Design Question for Moonboarders

[MarkAnderson]

Do you need free-space on either side of the Moonboard to effectively climb the problems (say, to flag or dangle limbs, or what have you)? Asking another way, could you have a (90-degree) dihedral on either side of the board and still climb the problems without the adjacent walls interfering?  If such a design would NOT interfere with the climbing, what's the likelihood such a design would interfere with the fall zone (assuming there were no large protrusions from the dihedral panels)? 

[scojo]

It would definitely interfere with some of the moonboard problems, but I think at least 80% of the problems wouldn't be affected.

At the BRC there is a wall a couple of feet few inches from the right side of the moonboard, and sometimes it makes me nervous when I have to lunge diagonally to the finish. But I don't think it's ever physically limited any of the problems I've tried.

Edit: Much less space than I remembered. I think very few problems would be affected.

[Xxx]

i don't think it would it would be a big deal.  I actually think it would make a few problems easier, rather than wreck them.  I've taken big uncontrolled falls away from the wall when trying to latch big dynos, but never fallen dangerously past the sides of the board.

[willblack]

it would make some of the starts harder, and some dynamic finish moves would create a risk of swinging into the wall, but most of the problems would be unaffected.

[erk]

My guess is that there would be a handful of problems that couldn't be climbed. But with over a 1000 problems, it seems like a small trade-off.

[tedwelser]

I am glad that we have space on either side of ours, however, it is usually only at the start that I feel like I want to flag out into the space to the sides. Some starts will be out of balance and a bit harder. If you could get even just a foot extra to either side you would likely have no problems even with the falls from the top.

[jcm]

Feb 1, 2017 9:21:14 GMT -7 willblack said:

some dynamic finish moves would create a risk of swinging into the wall, but most of the problems would be unaffected.

Big finish moves is the main place I would see an issue. There are definitely problems where you finish with a diagonal throw to a finish hold, and your body swings to the side. This would obviously be no-go with a wall there. You can always just modify a problem to use a different finish hold. This usually shouldn't affect the difficulty too much. I'd say 80% or more of problems should be climbable as-in, 15% should be climbable with mild modifications, and only less than 5% will be unclimbable due to side walls.

 

Otherwise, not too many issues. You'd need to use some willpower to not stem to the side wall. I think that the side walls would be mildly annoying for some percentage of the time, but wouldn't significantly impact the usability of the board.

[solwertkin]

I'll echo others here in that you do want space on each side of your moonboard for both flagging, falling, and for body-swings. Minimum of 6 inches I would say, ideally 18 inches. 

[erick]

What kind of framing centers have you all used on your moon boards? I see it requires a 8" grid but that would get in the way of using 16" OC standards. What have you done to get around this?

[climbnkev]

If using 2x8 then 2 edge joists and two centered at 34 and 62. If using smaller joists center at 20, 36, 60 and 76.

Moon holds are on the following imperial measurements:
7.875,15.75,23.625,31.5,39.375,47.25,
55.125,63,70.875,78.75, and 86.625

[erick]

4 total if using 2x8s, is really enough to be stable? Thanks for the info.

[climbnkev]

Yes. I use full 2x8 blocking at the plywood seams to add additional rigidity to the joists. My 12x12 wall only has 2 mid span joists and is very stable. I get a bit of deflection when yarding on jugs right in the center of one of the 4'x4' panels but otherwise climbs just like a wall built on 16"or 24" centers.