply to cb294:

Serious Climbing did a Training Station that fits over the door frames in my flat. Don't know if they still sell it.

In reply to cb294:

The crusher fingerboard mount use bolts and wing nuts, a bike quick release probably wouldnt give you the travel to tighten up enough. We also do a customisation service to fit the individual set up if it's none standard, which in most cases is free of charge.

In reply to Paul Crusher R:
Thanks! I saw the measures of the board mounts on your website, but the door in question is a bit narrower still. Could I just lop off a bit as required, or are there any essential bits on the sides?

CB

Stupid reply, being able to read something about customisation puts you at an advantage...

In reply to Flinticus:

Can't see it on their website, so would have to be DIY,

Thanks,

CB

In reply to cb294:


Glue is not the answer, particularly not superglue. Even if the glue itself worked you would probably find that the sub-strata were only weakly bonded and you'd just end up pulling the board away with a chunk of wall attached.

Buy or borrow an electronic stud detector and screw a suitably-sized sheet of thick-ish ply through the wall into the beams, since you say you have permission to drill. Then fix your hangboard to that.

In reply to Andy Morley:

As far as I can tell there are no sufficiently large beams in that wall (construction visible from one side). If I resort to drilling I will probably drill right through the wall and fix largeish sheets of plywood to either side using two or three long machine bolts. And you are of course right, a quick hardening cyanoacrylate based superglue would be useless, and is not what I had in mind. Wrong choice of words.

CB

In reply to cb294:

I got a crusher board, but built my own door frame mount as had loads of plywood lying around after a DIY project, the bolts holding the clamping piece as long enough so that I just loosen them and the whole thing comes off in one piece. I also put in some holes for hanging it up when not in use, which could be used for some pulley system in training.

In reply to RX-78:

Thanks!

CB

In reply to

I had to make mine a bit narrower to fit on my doorframe (it's a weird shape and has trims glued on around two of the edges) I then chopped the offcuts in half and glued them to the tabs so it could press against the inner uprights. It's rock solid now. Can dig out a picture if you want, but the moral of the story is that at the end of the day it's a chunk of well finished plywood and is therefore easy to modify.

I then mounted a BeastMaker 1k. I climb at a similar, possibly slightly lower level than your daughter and find it perfect.

In reply to DamonRoberts:

Thanks, this is something I had in mind, but if I have to chop and change I may simply make my own custom DIY version. I have access to a fully equipped woodworking shop at my parents place, and if worst comes to worst I could even order the whole thing from my brother who is a professional joiner (unfortunately he lives on Ibiza, which makes logistics a bit difficult).

CB

In reply to cb294:

I would have, however my current woodworking setup is limited to my girlfriend pretending to be a vice with my chest of drawers as a workbench. With a woodshop I'd have definitely made my own!

In reply to cb294:

I have a setup that hangs off a powerbar pull up bar. The measurements for this can probably be sourced online. Obviously needs the door to have an architrave for it to work. If you want I can email you a photo of the set up I have (MDF sheet with some 2x4) to give you something to work from. Good luck!

In reply to spidermonkey09:

Thanks, still waiting for a photo of the actual door to see how wide the architrave is!
CB

In reply to cb294:

I have a metolius fingerboard that i mounted onto a piece of plywood, then rigged it up to it would slot over a pullup bar that fits to a door frame (powerbar). both are removable and leave no marks although the board system is quite heavy but if she's climbing 7 she's already tough !

In reply to cb294:
I would have thought that given the complications of fixing to your walls, some kind of 'H-frame' or inverted U-shape would give you a better alternative so you weren't putting any fixings in the wall at all. If you made it so it was leaning against the wall when in use (with the hangboard being taken by the cross-member) you could store it flat against the wall, either upright, on its side or folded (depending on things like your ceiling height). Someone suggested this above and you said that storage was the issue but that can be overcome and sounds a whole lot less complicated than anything else.

In reply to Andy Morley and everyone else:

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

In the end, the door frame looks robust enough, even though it is narrower than usual (and of course, my daughter is about half my weight....).

I have therefore opted for a DIY clamp putting most of the load on the architrave (correct term?), and a Metolius wood grips compact board.

Cheers,

CB