How Long Will a Sked Last?

During training and testing, the Sked has proven to show superior durability even in the toughest conditions. When you’re dealing with military rescue equipment and using it for everything from rescuing people in horrible places to transporting equipment as a tactical litter, it has to be durable enough not to fail in the middle of an emergency.

Here are a few facts we’ve learned over the years about the virtually indestructible Sked:

• It doesn’t break at 120 degrees Fahrenheit below zero;
• It doesn’t begin to melt until 450-500 degrees Fahrenheit;
• You can use it in the jungle or the desert;
• It has a shelf life of approximately 20 years;
• It’s stronger than other polyethylene plastics, but is flexible enough to be rolled up;
• It’s highly abrasion-resistant.

A few years back, one of our first customers got in touch to say that he’d been using a Sked he bought from us back in 1983. He sent it back to us hoping we could put new grommets on it. He estimated he’d used it more than 2,038 times, and had worn out the rope, slings and bag. He asked how much we’d charge to refurbish it for him. We put in the new grommets, equipped it with new slings, rope and bag and told him there was no charge if he would just let us know what it took to wear it out as we, at the time, just didn’t know. A few years later we got it back. The user stated that he’d “killed it” while dragging it over the sharp edge of a structure. He said he should have avoided the edge, but needed to move quickly to save his patient. He said in the end, he’d used it over 3,000 times.

Someone asked us recently how we plan on staying in business if our product never wears out. Shouldn’t we do what others do and make products that are intended to wear out faster? The level of loyalty of that early customer is why we build such durable products. If you can build it really, really well, shouldn’t you? We think so. There is enough business out there that there is no need to build products that fail prematurely.

Skedco and all of its people wish to thank all of our Military personnel for what they do to keep us free. You are our country’s greatest treasure.

Tags: Energy, Fire & Rescue, Hazmat, Industrial, Medical, Military
Categorised in: Rescue Equipment Blog