DIY skin tail clips

I lost the tail clip lever and mount off my g3 minmist glide skins the other day. The tail clip design is utterly abysmal, asides from being prone to getting knocked off on sloppy kickturns (arguably my fault), they never hold their position on the skin tail and need to be reset to the correct notch every time I transition which is fiddly at the best of times, nevermind in variable conditions with gloves on. 

So I'm not particularly stoked on shelling out 30 bucks for a replacement mount and lever. I'd like to try DIYing a better solution and could use some inspiration and ideas from people who may have tried the same. I have a sewing machine and access to a 3d printer with strong nylonX filament (and the ability to model parts), and lots of bits and bobs of dyneema cord and shock cord. I will happily spend >the cost of replacement clips to design and make my own that don't suck. 

Some design questions:

Static or stretchy strap/cord?

"clean" removable clip, or permanently mount it to the ski?

Right now I'm thinking I'll try sewing a spliced loop of dyneema cord to the skin, transitioning to a loop of shock cord when the tail rocker gives room under the ski. Then the shock cord interfaces with a tail clip; the knots in the cord will be at the clip ontop of the ski, hopefully leaving the underside of the ski low profile. 

just do yourself a favor and install a bd strap

https://www.thebackcountry.com/black-diamond-ski-skin-tail-strap.html

Cut it off and take a tour without a tail clip.  You might realize you don't need it.

Jason4Too wrote:

Cut it off and take a tour without a tail clip.  You might realize you don't need it.

if you do this bring a couple of voile straps and also be mentally prepared for a bad time. 

If you still have the stretchy bit of your tail attachment but just lost the metal clip, you could try fudging something that looks/behaves like a pomoca tail clip with your 3d printer.Especially if your stretchy bit still has the holes, you could make your tail clip a 2 part that you screw/glue together perfectly sized for your skis.

$6

https://www.voile.com/voile-tail-hook-ski-skins.html

Jason4Too wrote:

Cut it off and take a tour without a tail clip.  You might realize you don't need it.

This guy skis.

Tail clips are for people who can't take care of their skins.

Jason4Too wrote:

Cut it off and take a tour without a tail clip.  You might realize you don't need it.

Skins without tail clips are usefui in skimo races, because you can do something like this. Uphill to downhill mode in 12 seconds! But for the rest of us, bear in mind that most skimo racers carry at least one extra pair of skins.

Nolan Nolan wrote:

This guy skis.

Tail clips are for people who can't take care of their skins.

And people who ski multiple laps 

shredward wrote:

And people who ski multiple laps 

and don’t buy new skins every year. 

or have crappy old g3 glue or stupid race skins that are good on 65mm rando skis to get up a groomer at an event but definitely not a big day in the alpine on normal skis. 

i wouldn’t hesitate to cut off a pomoca or g3 to replace with bd though. field serviceable and easier to get replacement parts. 

i certainly wouldn’t hesitate to do that before jury rigging some dyneema or whatever. 

petzl logic wrote:

and don’t buy new skins every year. 

or have crappy old g3 glue or stupid race skins that are good on 65mm rando skis to get up a groomer at an event but definitely not a big day in the alpine on normal skis. 

i wouldn’t hesitate to cut off a pomoca or g3 to replace with bd though. field serviceable and easier to get replacement parts. 

i certainly wouldn’t hesitate to do that before jury rigging some dyneema or whatever. 

Lol I just did the GT on a single pair of three year old skins with a dozen transitions. 

If you're really worried about it you can get some BD skin glue and add an inch or two of glue to the tip and tail then the snow won't build up if you don't have a great seal at either end.